Ministerium des Innern Pressesprecherin

AMT / OBERSPREEWALD - Der Amtsdirektor - Press Release Dated 2009-04-21

Hopes for certainty after years of searching: Start of excavations on a property in search of a mass grave of 753 Jewish concentration camp victims Schönbohm: Grave site will become a place of dignified eternal peace and silent commemoration

On a property at Jamlitz (Dahme-Spreewald district) reconnaissance excavations in search of a mass grave of Jewish victims of Nazi death camps will begin tomor- row. This mass grave is thought to be the largest mass grave in outside of any concentration camp. This was made public by minister of the Interior Jörg Schönbohm in a press conference at Jamlitz today. It is suspected that this plot of land of approx. 5,000 square meters is the location of a mass grave of 753 women and men, who on the 2nd of February 1945 were shot dead in a murder action of the SS. Prisoners who were ill or unable to walk were murdered when the sub- camp Lieberose of the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp was abandoned. During a second mass shooting on the 3rd of February 1945 another 589 concen- tration camp prisoners were shot dead. Their mortal remains had been unearthed in 1958 and 1971 in the course of construction work being carried out in a gravel pit near Staakow.

Before the press today, minister Schönbohm called attention to the great efforts made for many years of finding the as yet undiscovered grave site of the death camp victims, who are thought to have been mostly of Hungarian and Polish ori- gin. “It has been and it still is a historic and moral duty and at the same time a decidedly political responsibility of the state and of the municipalities to establish

Ministerium des Innern • Henning-von-Tresckow-Str. 9-13 • 14467 Potsdam • Pressesprecherin: Dorothee Stacke • Tel.: (0331) 866 2060 • Fax: (0331) 866 2666 • Internet: www.mi..de • E-Mail: [email protected] AMT LIEBEROSE/OBERSPREEWALD • Kirchstraße 11 • 15913 • Amtsdirektor: Bernd Boschan • Tel.: (03 54 75) 863 0 • Fax: (03 54 75) 8 63 78 • Internet: www.amt-lieberose-oberspreewald.de • E-Mail: [email protected]

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Seite 2 Ministerium des Innern Pressesprecherin clarity in this matter, to set the hearts and minds of the families of the victims at AMT LIEBEROSE/ ease. It might then become possible to turn the grave site into a place of dignified OBERSPREEWALD eternal rest and silent commemoration”, said Schönbohm at Jamlitz. He ex- - Der Amtsdirektor - pressed his gratitude to the municipalities of Lieberose/Oberspreewald and Jamlitz for their great determination in trying to come to terms with ‘a dark chapter of local history’ “Without such often painful sensitivity of the local people there can be no real reconciliation”, emphasized Schönbohm. Tomorrow will be the 64th anniver- sary of the liberation of Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp in April 1945.

Following peaceful reunification in 1989 the search for the undiscovered mass grave of concentration camp victims began in an effort of coming to terms with this aspect of local history. The government offices currently responsible for estab- lishment, construction and maintenance of the grave site began with the search in the mid-nineties. Due to the apparent extent of the search measures required, the ministry of interior, which is competent for issues related to graves and grave- yards, then took over coordination of the project establishing a task force 'Jamlitz' in 2002 with participants from various other government offices and organisations. Among the participants were the Central Consistory of Jews in Germany and the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation. By 2004 around 20 possible sites having a size of more than 200,000 square meters had been searched.

However, the property at Jamlitz had remained unsearched even though it had been thought of as the “prime suspect area” right from the beginning based on eyewitness statements and insights gained from research carried out by histori- ans. A search of the site had been impossible, because the owner of the property did not give his consent to such a search despite of year long legal struggles. Even court proceedings instigated by the municipality of Lieberose/Oberspreewald to obtain a court order for a search of the property did not meet with success. It was only in the autumn of last year that in the course of court proceedings a set- tlement was reached between the municipality and the land owner, which cleared the way for reconnaissance excavations on the property. Then a new work com- mission ‘Jamlitz II’ was formed with participants from all the relevant government offices and organizations. This commission prepared the way for the now begin- ning reconnaissance excavations.

The prosecutor general of the federal state of Brandenburg last year renewed criminal proceedings against unknown persons based on new insights gained by historical research in relation to the murder action. Point of departure had been a scientific expertise prepared by the director of the Brandenburg Memorials Foun- dation regarding the existence and likely location of the mass grave. Previous investigations by the public prosecution department had to be discon-

Seite 3 Ministerium des Innern Pressesprecherin tinued in 2002, because one of the accused had died and the second accused AMT LIEBEROSE/ had been declared unable to stand trial. OBERSPREEWALD - Der Amtsdirektor - During the press conference held at Jamlitz today, Dr. Peter Fischer of the Cen- tral Consistory of Jews in Germany stated:

“The Jewish community at home and abroad and even more so the descendants and families of the Jews murdered at Jamlitz regard this search for the mortal remains of Jewish victims at the historical and authentic location of the massacre as part of the intensely painful process of coming to terms with German history and with the catastrophic consequences of National Socialism. All the decades after the war have not taken away any of that pain. Investigations of the murder site and the search for the mortal remains of the victims will be carried out entirely under the banner of elementary human rights. During all those years of historical research we have come to greatly respect the Germans who have shared this understanding with us and who have made this a matter of their personal en- gagement.”

In 2006 the director of the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation Prof. Dr. Günter Morsch, said:

“We sincerely hope, that the reconnaissance excavations, which are now about to begin, will provide certainty as to the location of the 753 victims, who were mur- dered by the SS on the 2nd of February 1945. More than 60 years have passed since the deed was committed, for many decades the matter was disregarded by the government of the GDR, many searches had been carried out with immense technical efforts on numerous other suspect sites, and many years went by with extended and outrageous litigation regarding access to this site, which had been considered the most likely site right from the start. Despite of all this, hope remains that this chapter of the history of the Holocaust will be finally clarified and the vic- tims provided with a dignified grave site.”

On behalf of the municipality of Lieberose/Oberspreewald Amtsdirektor Bernd Boschan emphasized:

“In the search for the mass grave of Jewish concentration camp victims the Jamlitz and Lieberose/Oberspreewald municipalities were facing right from the beginning their own historic responsibility in coming to terms with the Nazi past. We are therefore very glad that after so many years of searching in vain and having con- tended with extremely difficult legal issues we have now found a solution. Finally the property with the suspected grave site may be searched. When the victims of

Seite 4 Ministerium des Innern Pressesprecherin the barbarous mass murders of the SS during the final days of the sub-camp are finally found, it will be a matter of great relief to all residents of the municipality of AMT LIEBEROSE/ Jamlitz.” OBERSPREEWALD - Der Amtsdirektor - Oberstaatsanwalt Eugen Larres of the prosecutor general’s office of the federal state of Brandenburg said:

“The investigations, which are now being carried out by the prosecutor general’s office, have two main aspects. One of them is the possible discovery of further eyewitnesses, who might be able to provide information on the exact circum- stances and background of the murder action. The other is that additional insights throwing light upon the crime may be gained from the search for the mortal re- mains of the victims, which is now focussed on one suspect area. Whether or not these investigations will meet with success, i.e. whether or any alive suspects may still be discovered, appears highly doubtful considering the great distance in time. On the other side it is not entirely impossible either, since the SS troops (Wa- chbataillon 4) stationed at Jamlitz at the time had between 120 and 130 SS mem- bers at an age of then approx. 20 years. The gravity of the crimes committed de- mands that any and all new and untried investigative approaches be used with greatest determination as new avenues of investigation open up.”

The Brandenburg state offices for maintenance of memorials and the state mu- seum of archaeology commissioned with the reconnaissance excavations, which are beginning tomorrow, expects the search of the property at Jamlitz to take ap- proximately three weeks.

After the war the Soviet Special Camp No. 6 was located on the site of the former sub-camp of the concentration camp. Between 1945 and 1947 more than 3,400 died in this internment camp. These dead are commemorated in the forest grave- yard of nearby Schenkendöbern.