On 7 February 1945, Auguste van Pels was transported from Bergen-Belsen concentration camp for work in Raguhn. Raguhn was a relatively small camp located on the western edge of the German village of Raguhn and was one of the sub-camps of Buchenwald concentration camp.^[1] The SS-Kommando Heerbrandtwerke AG in Raguhn was headed by SS-Hauptscharführer Herbert Dieckmann (1906-1986) and SS-Obersturmführer Hermann Grossmann (1901-1948). It employed about 45 male and female guards.^[2]

Buchenwald

Buchenwald main camp came into existence as early as 1937 and was one of the first and largest concentration camps on German soil. Between 1938 and 1945, around 240,000 people were imprisoned there. Like many other concentration camps, Buchenwald had numerous sub-camps over a large area, which were called outer camps or (outer) commands.^[2]

After arriving in Raguhn, the women were re-registered. Since the Raguhn sub-camp was part of Buchenwald concentration camp, they were included in that camp's records and given 'Buchenwald numbers'.^[3]

Forced labour

In Raguhn, between five and seven hundred women had to work in an aircraft parts factory of Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG. The women wore striped prisoners' clothing so that they were clearly identifiable. At the factory, the women had to assemble aircraft parts under the supervision of plainclothed supervisors.^[3]

Each week, shifts changed between day and night shifts. The work was heavy and inefficient. Due to the chaos of the final phase of the war, the factory faced a constant shortage of materials, which meant there was too little work for all the women in the camp. The prisoners also regularly had to seek refuge in shelters while working because of Allied bombing raids.^[4]

Conditions

In Raguhn, the women did not sleep in standard barrack huts, but in a number of former workshops and sanitary rooms. The prisoners were starving and about 10 per cent of the women were too sick to work. Many had already arrived sick from Bergen-Belsen. Over time, typhus fever also broke out in the camp. Women died in the camp from a variety of conditions: pneumonia, heart failure, meningitis and intestinal diseases.^[4]

Evacuation

In early April 1945, US troops approached Buchenwald camp and the SS decided to evacuate the Raguhn sub-camp. On 9 April 1945, guards again loaded the women from Raguhn into freight wagons, this time for transport to Theresienstadt. After a chaotic journey, they arrived there on 16 April 1945. Auguste van Pels had died during the train journey.^[5]