Memorial plaque for Andrzej Szablewski

On 13 March 1942, Andrzej Szablewski from Poland became the first forced labourer to be publicly executed in Hamburg. He was 29 years old. The Gestapo had suspected Szablewski of having a relationship with a German woman and requested ‘special treatment’ for him from the Reich Security Main Office in Berlin. On 24 March 2003, a memorial plaque was dedicated to him on the initiative of Dr Andreas Seeger and the Grün-Alternative Liste (Green-Alternative List, or GAL). The plaque was placed roughly on the site of the oak from which Szablewski was hung in the grounds of the former Hohenbuchen estate in Hamburg-Poppenbüttel. At the ceremony also some relatives of Andrzej Szablewski from Poland took part.