The Großbeeren Memorial Site for the Victims of Fascism
Right next to the local cemetery, in the former gravel pit, there is a cemetery for almost 1,300 victims of World War II, and a memorial commemorating the prisoners of the work education camp (AEL) and the transit concentration camp administered by the Gestapo in Großbeeren. It is also a memorial to prisoners of the sub-camp of the Stalag III D - Komando 82/562 POW camp for Soviet prisoners of war, in which more than 1,200 prisoners died between late 1941 and late 1942.
The work education camp in Großbeeren, administered by the Wuhlheide work education camp, was operational between 1942 and 1945. It was the place of imprisonment of approximately 25,000 prisoners, mostly Russian, Polish, Czech and French citizens. It was mainly a penal camp for foreign forced labourers, but also for Germans who ran afoul of the state authorities. They were all used as cheap labour to work on the construction of railway lines, bomb shelters, sewer systems, streets, roads, in armaments plants and, seasonally, on large local farms.
Approximately, 1,300 persons did not survive persecution, hunger and work beyond human capability in the camp. The first 200 victims were buried under the wall of the cemetery, the place which is now their burial site and which is marked by a memorial plaque. The next victims were buried in mass graves in a trench located on the premises of the former gravel pit. After the war, in the second half of the 1940s, a cemetery and a memorial were established here.
The memorial took its final form in the 1990s. The monument has memorial plaques with inscriptions commemorating the victims of Fascism and militarism, including Soviet, Polish, French, Dutch, German, and Belgian anti-fascists. In front of the monument there are information boards providing information about the 1,289 victims from 25 countries that are buried in this and in the nearby cemeteries. On both sides of the alley leading to the monument there are bronze plaques with the names of known victims inscribed upon them.
Until today, however, none of the approximately 1,200 graves of identified Soviet prisoners of war from the camp located in direct proximity to the work education camp has been found. Most probably, the victims were buried on the premises of the former gravel pit.
