Welcome to the short English version of the website of “Förderverein Dokumentations- und Begegnungsstätte Barth e.V.” which means: “Registered Sponsoring Association Documentation and Encounter Site Barth”.
Our NGO-association was founded In November 1998 by citizens from Barth and its surrounding.
We concentrate our work to the time during the National Socialism between 1933 and 1945. Special attention is given to the concentration camp in Barth, where slave workers had to build parts for German military aircrafts. Another focus lies on all aspects related to the prisoner of war camp, “Stalag Luft I”.
Our office is located in the Vineta citizens’ house of Barth, where a permanent multimedia exhibition illustrates the history of the town between 1933 and 1945 with special emphasis on:
- Individual fates of people who lived or were imprisoned in Barth from 1933 to 1945
- Barth as a garrison and armaments town
- The prisoner of war camp for Allied airmen, “Stalag Luft I”
- The Barth Concentration Camp.
- Contact
Förderverein Dokumentations- und Begegnungsstätte Barth e.V.
Papenstr. 8
18356 Barth, Germany
phone: +49 38231 37450
email: dok-barth@web.de
Opening hours of the exhibition: Wednesday and Thursday from 10 am to 2 pm, and on request.
Memorials and educational and memorial trail
Barth Concentration Camp Memorial Site
This memorial was inaugurated in 1966 to commemorate the incredible suffering of the inmates of the concentration camp. They were forced to work as slaves for the aircraft manufacturing company of ‘Ernst Heinkel’ from 1943 to 1945. They were beaten, starved and 180 of them died and were buried here due to this inhumane treatment. There are four relief plates by the sculpture Jo Jastram which illustrate scenes of everyday life in the concentration camp. From here an educational path leads you through the area of the former concentration camp.
The trail starts with a first stele directly at the memorial for the concentration camp and is then continued on a path through parts of the former grounds of the concentration camp. Some of the foundations and steel elements of the demolished complex still give an idea of the location of the former buildings.
Memorial stone for the prisoners of war (POW) camp “Stalag Luft I”
The camp existed from 1940 to 1945 for airmen of the US Army Air Force, the Royal Air Force, and the Air Forces of the Soviet Union. When the camp was taken over by the prisoners of war on 1 May 1945 after the German guards had disappeared in the night before, were nearly 10.000 POWs in the camp.
Today, a small memorial in the middle of farmland and forest commemorates the camp that was once located there.
A first memorial stone was inaugurated by the GDR in 1985 in the presence of former POWs from the United States, war veterans of the Soviet Army and citizens of Barth. To mark the occasion, three groups of trees were planted at the memorial site, symbolizing the people of the nations present: coniferous trees for the Americans, birch trees for the Soviets and lime trees for the Germans.
In 1996 the memorial was redesigned. A large boulder with two inscribed brass plaques with English and German texts was added. The English text reads:
This plaque is dedicated by the citizens of Barth and the Royal Air Force Ex-Prisoners of War Association on 28 September 1996 to commemorate all those held prisoner at Stalag Luft I, sited here from July 1940 to May 1945: members of the British Commonwealth and United States of American Air Forces and their Allies from the occupied countries and the Soviet Union.
“NOTHING HAS BEEN FORGOTTEN”.
Later information on a stele has complemented the place. The trees in the groups planted in 1985 have since grown and will continue to grow. For more information visit: https://stalagluft1.de/en/stalag-luft-i-barth-english/ or one of the links below.
- Links
For more information about Stalag Luft I and the concentration camp in English, see for example:
World War II – Prisoners of War – Stalag Luft I (merkki.com)
The Liberation of Stalag Luft I | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans (nationalww2museum.org)
Forced Labour & Subcamps. Women’s concentration camp Ravensbrück (universes.art)
Concentration Camp Barth – Barth – TracesOfWar.com
Barth concentration camp | Voices of the Holocaust (iit.edu)