Memorial panel at the former forced labour camp on Stresemannallee/ Clematisweg

Between 1940 and 1945, the German occupation authorities deported millions of men and women from the occupied territories to the German Reich as forced labourers. Women and girls from the Soviet Union who were referred to as ‘Eastern workers’ had to carry out forced labour in inhumane conditions for the armaments industry and other companies, including the Philips Valvo works and the Otto Gross battery factory (Habafa) in Hamburg-Lokstedt.

The living conditions and food situation in the camp were extremely poor. Even mothers were forced to work for 10 to 12 hours on six days a week, making it impossible for them to adequately care for their children. At least one infant died of pneumonia and malnutrition in the camp. A ‘Stolperstein’ memorial block was placed at Clematisweg 1 in remembrance of Talja Kontschewskaja.

On 18 June 1944, 140 female forced labourers were killed in the camp during an air raid.

On 17 November 2022, a memorial panel was placed on the site of the former forced labour camp on Stresemannallee (formerly Horst-Wessel-Allee).