Lorenz Hemicker

Yeah, the plan B was to bring as much as possible of the factories, of the plants under the surface and produce planes and tanks and weapons under the surface.

This is a gigantic endeavor.

And it's not only a question of resources, but also a question of manpower.

And as you know, at the end of the World War, there were not many men left to work in factories.

So the solution for the Nazis was to use prisoners of war, Jewish people and criminals.

They had to do the job under horrible conditions.

Yeah, the people lived or survived in ordinary concentration camps.

They weren't an inch better than the other ones.

And as you pointed out, they worked under horrible conditions without enough food.

They had to work in the water.

They were very often victims of explosions.

They were victims of shootings because they didn't work fast enough.

If they became ill, they were dying because they didn't receive a medicine.

They had to stand outside because a lot of the trains didn't come due to the bombings.

They were on their feet for more than 16 to 20 hours.

It was absolutely horrible for them to work there.

And that's the reason why one third of all those people there in this concentration camp in Melk

were killed in the Second World War, died.

Ernst was one of the construction managers on the site.

There were two of them.