Aussenlager Richard

Location:

In the outskirts of a small town called Litomerice (Leitmeritz in German) in Czechoslovakia.

History:

The subcamp of concentrationcamp Theresienstadt was founded in July 1944 to provide cheap labor for building several underground factories. The nazi's planned to build three factories in Litomerice:

• Richard I for the Auto Union AG company, for the production of engines for tanks
• Richard II for the Osram GmbH company, for the production of light bulbs
• Richard III for the Philips company, for the production of radio tubes

Most of the factories were ready for production by the end of 1944.

Map of the underground "Richard" factories.

The camp was liberated on the 10th of May 1945. During the period the camp existed a total 15000 people were in the camp, a total of 5000 didn't survive the war.

Current status:

There is nothing left of the camp now these days. Only the crematorium of the camp still exists.

The underground system is not open for public.

The remains of the "Richard" tunnels.

The crematorium of the camp in 1993.

References:

• Het boek der kampen, page 306
• Terezin, pages 275-285/261-262
• Das Nationalsozialistische Lagersystem, page 44