In World War II the Hagen area was
a major production site of the armaments industry. The special importance of the urban
district of Hagen, which has been extended by the town of Hohenlimburg and the territory
of Dahl until 1975, lay in the supplying of equipment and assembly parts. Without the
delivery of large scale batteries to the German navy by the Accumulator Factory in Hagen, for example, the submarine war would
have been hardly possible. Also, the German ‘retaliatory weapon’ V2, the
long-distance rocket A4, which had been used since September 1944, would not have been
used without special batteries from Hagen. Apart from that the steel industry in Hagen and
Hohenlimburg, particulary Harkort & Eicken and Hoesch, played its role as a supplier for the
construction of tanks. The Klöckner works in Haspe
was one of the main producer of steel and iron in the Rhine-Ruhr area of Germany.
Due to the increased
armament production and the recruitment of the German workforce for military service the
industry in Hagen was no longer able to meet the demands of the Wehrmacht without the
employment of hired foreign workers, slave labourers from both Eastern and Western Europe,
and prisoners of war. More and more forced, slave labourers and prisoners of war were
requested from the labour exchange in Hagen and the arms commando in Dortmund since 1941
and employed in the armament factories. Especially the Eastern European slave labourers,
Russian POWs and Italian military internees (since autumn 1943) were subjected to
reprisals, abuses and unhealthy nutritional and camp conditions. Since 1943
there was a massive employment of slave workers from concentration camps.
In the Ruhr area some sub-camps of the Buchenwald concentration camp (near
Weimar) were built up 1943-1944.
In February 1945, the labour
exchange Hagen, responsible for Hagen and the Ennepe-Ruhr district, coordinated more than
19,460 ‘foreign labourers’ and more than 5,620 POWs. In Hohenlimburg about
5,000
foreign workers and prisoners of war were employed. The more than 35.000 forced labourers
in the Hagen area worked in the
armaments industry, in small businesses and in crafts shops, in the agricultural sector,
and for public employers. A great number of forced labourers and POWs were used to
consolidate air-raid shelters. Numerous forced labourers and POWs were killed during
Allied air-raids, because they were granted only insufficient shelter. More than a few,
however, died due to the bad conditions in the camps, as well as due to abuses and
downright murder. In Hagen the Gestapo ran three ‘special
camps’ and ‘police prisons’ in co-operation with the city council and
local companies. From the late summer of 1943 in this ‘concentration camps of the
Gestapo’ numerous slave labourers, opponents of the NS regime, as well as Jews and
‘jüdische Mischlinge’ were imprisoned under aggravted conditions. Further
forced workers were prisoners in special camps of the Organisation
Todt.
The Historical Centre
Hagen attempts to call the destiny of the forced workers, slave labourers and POWs back to
mind with this website and to create a regional information portal for public discussion.
At the same time, a list of sites of camps and prisons in the present district of Hagen is
offered, which can be explored with a search
engine. A district map contains lists of
firms and camps in the Hagen suburbs. A list of source material and the digital editions
of original documents will be use in academic and scholar teaching.
In World War II the Hagen area was
a major production site of the armaments industry. The special importance of the urban
district of Hagen, which has been extended by the town of Hohenlimburg and the territory
of Dahl until 1975, lay in the supplying of equipment and assembly parts. Without the
delivery of large scale batteries to the German navy by the 
Due to the increased
armament production and the recruitment of the German workforce for military service the
industry in Hagen was no longer able to meet the demands of the Wehrmacht without the
employment of hired foreign workers, slave labourers from both Eastern and Western Europe,
and prisoners of war. More and more forced, slave labourers and prisoners of war were
requested from the labour exchange in Hagen and the arms commando in Dortmund since 1941
and employed in the armament factories. Especially the Eastern European slave labourers,
Russian POWs and Italian military internees (since autumn 1943) were subjected to
reprisals, abuses and unhealthy nutritional and camp conditions. Since 1943
there was a massive employment of slave workers from concentration camps.
In the Ruhr area some sub-camps of the Buchenwald concentration camp (near
Weimar) were built up 1943-1944.
In February 1945, the labour
exchange Hagen, responsible for Hagen and the Ennepe-Ruhr district, coordinated more than
19,460 ‘foreign labourers’ and more than 5,620 POWs. In Hohenlimburg about
5,000
foreign workers and prisoners of war were employed. The more than 35.000 forced labourers
in the Hagen area worked in the
armaments industry, in small businesses and in crafts shops, in the agricultural sector,
and for public employers. A great number of forced labourers and POWs were used to
consolidate air-raid shelters. Numerous forced labourers and POWs were killed during
Allied air-raids, because they were granted only insufficient shelter. More than a few,
however, died due to the bad conditions in the camps, as well as due to abuses and
downright murder. In Hagen the Gestapo ran three 
The Historical Centre
Hagen attempts to call the destiny of the forced workers, slave labourers and POWs back to
mind with this website and to create a regional information portal for public discussion.
At the same time, a list of sites of camps and prisons in the present district of Hagen is
offered, which can be explored with a 