Feasibility study – Documentation site on the former complex of subcamps in Allach
Subsequent use of the camp
After the U.S. Army liberated the camp, the former subcamp continued to be put to a variety of uses. First, the American administration settled displaced persons there, including former concentration camp inmates and forced laborers. At times, German soldiers were interned in the immediate vicinity. Later, German refugees and expellees were added. In 1951, the Munich Karlsfeld Federal Emigrant Camp was set up here.
The former sanitary barrack at Allach subcamp
Ludwigsfeld borough
This great variety of people crowded into a very small space gave rise to the new borough of Ludwigsfeld in 1953. The diverse residents were united by their position on the edge of society, which was also spatially manifested by the location of their settlement on the outermost periphery of Munich, practically without any access to the city. The conversion was achieved primarily according to economic considerations. Wherever possible, the infrastructure of the former subcamp continued to be used. Even today, the perimeters of the settlement are nearly congruent with those of the former subcamp complex. The individual storage areas can largely be traced by following the routing and configuration of the streets and roads. During archeological excavations on the grounds in 2016-2017, a large number of relicts from the time of the subcamp were found. Twelve skeletons of former prisoners were also recovered. They were reburied in the Waldfriedhof (forest cemetery) in Dachau with a multi-religious ceremony.
Feasibility study
Civic involvement, not least from among the residents of the borough of Ludwigsfeld, has increased public awareness of the former Allach subcamp in recent years. For this reason, and in order to do justice to the special significance of the subcamp complex, as well as the unique subsequent history of the site, the capital city of Munich and Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site commissioned a feasibility study for creating a new memorial at the site of the former Allach subcamp. The study was done by the Würzburg-based Büro Frankonzept in a transparent and participative procedure involving local clubs, victims’ associations and other participants, and presented to the general public on June 6, 2018.
The study can be viewed in German at:
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