Schöneweide Nazi forced labour camp memorial site

Schöneweide memorial - darkometer rating : 4 - A real rarity: a cluster of surviving original barracks that were once a Nazi forced labour camp in Berlin ... the only surviving authentic ones of their kind in fact. A relatively new documentation centre has been established here, which is still modest in what it offers (especially for foreign visitors), but is likely to be developed further. > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos More background info: There were thousands of forced labour camps in Berlin alone during the Nazi era and especially WWII – often serving to accommodate inmates from satellite camps of the area's main concentration camps (especially Sachsenhausen ). This one was established as camp "GBI 75/76" in 1943 and housed mainly Italian prisoners but also many from Eastern European occupied countries, as well as female concentration camp inmates. These had to work in the nearby industrial complexes, such as assembling batteries at the Pertrix factory (which after WWII continued under the name Batropa, in the GDR , until it was closed in 1999 as a result of chemical contamination). Little else is known about the camp and it was all but forgotten until the rediscovery of the site's historical significance in 1993. So it is all the more a near miracle that these buildings survived. After WWII, one part of the former camp was taken over by a vaccination institute, while the rest was occupied by small businesses and a day-care centre. The former, the camp's western half, had stood empty for years when its historical role was rediscovered. For a while it even was for sale – despite having been listed as a historic complex in 1995.