From 1943 onwards, numerous production facilities were relocated underground in the Third Reich as part of the “Total War“. Due to the geological situation, the distances to the ranges of the allied bombers and the goal of Fritz Sauckel to establish a “Trutzgau”, a kind of last refuge for the leader of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler, Thuringia was particularly suitable for this. An underground production facility for 1200 Messerschmitt Me 262 per month was to be built on a production area of 250,000 m² near Kahla in the Walpersberg mountain. In fact, only a few aircraft were produced by the so-called REIMAHG (“Reichs Marschall Hermann Göring”) until the end of the war, according to estimates several thousands of the up to 15,000 forced laborers lost their lives. After the war, the bunkers and the entrances to the mountain were blown up by the Soviet occupation, including the airfield on the mountain. The photos show remains of the blown up bunkers as well as further artefacts on the mountain Walpersberg. The German Democratic Republic restored part of the underground storage facilities for war ammunition. The association “Geschichts- und Forschungsverein Walpersberg e.V.” keeps alive the memory of the history of the mountain. The following photos are kept in black and white in memory of the forced laborers who were killed.
