Experiencing History

For some years now, volunteer workcamps have been helping with excavation work on site in cooperation with archaeologists. Remains of buildings, roads and paths as well as everyday objects and building and barrier material have already been recovered. We are now planning to build a modern educational trail on the site, which visitors can use to learn about the history of the camp. This requires further important archaeological work, e.g. uncovering parts of the former camp road and the site of a camp kitchen, as well as clearing and cutting free overgrown building sites and paths. The work will be carried out under the expert guidance of at least one archaeologist. The Ehrenhain Zeithain memorial commemorates the at least 25,000 people who were victims of malnutrition and catastrophic conditions in the Wehrmacht prisoner of war camp from 1941 to 1945. As part of the German war of extermination against the Soviet Union, a prisoner of war camp was set up in Zeithain in 1941. Initially, only Soviet soldiers from the Red Army were detained in the camp. At the time, Ukrainian and Russian soldiers fought together in the Red Army. Up to 30,000 of them died due to inhumane living conditions. From February 1943, the camp served as a central military hospital for prisoners of war. During this period, prisoners from other nations also arrived. Italian soldiers represented a large group. The majority of them also died due to insufficient food and poor medical care. The dead were buried in five cemeteries in the municipality of Zeithain. The memorial is located in one of the cemeteries. There is an exhibition and name plaques commemorating the victims of the camp. The area of the POW camp was completely cleared after 1945. The huge 66-hectare site is now part of the Gohrischheide nature reserve and is an uncultivated natural landscape. The aim of this workcamp is to give young people the opportunity to become familiar with archaeological challenges by researching historical heritage, but also to acquire knowledge about forms of remembrance work.