Arbeitsdorf

Arbeitsdorf was a concentration camp established by the Nazis in 1942.

History and the purpose of the camp
In 1936, a German car engineer by the name of Ferdinand Porsche designed a prototype of a car that would be affordable enough for all Germans to buy. He then showed his idea to the then dictator of Germany, Adolf Hitler. Hitler liked his idea and ordered the manufacture of the car which was known as the KDF-Wagen or later known as the Volkswagen vehicle.

With Hitler's approval, Porsche and his business partner Albert Speer set up a factory in Fallersleben, a town 30 miles northeast of the city of Braunschweig, and because of the war, all production from this camp was to be used for military purposes only. In 1942, Porsche and Speer started a project to see how they could use concentration camp inmates for cheaper, and large-scale production of their cars, in order to benefit their industry. So on April 8, 1942, a new concentration camp, Arbeitsdorf, was opened to produce the KDF-Wagen.

Closing and the death toll of the camp
On October 11, 1942, six months after the camp was first established, production of the vehicles was stopped and the camp was closed. A minimum of 600 prisoners perished at Arbeitsdorf.