- Celler Hasenjagd
The Celler Hasenjagd (“hare chase of Celle”) was a massacre of concentration camp internees that took place in
Celle ,Prussian Hanover , in the last weeks of the Second World War. Those internees of the concentration camp Salzgitter Drütte who escaped from the forced transport were pursued and beaten or shot bySS guards,Gestapo ,Nazi party officials as well as members of the public.Events
On
April 8 1945 , a month before the unconditional surrender of Germany, transports from several concentrations camps were hit in anairstrike . 2,862 Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, Dutch, and French nationals from the Drütte camp, a subcamp to the Neuengamme concentration camp, forced into freight cars were located at the Celle yard en route to theBergen-Belsen concentration camp . Citation |last=Bertram |first=Mijndert |title=April 1945 : der Luftangriff auf Celle und das Schicksal der KZ-Häftlinge aus Drütte |year=1989 |pages= |location=Celle |publisher=City of Celle |url= |isbn=3925902090 de icon] This transport had joined others the day before, so the total count was around 4,000 men and women. On this transport, many internees died of exhaustion and malnutrition. de icon Höper, Dietrich. “8. April 1945 - Bomben auf Celle” in "Celler Zündel," a monthly municipal magazine, pp. p. 15-16, issue of April 1985. Available online at http://www.celle-im-nationalsozialismus.de/Texte/Hoeper_Bomben.html.] The freight train carrying the internees stopped next to an ammunition train which exploded during the air raid. In the ensuing inferno, most of the wagons carrying the internees were destroyed and a number of the internees lost their lives. de icon Buntes Haus e. V. “Die Celler ‘Hasenjagd’ ” in "Flugblatt zum 60. Jahrestag des Massakers an KZ-Häftlingen" distributed in Celle onApril 8 ,2005 , the date of the 60th anniversary of the event; available online at http://www.celle-im-nationalsozialismus.de/Texte/buha_2005.html.] The surviving internees fled either into the town or westward towards the Neustadt wood. The SS men opened fire on the fleeing internees. As soon as the air raid was over, the SS guards, as well as members of the local Nazi party, Gestapo, fire-brigade and the public pursued the fleeing internees.The internees who were caught and survived were detained on the sports ground off the Neustadt wood. Some 30 persons were executed for being suspected of looting. Most of the surviving internees were marched to Bergen-Belsen, while others were detained at the army's Heide barracks. Only 487 survivors reached Bergen-Belsen on the morning of April 10 — five days before the camp’s liberation by British and Canadian forces; the remainder either died of exhaustion or was murdered on the death marches.
Aftermath
The
British army liberated Celle on April 12 and launched an investigation into the events of April 8 – April 11. Their chronicler characterized the Heidekaserne as a “microcosm of Bergen-Belsen”. Estimates place the number of “hare hunt” victims at 200–300; remaining transport prisoners died of other causes.Only 14 military and police personnel and political leaders were tried in the "Celle Massacre Trial", which began in December 1947. Seven were acquitted of murder or accessory to murder because of insufficient evidence, whereas four were found guilty as perpetrators and sentenced to between four and 10 years in prison, and three were sentenced to death. One of the death sentences was overturned on appeal, and the other two were reduced to 15–20 years imprisonment as part of a clemency issued by the British military governor; all those imprisoned had been released by October 1952 for good behavior.
Further reading
* Freeman, Roger A; Crouchman, Alan; Maslen, Vic; (1990), "The mighty Eighth war diary", Rev. ed,
London : Arms and Armour Press, OCLC|59830319
* Saft, Ulrich, (1990), "Krieg in der Heimat - das bittere Ende zwischen Weser und Elbe", Langenhagen: U. Saft, ISBN 3980178900 de iconources and references
External links
* http://www.celle-im-nationalsozialismus.de/
* Section in the German wiki
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