Hallendorf work re-education camp - “Lager 21”

In 1940 the “Reichswerke” gave the Gestapo in Brunswick free use of “Lager 21” (Camp 21). Here, as a deterrent and a tool of oppression against the civilian population, the Gestapo set up a “work re-education camp”, where men (and after 1942, women too) could without trial be officially incarcerated for three to eight weeks - and, as was often the case, for much longer still. The multitude of grounds for imprisonment ranged from unexcused absence from work to listening to enemy radio broadcasts, from telling jokes about the Third Reich to making contact with foreigners. The Gestapo also used “Lager 21” as a centre for torture and execution, as well as a transit camp for prisoner transports to concentration camps. Almost 1 000 victims of murder are known by name.