From 1942 to 1945, at least 91 Soviet prisoners of war were accommodated in Fedelhören 1 in the center of Bremen in a riding stable. On August 6, 1942, the building construction senator commissioned the Building Department to immediately convert the building into a POW camp. While the riding hall remained on the ground floor, the first floor with the horse stables and the second floor were converted into a prisoner of war camp.
The prisoners of war were forced to load and unload wagons for goods handling in Bremen's main station, because Bremen became important as an industrial location. The Soviet prisoners of war worked in two shifts. Probably as a result of a bomb attack, the roof of the building burnt down almost completely in October 1944. Nevertheless, the building should still be used and the damage repaired by "self-help". For the last time the prisoner of war camp in the riding stable Fedelhören is mentioned in the course of repair measures on 10 April 1945.
The prisoner of war camp was located on the site of today's State Archives Bremen. The exact address is: Am Staatsarchiv 1, 28203 Bremen. The Staatsarchiv Bremen is partly open during the opening hours, the adjacent green area is open to the public.
In the course of the exhibition "Russian camp and forced labor. Images and memories of Soviet prisoners of war "in 2014 can be seen for the first time dealing with the former prisoner of war camp in civil society. For this purpose, Wolfgang Linder researched in the Bremen State Archives and published his research in the Reader for the exhibition.
Sources:
Staatsarchiv Bremen
4,29 / 1-1370
4,29/1 - 1402
3-M.2.4.3. Nr. 302
Literature:
Linder, Wolfgang: Reithalle Fedelhören – Pferdeboxen für Kriegsgefangene -Transportmittelumlaufbeschleunigung. Material aus dem Staatsarchiv Bremen, in: Kontakte-Kontakty e.V. (Hg.): „Russenlager“ und Zwangsarbeit. Über eine Ausstellung des Bremer KONTAKTE-KONTAKTbI-Freundeskreises im Haus der Wissenschaft, Bremen 2014
Veröffentlichungen aus dem Staatsarchiv der Freien Hansestadt Bremen, Band 36, 1968 Bremen, Das Staatsarchiv Bremen 1968. Behörde – Dokument – Geschichte.