Hagibor, the concentration camp near Kafka's grave

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In the summer of 1944, a total work force mobilization came into effect. All people labeled as Jews had already deported, but Prague still contained “Jewish half-breeds” and “Aryan-marriage protected” persons. For these people from "mixed marriages", a concentration camp with ten barracks was built on the former Hagibor sporting grounds in July 1944. The whole area, including the former Jewish Home for the Sick, was fenced in with a barbed wire, and there was an SS unit with a machine gun on guard.

Female prisoners were forced to work in a military grade mica factory. The new camp at Hagibor also served as a deportation center, a collection camp for people being deported to Terezín.

In January 1945, the mica production was moved to the Terezín ghetto as well, and Hagibor became a prison camp for “Aryan” men who refused to divorce their Jewish wives. Several famous personalities of Czech culture were imprisoned at Hagibor. On May 5, 1945, prisoners of the camp rebelled and joined the Prague uprising. Almost immediately following the end of the war, Hagibor became an internment camp for people labeled as Germans (those who were not able to speak accent-less Czech). The conditions at the camp were appalling; 615 people died at the Hagibor camp between the liberation on May 5, 1945 and June 1946.


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