Leipzig-Thekla

Members of the Boys were slave labourers in the Leipzig-Thekla labour camp, a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp.

Buchenwald concentration camp was operated by Nazi Germany. The camp had 139 subcamps.

The Boys were teenage and child-Holocaust survivors, who were brought to the UK after the war for rest and rehabilitation.

The camp was located in the district of Leipzig, Saxony, eastern Germany. During World War II, many important production sites of the German arms industry were located in Leipzig. From 1943, six subcamps of Buchenwald concentration camp were established in Leipzig and its vicinity. At least 75,000 people were deported to Leipzig to work as forced labourers.

Structure

Leipzig-Thekla comprised three separate camp areas, each housing approximately 1,000 male prisoners. The prisoners were used as forced labourers in aircraft production as well as in construction and clear-up work outside the factory premises. They worked 12-hour day and night shifts every day of the week.  Extremely low food rations and a lack of proper footwear made survival difficult. Seriously ill prisoners and prisoners incapable of working were sent back to Buchenwald and replaced with new workers.

Dissolution & Liberation

In the spring of 1945, 1,000 additional prisoners, evacuated from other camps, arrived in Leipzig-Thekla.

On 13 April 1945, approximately 1,500 prisoners marched out of the camp. Zdenka Markovic was among them. They were joined by thousands of other men and women from other Leipzig concentration camps. Many died on the 500km march across Saxony. Many died on the 500-kilometre march across Saxony. Only around 300 prisoners survived and were liberated by the Red Army in Teplice, Czechoslovakia.

On 18 April 1945, more than 80 prisoners were burnt to death in one of the barracks or murdered while trying to escape over the barbed wire perimeter fence. This is known as the Abtnaundorf massacre, named after the Leipzig neighbourhood where it occurred.

The US Army liberated the camp on 19 April 1945.

Aftermath  

The US army filmed the evidence of the massacre. This footage was later used as evidence at the Nuremberg Trials. Although almost all the perpetrators were identified and arrest warrants were issued in 1947, the court proceedings were only initiated in 1975. In 1990, the proceedings were dropped without convictions.