The Lahde Work Education Camp Memorial Site and Cemetery are located not far from Biederloh Street, in Petershagen-Bierde, 50 m from the main street. The place is surrounded by trees and is situated among fields, which makes it difficult to find.
The centre of the fenced-off area is marked by a monument in the shape of a cross that states: ‘Here lie 292 victims of the Nazi regime. May our suffering be a call to you for peace, 1943-45.’ The victims’ graves are not marked and there is no information displayed about the camp, its prisoners or the deceased interred here. The Lahde work education camp was established by the Gestapo, in Hanover, in May 1943, and was operational until April 1945. In total, 7,000 prisoners went through the camp, mostly foreigners from the USSR, Poland and the Netherlands. Approximately 700 inmates did not survive their stay in the camp.
The prisoners were forced to work on the construction of underground tunnels, to participate in huge infrastructural undertakings, and to labour in quarries. Many were shot dead by the Gestapo, died as a result of exhaustion or lack of medical care, were forced to commit suicide or were killed during alleged ‘escape attempts’.
The cemetery for the victims of the Lahde work education camp in Petershagen, established in 1944, holds the graves of citizens mostly of the USSR and Poland. Immediately following the war, there were 125 double and treble graves here. After the remains of some of the victims were moved to the Evangelical cemetery in Lahde (107 persons coming from Western countries) and the Jewish cemetery in Petershagen (267 persons), the remains of 292 victims of the Lahde work education camp were left in this cemetery.
The graves of Polish citizens can mainly be found in the prison cemetery. However, it is impossible to accurately establish which of the, at least, 185 Polish victims are buried here and which are buried in the two above-mentioned cemeteries.
