Prisoners were forced into the construction of massive underground facilities and the production system surrounding V-2 rockets.
The underground environment was dangerous and brutal.
Workers faced exhausting labor, poor sanitation and inadequate food.
The Nazi regime treated prisoners as disposable labor.
The consequences were devastating.
The historical record indicates that more than 20,000 people died within the Mittelbau camp system.
The scale of the death toll makes one fact impossible to ignore.
These were not isolated accidents.
The suffering was produced by a system.
A system that valued military production over human life.
Some survivors never got the chance to go home
For those who survived, liberation created an uncertain future.
Where would they go?
Who would they find?
What remained of their homes?
Would anyone recognize them?
Would they recognize themselves?
A person could walk through the camp gate as a liberated prisoner and still carry the psychological effects of imprisonment for decades.
