We were deeply saddened to learn of the death of our founding member and long-standing chairman

Uwe Dannhauer

Uwe Dannhauer was a co-initiator of the private initiative that, in 2009, organised an information event about the former Schlieben concentration camp subcamp. In the packed hall of the Drandorfhof, he and other speakers gave the first comprehensive account of this dark chapter in Schlieben’s history – until then, almost nothing was known about the inhumane working and living conditions in the camp and at the HASAG munitions factory, situated just outside the town in the Berga forest.

This event was the spark that led to the founding, in July 2009, of the Gedenkstätte KZ-Außenlager Schlieben-Berga e. V. association. Uwe Dannhauer became chairman and, in this role until his death, guided its work and the development of the memorial at the former subcamp, preserved largely in its original state in the so-called Green Barrack, HASAG’s former administrative barrack.

Thanks to his intensive research, his tireless personal commitment to shaping the memorial and opening up the surrounding grounds, and his outstanding contacts with the Buchenwald and Ravensbrück memorials and other subcamp memorials and initiatives, he decisively shaped the memorial’s development. Thanks to his years of research, two memorial plaques were dedicated this April for the 222 prisoners who died in Schlieben – 8 women and 214 men. His commitment to remembrance was tireless: through tours, lectures and presentations he showed visitors, especially younger generations, where the inhumane and criminal policies of the Nazi era led here in Schlieben. Remembrance and admonition mattered enormously to him. He drew strength from unforgettable meetings with survivors, the last in spring 2018 with Sir Ben Helfgott, who survived the Schlieben camp as a 15-year-old. For his invaluable contribution and voluntary commitment, Uwe Dannhauer was honoured by the State of Brandenburg.

We owe to him the motivation to examine and document this part of Schlieben’s history, true to the motto ‘Remember, do not forget’ by Abraham Pasternak (1924–2017), who was himself imprisoned here.

We will always hold Uwe Dannhauer in grateful memory.

Gedenkstätte KZ-Außenlager Schlieben-Berga e. V.