100 Years of Forced Labour in Himmelmoor

Forced Labour from the Imperial Period to the Second World War and in the Post-war Era

Forced labour existed long before the Second World War. The long history of forced labour in Himmelmoor ranges from migrant workers in the imperial era to Russian prisoners of war (POWs) in the First World War and the increasing use of prisoners before the Second World War to the use of POWs in the Second World War and of prisoners in the post-war period.

Forced Labor in Four Political Systems

In the Imperial Period

The people of Quickborn cut peat early on in the moors surrounding the village – Himmelmoor, Holmmoor and Bredenmoor – as fuel for their own needs.

Commercial peat extraction began in 1871. Until the 2nd half of the 20th century, peat extraction was a physically very strenuous job, which was initially carried out purely manually without technical support. The peat plant operators therefore had great problems finding enough employees for this heavy work. They remained dependent on migrant workers until the beginning of the First World War.

In World War I

In World War I, the deployment of prisoners from penitentiaries and prisons in the near and far surroundings (Hamburg, Rendsburg, Neumünster) began. In the two world wars, prisoners of war from different nations were used to extract peat.

In 1915, the Royal Moor Administration of Lentföhrden built three identical buildings on the southern edge of the Himmelmoor (brick buildings, which were also called colonists' houses, one of them as a prison house) to accommodate 66 prisoners, and for the peat factory operation. Subsequently, a complex of several barracks and watchtowers was built in Himmelmoor, in which 500 Russian prisoners of war were housed and did forced labour in Himmelmoor.

Between the Wars

After the First World War, the leaseholder of the " Gewerkschaft Hausbach III" signed a contract with the prison in Rendsburg to ensure the supply of workers for peat extraction.

In 1936, the then peat plant operator "Gewerkschaft Hausbach III" had another building erected on the peat plant site as an extension of the prison camp. Here our memorial "Henri-Goldstein-Haus" will be established. This ensemble of buildings is still original. The city of Quickborn acquired the listed buildings from the Schleswig-Holstein State Forests in December 2019.

In World War II

Then on September 1, 1939, World War II began. Due to the high losses during the campaigns of the Wehrmacht, more and more prisoners were used as soldiers and fewer and fewer were transferred to the prisoner outpost in Himmelmoor. Therefore, from 1940 POWs were used for peat extraction. They were mainly Russians, who were very exhausted due to inadequate nutrition and long marches, but also French, Poles and, from 1942, Jews. The Jews were accommodated in the extension of 1936. Due to its location, it was very well suited to isolate them from all other prisoners. The building was fenced in by barbed wire, the area was illuminated and heavily guarded. About 50 Jews lived in this house under miserable conditions until the end of the war.

In the Post-war Period

The deployment of prisoners, most recently from the Neumünster prison, ended in the mid-1990s. Foundations of the wooden barracks and watchtowers still exist and give an idea of the size of the forced labour complex in Himmelmoor.