77 years ago the holocaust ended thanks to the efforts of the allied forces in WWII. Bill Casassa was one of those heroes. In 2021 we took Bill back to the concentration camp in Ahlem, Germany that his unit helped liberate.

On 30 November 1944, an advance commando consisting of around 100 concentration camp prisoners from the Stöcken satellite camp reached Ahlem, where they were forced to set up huts on property belonging to Continental Gummi-Werke AG and build washrooms and housing for the SS. On 30 November 1944, most of the prisoners from the Stöcken satellite camp were transferred to Ahlem, bringing the total number of prisoners to over 750 men.

SS-Hauptscharführer Otto “Tull” Harder, a well-known former Hamburg football player, was commander of the A 12 satellite camp in Ahlem. Many survivors also remember the feared SS-Rottenführer Wilhelm Damann.
The prisoners, most of whom were Jewish, were used to construct an underground tunnel to house the operations of the Continental Gummi-Werke rubber factory and the Maschinenfabrik Niedersachsen Hannover. This difficult work and the terrible conditions underground led to a high death rate. In January 1945, a transport consisting mostly of Soviet prisoners from Neuengamme main camp reached the Ahlem satellite camp. These prisoners were meant to replace prisoners who had died or become “unable to work”.

On 5 April 1945, preparations began in camp A 12 for the planned “evacuation march”. A day later, the prisoners who were still able to walk left the concentration camp and set off in the direction of Bergen-Belsen. It is not known how many prisoners were murdered by SS men along the way.
Around 200 sick prisoners were liberated by American soldiers in Ahlem on 10 April 1945.

#takingcareoftheoneswhotookcareofus


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