Bow to thousands of prisoners of war: new Memorial Center in Emsland

With photos and texts, attention is paid to the history of that camp, to the thousands of prisoners of war who were held there. “But the texts and photos on the 36 placards also provide information about the other camps in the Emsland where prisoners of war were housed,” says Martin Koers, who was closely involved in the creation of the memorial center.

15 concentration camps

In the 1930s, 15 concentration camps were built in the Emsland by the Nazis. Emslandlager , that’s what they were called. Initially there were mainly political opponents of Hitler, communists among others. They were not extermination camps, but thousands of people died from starvation, disease and ill-treatment.

The camp in the village of Dalum was built in 1938 and was really used after the outbreak of the Second World War. “Prisoners from France and other countries were housed there, and later mainly soldiers from the Soviet Union,” says Koers. “These were thousands of soldiers who had to perform reclamation work or were employed in agriculture and were later also deployed in German industry.” Many did not survive the combination of that heavy work and the appalling conditions of their stay. During the course of the war, the camp took on other functions, including being a kind of annex to the Neuengamme concentration camp.

Workplace of Nazi guards

Whoever enters the former camp site now, will no longer see barracks and other visible traces of that dark time. Only a transformer house and a building in which the Nazi guards had their workplace at the time are still there.

“Both buildings have a protected status,” said Koers. ,, And in that former shelter of the guards, the memorial center has now come. That was also a great wish of the initiator: the municipality of Geeste, in which Dalum is located.”

Polish female prisoners of war

The centre, which is regularly open to visitors, therefore not only shows the history of ‘Dalum’, but also that of other Emslandlagers that mainly held prisoners of war during the war. For example, the camp in Oberlangen, near Ter Apel, where many Polish female prisoners of war were housed for some time. The placards tell about the fate of the prisoners, about their ill-treatment. A tour of the memorial center is, as it were, also a tribute to all those thousands of soldiers, a bow to their fate.

The new Memorial Center in Dalum is not the first in Emsland. The other, much larger one, has been standing for years on the site of the former Esterwegen camp, across the border at Vlagtwedde. That camp was also one of the 15 Emslandlager and mainly housed political opponents of Hitler. In that Memorial Center the history of all Emslandlager can be studied. More than 20,000 people do this every year, including many from Groningen and Drenthe.

Martin Koers co-leads the center in Esterwegen. ,,In that capacity I was involved in the project in Dalum, we supported the municipality of Geeste. At the locations of the other Emslandlager, an explanation is also given about the history of that particular place, for example with a text board in the open air. But real memory centers, we now have 2 of them.”