The Katzbach concentration camp was a subcamp of the Natzweiler concentration camp located in Alsace. Katzbach was set up in the factory building of Adlerwerke in Kleyerstrasse, Frankfurt am Main, in the final year of the war for works detail in arms production. Around 1600 prisoners from eight countries were interned in Katzbach during the time it was in operation from August 1944 until March 1945.
The research project will first take stock of existing sources of information and academic publications that have already been accessed. Further research will study the diverse composition of the prisoner groups and connections to the camps from which prisoners were transferred to Katzbach. Due to the close association with the Warsaw Uprising, this event must be included as well, with the project also examining Nazi authorities’ persecution of surviving insurgents. The project will also focus on how persons concerned remembered the events and how they interpreted them. In addition to Polish political prisoners, Katzbach concentration camp held inmates of other categories as well. The project also aims to follow up on as many individual biographies as possible, not least in order to lay the groundwork for later investigation. Furthermore, it will examine relevant issues concerning the relationship between the Adlerwerke and the SS, and those between the factory employees and the prisoners. And finally, the project will study the matter of compensation to the prisoners forced to labour there, which in turn opens up the view into the post-war era.