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"Ossietsky - "A man speaks with a hollow voice from across the border" 1934.
The Emsland was known more for its peatbog marshes than for concentration camps, yet there was a series of semi-hidden
lagers in this area near the border of Germany and the Netherlands, near Hamburg. Esterwegen was a "strafgefangenenlager",
or a lager designed particularly for 'special punishment', and as such was filled with many political prisoners and members of
the resistance movement. Esterwegen was part of 15 camp system, initially a subcamp of Neuengamme. It was one of the few camps where the non-Jewish population was
larger, consisting of those from Belgium, France, Holland, Czechoslavakia, and other prisoners. The most famous prisoner was a Pacifist
German Writer, name Karl Von Ossietsky, who in 1935 won the Nobel Peace Prize without Nazi consent. Because of his outspoken opposition to the Third Reich
and imminent war effort, Ossietsky was interred at Esterwegen, contracted tb5, was put at hard labor after a heart attack and was so badly beaten/tortured that a Red Cross report of his condition led to
his hospitalization elsewhere; death came in 1938. Other prisoners included Soviets, Christians, Partisans of Belgium, Military prisoners, criminals,
homosexuals and some French blacks & some orientals. One other prominent prisoner, Dr. Schierbaum, the publisher of "Reichswaechter" (Reich Watcher)
, a well-known anti Nazi paper was also tried and punished strictly for his outspoken opposition of the Reich.
A massive cemetary is located on the property, although the means of all deaths are not widely known. One eyewitness report stated that 30,000 German Army deserters were interred and shot at Esterwegen, earlier in the 'Reich'. Other deaths came from shootings and the effects of cruel punishment including slave labor to 'mine' and farm the peatbogs and roadwork. Because of the large number of military persons incarcerated and the bogs, they were termed "the Peat Bog Soldiers."3 The hallmark of Esterwegen was degradation and humiliation through any barbarism and cruelty possible, due in part to the nature of the charges most were interred for: resistance. One of the biggest lagers when first opened (it was established before the war in 1923, & in 33), dissolved and assimilated into Sachsenhausen in '36
1 "Esterwegen", USHMM Learning Center/Archives. 2 "Esterwegen", edwardvictor.com:Concentration Camps3 "Esterwegen", Jewish Gen: Forgotten Camps: Esterwegen4 About.com History1900s:Esterwegen 5 Holocaust Chronicles6 Shofar File Archives:Nizkor 7 7 Ossietsky:Nobel Prize e-Museum