Johanngeorgenstadt Subcamp
December 1, 1943 – April 16, 1945
The first subcamp of Flossenbürg set up to serve the needs of the armaments industry.
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View of the former factory grounds in Johanngeorgenstadt, 2018 (Flossenbürg Concentration Camp Memorial / Photo: Rainer Viertlböck)
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Former furniture factory in Johanngeorgenstadt, 2018 (Flossenbürg Concentration Camp Memorial / Photo: Rainer Viertlböck). Since 2022, the building is demolished.
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Prisoners
Until the end of May, numerous transports of over 800 prisoners arrived. Half of the prisoners came from the Soviet Union, 200 each from Poland and France, 60 from Germany, and others from 9 further nations. In January 1945, 988 prisoners were registered.
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Forced labor and quarters
Operating in two shifts, construction of the tail units, wings and slats of the Me 109 for the Erla Maschinenwerk GmbH Leipzig (manufacturing under license). Both the production and prisoner quarters were located in a disused furniture factory, enclosed by an electrified fence.
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Guards
Detail leader Cornelius Schwanner, from January 1945, Gottfried Kolacevic; 40 SS men, later also air force soldiers, 59 men (January 1945)
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Death toll
At least 50 deaths, at first from physical beatings and executions, but from the beginning of 1945 mostly from sickness (Typhus, Tbc).
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Disbanding of the camp / end of the war
On April 16, 1945, the subcamp was disbanded and the surviving prisoners arrived on May 8, 1945 in Theresienstadt by foot and by train.
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Commemoration
A gravesite at the municipal cemetery memorializes the French, Russian, and Italian victims. A plaque which was mounted on the furniture factory before its demolishing should be installed somewhere else on site in the future.