• Poppenbüttel Prefabricated House Memorial
The Museum for Hamburg History set up a memorial at the last remaining prefabricated concrete slab building in the Hamburg district of Poppenbüttel in 1985. It is dedicated to the memory of the forced labourers, most of them women, who were deployed here by between September 1944 and April 1945 in the construction of a panel housing estate.
Image: Hamburg, 1944, Construction of concrete slab buildings by Italian military interees, Staatsarchiv Hamburg
Hamburg, 1944, Construction of concrete slab buildings by Italian military interees, Staatsarchiv Hamburg

Image: Hamburg, 2003, Plattenhaus Poppenbüttel Memorial, KZ-Gedenkstätte Neuengamme
Hamburg, 2003, Plattenhaus Poppenbüttel Memorial, KZ-Gedenkstätte Neuengamme
Between September 1944 and April 1945, there was a women's satellite camp of the Neuengamme concentration camp in Hamburg-Sasel. The women were deployed in the construction of temporary housing in the neighbouring district of Poppenbüttel for residents of Hamburg who had lost their homes in air raids – they built »Plattenhäuser«, prefabricated concrete slab buildings. On September 13, 1944, the SS brought about 500 Jewish women from Poland and several Sinti women to the satellite camp Hamburg-Sasel for conducting forced labour in building a concrete slab housing estate. Italian military internees too were forced to work on the construction site. They worked for the Möller and the Wayss & Freytag construction firms, and had to perform strenuous tasks such as laying tracks, levelling out terrain and transporting prefabricated concrete construction elements, all this in harrowing conditions. Some of the women had to remove debris following air raids in Hamburg's city centre. The SS dissolved the Hamburg-Sasel camp towards the end of the war, most probably on April 7, 1945. The women were transferred to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
Image: Hamburg, 1944, Construction of concrete slab buildings by Italian military interees, Staatsarchiv Hamburg
Hamburg, 1944, Construction of concrete slab buildings by Italian military interees, Staatsarchiv Hamburg

Image: Hamburg, 2003, Plattenhaus Poppenbüttel Memorial, KZ-Gedenkstätte Neuengamme
Hamburg, 2003, Plattenhaus Poppenbüttel Memorial, KZ-Gedenkstätte Neuengamme
About 500 Jewish women from Poland and several Sinti women were interned at the Hamburg-Sasel satellite concentration camp. They had come from the Łódź ghetto and had been deported to Hamburg via Auschwitz-Birkenau. At least 35 of them died of the strenuous labour, due to abuse or due to the severe cold in Hamburg-Sasel. There is no information about their fate following the liquidation of the camp; many may have died after their transfer to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
Image: undated, Zyska Koloszinska, one of the Jewish forced labourers from Łódź, KZ-Gedenkstätte Neuengamme
undated, Zyska Koloszinska, one of the Jewish forced labourers from Łódź, KZ-Gedenkstätte Neuengamme

Image: Reconstruction of the Sasel satellite concentration camp according to eye-witness reports, drawing by W. Kurtz
Reconstruction of the Sasel satellite concentration camp according to eye-witness reports, drawing by W. Kurtz
In June 1982, a monument and a memorial plaque were set up on the site of the former satellite concentration camp, on the initiative of a group of pupils. The Museum for Hamburg History established a memorial in the only remaining building of the panel housing estate in 1985. Located on the square in front of the memorial stands a wooden sculpture by Franz Vollert, which was dedicated on September 1, 1981. The Plattenhaus Poppenbüttel Memorial is run on a voluntary basis and is a branch of the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial. A new permanent exhibition was opened on September 9, 2008.
Name
Gedenkstätte Plattenhaus Poppenbüttel
Address
Kritenbarg 8
22391 Hamburg
Phone
+49 (0)40 428 131 500
Fax
+49 (0)40 428 131 501
Web
https://poppenbuettel.gedenkstaetten-hamburg.de/
E-Mail
stiftung@gedenkstaetten.hamburg.de
Open
Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. or by appointment
Possibilities
Guided tours