Langenstein – Zwieberge
In April 1944 the construction of a camp in Langenstein began about fourty kilometres southwest of Magdeburg. The camp was subordinated to Buchenwald and the first prisoners were tasked with building prisoners hut, which lasted until August 1944. Subsequently, the main task of the prisoners was to build tunnels in a nearby mountain (Thekenberge) in which the Germans planned to establish war-producing industries. After about ten months, the prisoners had about ten kilometers of tunnels completed which spread over an area of about 60,000 square meters. About 7,000 prisoners were forced to work in the tunnels until the SS evacuated the camp on April 9, 1945, three days later American troops arrived at the camp. About 2,000 prisoners died in the camp as a result of work, starvation, maltreatment and disease. Another 2,500 died during the evacuation to other camps.
Current status: Demolished with museum (2011).
Address: Quedlinburger Strasse, 38895 Langenstein.
Get there: Car.
Follow up in books: Kogon, Eugen: The Theory and Practice of Hell: The German Concentration Camps and the System Behind Them (2006).
The museum is quiet boring, but the camp area itself is well worth a visit and unlike the museum is available around the clock. The area is well maintained and the ruins and other interesting places are easy to find through information signs. For those who are interested to also visit the tunnels where the production was located, it is possible to arrange a visit in the company of a guide via the museum.