Evil events contaminate landscapes. Conversely, places store memories, even when events have long been forgotten. Does a place remain the same if a concentration camp was built in that place, if people were murdered in that places, if people had to suffer unbelievable things and fears in that places. I don't think so. Such places, not seldom idyllic places, preserve a restlessness and uneasiness, similar to the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. They are keeping the dark truth.
The former satellite camp Saal an der Donau, part of the Flossenbürg concentration camp, existed from November 1944 to April 1945. About 750 prisoners had to build underground production facilities for the Nazi air force company Messerschmitt. The prisoners had to spend the winter in hovels and holes in the ground and were life-threateningly undersupplied. At least 360 prisoners died during the six months the concentration camp was in operation. The prisoners came from 15 nations, about one sixth of them were of Jewish origin. For decades, there was nothing to memorialize the camp. Just in 2000, on private initiative, a provosory memorial path was erected. In 2016, the city unveiled a memorial plate. The photos are part of a larger project and were taken in 2012.
