“My fate is but one of many thousands”

At the end of WW2 the Hamburg Gestapo (secret police) cleared the police prison Kola-Fu in Hamburg. Starting on 12 April 1945, 800 priso­ners, divided into several groups, were driven in four days of forced marches to the ”Arbeitserziehungslager Nordmark“. This euphemism translates into a so-called work education camp. It was located in Hassee, a suburb of Kiel, 80 kilometers away. Some prisoners were shot during the march, some more died after arriving in Kiel due to the ordeal and the malnutrition they suffered when on the march.
The biography group whose research has produced this volume is in close contact with relatives of some people who were part of this ordeal. So far they have placed commemorative tablets at five places, to honour the memory of those murdered on this march.
“In confronting the past, a process of knowledge emerges that grasps the human depth of history and determines how we can act. In view of the terrible racist offences in recent times, this is more important than ever.“ (Daniel Günther, Minister-President of the State of Schleswig-Holstein in a foreword)
Mehrere Häftlinge wurden unterwegs erschossen, weitere starben nach der Ankunft in Kiel aufgrund der Strapazen und der Unterversorgung während der Haft und des Weges.
Nach einem Überblick über die Geschichte dieses Todesmarsches dokumentieren die Autor*innen Schicksale von nach Riga deportierten Juden und Jüdinnen sowie von politischen Häftlingen und von weiteren Menschen, die auf unterschiedliche Weise von den Nazis als nicht konform angesehen und daher verfolgt wurden.