During the Second World War, the Thuringian town of Crawinkel played an important role in the National Socialist armaments apparatus. An underground ammunition and weapons factory was built in the immediate vicinity of the village, which was part of the so-called “Sonderbauvorhaben SIII” – a secret construction project of the SS and the Todt organization, which was carried out in the last years of the war under the greatest secrecy. Crawinkel was intended as the site for an underground ammunition factory where weapons and ammunition for the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS were to be produced.
In the immediate vicinity, prisoners had to work under inhumane conditions on the construction and expansion of the underground facilities. They suffered from extremely hard physical labor, hunger, cold, abuse and a lack of medical care. Many did not survive the ordeals – exact figures are difficult to determine, but it is assumed that several thousand died.
Subcamp SIII was thus an example of the inhumane exploitation of concentration camp prisoners for construction and armaments projects important to the war effort in the service of the SS and the National Socialist state. Although the munitions factory in Crawinkel was only one part of the overall project, it exemplifies the close links between the economy, forced labor and Nazi terror.
Today, memorials and research projects commemorate the history of these places and the suffering of the victims. It is thanks to Klaus-Peter Schambach’s many years of commitment that a significant structural relic is still visible and accessible on the site of the former munitions facility (MUNA)
Crawinkel: an exposed foundation with a preserved entrance to one of the former buildings.
The facilities around Crawinkel, many of which have been blown up or buried, are silent witnesses to a cruel past that is still being dealt with today.
