Außenlager Damshöhe - Ravensbrück sub-camp

[CARL]

Außenlager Damshöhe

Located about 2.5 miles from the main camp, Damshöhe was initially used as a posting for an external work detail (Außenkommando) during 1942. For several intermittent months during 1942, female prisoners of Ravensbrück were sent to the manor at Damshöhe and returned to the main camp following their shift.

The SS started to use the manor during the summer of the following year for military purposes - NCOs were trained at a cavalry training squadron. Several barracks on the manor grounds served as accommodation buildings for the SS unit, with a "T" shaped building utilised as a kitchen and dining area.

The sub-camp at Damshöhe was established in preparation for the expansion of training of the SS-Cavalry squadron. No female inmates were located at the sub-camp, only male prisoners were present - yes, MALE prisoners from Ravensbrück - a fact many do not know...there were, in total, over 20,000 male inmates at Ravensbrück, despite it being the only major concentration camp established primarily to hold women. See thread linked below:

www.warrelics.eu/forum/konzen...s-camp-523253/

Early transports included some 30 men followed by another 100 from Germany, occupied Czechoslovakia (or, the Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren), Poland, the Soviet Union and Austria. The first transports arrived during spring 1943. Most inmates transferred to Damshöhe were skilled workers, some had been or would later be transported to other sub-camps within the Ravensbrück system. Stables and housing construction occupied the majority of the work detail - trees were felled, roads levelled and a riding ring established. One prisoner served as a Kapo (prisoner functionary), another as cook. Security measures included barbed wire fencing surrounding the camp, and at least one watchtower. The camp also had its own detachment of SS guards from the main camp, led by SS-Obersturmführer Rudolf Beer.

Soviet inmate Mischko Houbin was murdered following an unsuccessful escape attempt in the summer of 1943 - a crime for which former camp commandant Beer later would stand trial (he was acquitted in 1950 due to a lack of evidence).

As the eastern front moved ever closer, the NCO training squadron was moved to Beneschau (the massive SS training area south of Prague).

Between 1975 and 1979, investigations by prosecutors in Niedersachsen were unable to verify claims that during April 1945, members of the SS squadron shot and killed over 30 inhabitants of Groß-Popowitz (Velké Popovice) and Strančice - located not far from Beneschau (Benešov).

Carl

[SteveR]

Thanks for the post Carl.
I will forgo my rant about rampant anti semitism world wide today.

[harryamb2]

nice info,thanks Carl.

[FALLSCHIRMJAGER]

Good to see the little talked about role of Male prisoners/victims from the Ravensbruck KL system highlighted. Leon.

[CARL]

Good to see the little talked about role of Male prisoners/victims from the Ravensbruck KL system highlighted. Leon.

Thank you Leon. True, over twenty thousand men were deported to KL-Ravensbrück...a fact not realised by many, including even students of the camp system. The attachment below features an unusual example of mail from the Männerlager. This example was written by a male Czech inmate - one of the earliest arrivals at the camp and transported to Ravensbrück (as all male prisoners were) solely to form part of the extensive slave labour force assigned to construction, establishment and expansion detail. Note the censor marking "KL-Ravensbrück" (Konzentrationslager Ravensbrück / Concentration Camp Ravensbrück) as opposed to the more common "f.KL-Ravensbrück" (frauen Konzentrationslager Ravensbrück / Women's Concentration Camp Ravensbrück) marking generally found on Ravensbrück correspondence.

Carl