Large parts of today's commercial zone of the municipality Lohfelden, Kassel
industrial Park, are located on the former premises of the company Fieseler (Plant II & III). The firm was founded on April 1, 1930 as Fieseler Flugzeugbau in Kassel by World War I flying ace and aerobatic champion Gerhard Fieseler. Fieseler had been a manager for the Raab-Katzenstein, but when this company went bankrupt, Fieseler bought a sailplane factory in Kassel and quickly turned it to building sports planes. Fiseler started building more and more air planes for the Luftwaffe. The Kassel - Fieseler werks were one of the main armament firms in the the city of Kassel. The production capacity of the plant in Bettenhausen and the Kassel - Fieseler werkes plant II was not sufficient, so a new site at the airport Kassel-Waldau, the Fieseler Werk III, was built up. Fieseler also operated a
factory on Rothwesten Kaserne, (Fritz-Erler-Kaserne) where the V1 flying bomb (Buzz Bomb) was built from 1944 to April 1945. Rothwesten was also used to build planes that the other plants could not keep up with.
Since the start of series production in the late '30s there was not enough
suitable workers in the Kassel area. The company advertised for this reason
workers in the entire Reich. To supply these workers with housing more
settlements sprang up, including and also between Ochshausen Crumbach.
So, from a merger the two old places, the new site "Lohfelden" was formed.
List of some aircraft that were produced under license in Fieseler include:
Fieseler Fi 2 Sport Aircraft (pre ww2)
Fieseler Fi 5 Sports and trainer (pre ww2)
Fieseler Fi 98, fighter aircraft, biplane (pre ww2)
Fieseler Fi 167 torpedo bomber, reconnaissance (early ww2)
Fieseler Fi 156 (Fieseler Storch) STOL, reconnaissance (1936-1943)
Messerschmitt ME 109 (Bf 109)
Focke-Wulf Fw 190 (start 1943)
Fieseler Fi-103, the V1 flying bomb engines, (Buzz Bomb) (1944-1945)
At times, more than 10,000 working men and women, including thousands were
Dutch and French slave laborers who worked in the three works Fieseler Kassel.
The Forced Labor Workers at Fieseler Waldau had sleeping quarters under some of
the buildings.
The large orchard in the modern Industrial Park,
was held over from the one created in the late 1930s.
Waldau Airfield was first used in 1918, and had it's first building in 1924 by
enterprise-Dietrich-Gobit. The Fieseler works begin in 1936, and the building
that was Gerhard Fieseler Werke III at Waldau Airfield, is still there, but the airfield is no longer there. It is part of the Industrial Park, and is at the
intersection of Gobietstra�e and Falderbaumstra�e in the Waldau area.
Zeppelin at the Waldau Airfield in 1930
This is the Storch, FI 156, that was Fieseler's most famous plane
This is the V1, Buzz Bomb that he developed
Fieseler Werke #1
(Bettenhausen Area of Kassel)
Fieseler Werke #1 after bombing
Another after bombing of Fieseler in Bettenhausen
Some Pictures of the Fieseler Werkschutz
( Fieseler plant security )
Fieseler Werke #2
(this later became Waldau Kaserne)
This is a early WW2 picture of Waldau when it was owned by Gerhard Fieseler Werke.
Fieseler #2, with #3 seen at the top left
The village of Waldau is to the right
Production inside Fieseler #2, on Waldau
Picture of ME109's being built
Another View
The above two phots are the building at the end of Waldau
Kaserne closest to Lohfelden after the above bombing.
(this is the building that the 70th, 77th, and 598th
Trans Co later used for a motor pool)
The building that later became the Waldau Commissary, after the bombing
Fieseler Werke #3
At the Waldau Airfield, about 1500 meters west of #2
As small as the Waldau Airfield seems, latter called Y96 by the Allies, a 2 engine JU 388 German Bomber was landed there near the end of the War. After some research, I found the Waldau Air Field listed as 4,000 feet long.
The above picture was taken in Merseburg in 1945 and shows members of the 99th Air Service Squadron of the 365th Fighter Group of the Ninth Air Force posing in front of the captured Ju 388
This aircraft was surrendered to US forces at the Allgemeine Transport Gesellschaft factory at Merseburg in May 1945.
It was flown from Merseburg to Kassel/Waldau (Y-96) for servicing by the 10th Air Depot Group on 20th May 1945. It was later, on 17th June, flown to Cherbourg/Querqueville France, and taken to the USA aboard HMS Reaper. The Ju 388 was taken to Freeman Field and, after reconditioning, made demonstration flights to the press there in Sept 1945. By June 1946 it had returned to Freeman Field and was held in flyable condition. Technical report F-TR-1138-ND was written on this aircraft and issued in Oct 1946.
After the fall of Kassel, the Waldau Air Field (Y96) became the base for 10th Air Depot Group in 1945. Waldau had a 4000 x 120 ft runway.
There have been some USAAF landing accidents on Y-96: two involving a C-47 in April 1945, one with an F-5C in June 1945 and one with a P-47 due to an engine failure in November 1945. The war ended with the Armistice of 14 August 1945 (V-J Day), so the combat use of these airfields ended, and soon after they were closed out, or used to evac captured equipment. The air field was returned to Kassel for Civilian use on April 29, 1955.
The below 4 pictures are of German BF 109's captured at Waldau after the fall of Kassel
This is the Fieseler Werke #3 taken during WWII
Another View
Bombing of Fieseler #3
View of Fieseler Werke III area after the above air strike
Close up view
Severe damage was done during a later bombing
Fi 156 Storch Recon Planes at Fieseler Werke3 in Waldau
This was taken in 1945, just after the US took over Waldau Airfield
The Airfield was released to Civilian use on April 27 1955.
Waldau Airfield in 1957. Control Tower in Background
Waldau Airfield 1956
Airfield 1960
This is a hanger at Fieseler Werk #3, just south of the factory building
Same Building in 1965
The small building is the Airfield Control Building
The first successful airplane towed Gliders were done at Kassel-Waldau
airport, Germany, 12 March 1927 by Gerhard Fieseler in the tow plane
and Gottlob Espenlaub in the glider
The Airfield Control Building during the War
This is the Airfield Control Building, taken in 1951
This is one of the buildings at Rothwesten that Fieseler used for some of his assembly
work during the War, when it was called "Fliegerhorst Rothwesten". Fieseler
used a couple other buildings at Rothwesten also, but it is not known which ones.
This shows how the Waldau Airfield area has changed over the years The blue
building was Fieseler #3 Factory, and is the only building remaining of the airfield. Below is the only section of the air field runway that remains. It is used for parking space now.
The below 3 pictures show the Fieseler Werke 3 building that was at
the Waldau Air Field. It is the only thing still there shown as the blue
building in the above picture.
Looks like it is overdue some repairs.
Forced Labor Camps in Kassel
(to provide workers for the factories )
Camps for foreigners in Kassel (1940 - 1945)
Forced Labor Camp in Kassel
Most of the Forced Labor Camps were turned into temporary housing after the
War while better places were being cleared of damage or new housing was built.
This was taken in Lohfelden after the War, close to Waldau.
I have read many reports about the forced labor camps in Germany, and in all that mentioned the camps that Fieseler had control of, the people all reported that although they were technically prisoners, they were feed and treated well.
Stock Holl�ndische road [149]
Holl�ndischeStra�e The camp was the first of a large number (eleven were detected) by the firm of Henschel und Sohn - mostly procured on their own land or lease contracts - set up for foreigners. It was listed as Henschel Residential Camp I, sometimes called the camp midfield (because it is in close proximity to the work of the company Midfield Henschel) was set up as slave laborers and dormitories 1940th It was located between the Holl�ndische Stra�e and the Struthbachweg. It was more than 2,000 workers, mostly from Western countries set up. Like almost all the big camps are closed civilian workers and prisoners of war departments, a department in separate barracks. In an air raid in October 1943 it has been largely destroyed, the forced laborers were housed in tents and several weeks later, such as school buildings (Fasanenhof school, Paul von Hindenburg-Schule in Schulstra�e). The power exercised in the camp from the camp commander or the chief officer in conjunction with the work of protecting the company Henschel, which could in turn be based on foreign "employees". The work of protecting the company in 1940 Henschel was formally appointed as the auxiliary police, so that the members of police officers powers similar to those entitled. In addition, the "host plant" (NSDAP activists intervened in the operation) in the "care" of foreigners.
Stock Struthbachweg
The camp Struthbachweg (Henschel-residential camp II), bordered to the warehouse Holl�ndische road, but it was (probably) beyond the Struthbachwegs () in the direction of today's Vienna Street. There was also a very large warehouse. It included Soviet, Italian and French Kriergsgefangenenkommandos. It was originally set for 1941/42 from Italy "pulled workers" (from Henschel). Like most big camps, it was constantly expanded, so that the camp residents did not retain the character of a building site next to an end. When setting up the camp a number of allotment holders who surrender their land.
Stock Bunsenstra�e
The camp Bunsenstra�e (Henschel Residential Camp III) - was founded in 1942, presumably as part of the expansion of the residential camps I and II -. It was located between Helmholtzstra�e and Bunsenstra�e - consequently, on the other side of the street Holl�ndische Stra�e, seen from the residential camp I made - and consisted of a small number of barracks. It was described by witnesses as a Polish camp, although it has not been established with certainty whether any Polish nationals who were housed there. After the fall of Mussolini, the Italian military barracks were fenced and housed there.
Stock Lower King Street 99
The camp Lower King Street 99 (Henschel Residential Camp IV), also called the Polish women's camp, which was an established exclusively for women who contributed at Henschel forced labor camp. The camp was located on the site of today's main post office at Holl�ndischer Platz (check with Dettmar). First and foremost, there quartered women and girls from Poland and the Soviet Union came, but also so-called "western workers" were housed there. A second camp was reserved exclusively for women established in Bettenhausen in Ochsh�userstra�e 31-43, the women worked mainly in the company Wegmann.
Stock monks Brickyard Mountain
The camp monks Brickyard Mountain (Henschel Residential Camp VI) was one of several residential camps at the site of an old brick (clay pit furnaces and coal mining) on the mountain, and monks in whose district (up) on Ihr�ngshausener municipal area. It initially consisted of the developed furnaces and production of the abandoned brick warehouses, which had long since passed into the possession of Henschel. In addition to the residential camps was located on that site, a penal camp of the Gestapo Kassel. The camp monks mountain brickyard was established in spring 1942 as a residential camp for Russian workers "as early as the fall of 1942 and extends from adjacent barracks. Witnesses report that so-called "corporal punishment" - item included slaps and kicks to understand - on the agenda were. The "Russians" were closed led to the work, the clatter of wooden shoes, she resigned.
Stock monks mountain Wielandstra�e
The small mining camp monks Wielandstra�e (Henschel-residential camps VII) was intended mainly for the reception of patients. Two "hospital barracks" and a quarantine building (the "inclusion of workers with contagious diseases"), which was separated by a fence from the rest of the camp that belonged to this camp.
Stock monks mountain Stockbreite
The camp monks mountain Stockbreite (Henschel-residential camps VIII) was probably built before 1942, "made as a new stream of foreign workers ... the further development of a vast camp below the Brickyard ... necessary". Several thousand people (we suspect 2ooo to 3ooo) from various nations have been accommodated in this pure camp.
Stock monks mountain Ihringsh�userstra�e
The relatively large bearing monks mountain Ihringsh�userstra�e as Henschel residential camps IX probably not until mid-1943 built, was designed exclusively for "Western workers" (Italy, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg). It was southeast of the Ihringsh�userstra�e.
Stock monks mountain road Simmer Houses
The camp houses Simmer monks mountain road was at the upper end of the road and houses Simmer was only established in 1943 as a Henschel-residential camps for several X tausned people. It belonged to the big foreigner Kassel. In the above-mentioned five monks living around mining camps from 8000 to 10,000 people.
Apparently so for Henschel exhausted the available area at the mountain monks, because the next camp for foreigners, was built by the firm of Henschel, the so-called Henschel residential camps XI was outside of Kassel, set up on the mountain in shepherd M�nchehof / Espenau end of 1943.
Stock Matt Berg
The Matt mountain camp was probably the second biggest camp for foreigners (behind the monks, mountain camps) of Kassel in the war. In the 54 barracks were at the same time more than 6000 people from many countries located (from the Soviet Union, Poland, France, Italy, Serbia, Czechoslovakia, Alsace. Lorraine and others), at the Henschel aircraft engine works (HFM) work in Altenbauna (site of today's Volkswagen plant Baunatal) had. The HFM, had other plants in Germany, were involved in 12-16% of the German aircraft engine production in the war. The Matt mountain camp had set up a kindergarten, who supervised more than 400 children. In the camp were separately fenced in and guarded, housed Soviet prisoners of war in green barracks. Despite the destruction caused by airstrikes part of the camp was used until the war ended. After the war moved into the barracks used as a shelter displaced persons, the homeless, refugees, displaced persons, gypsies set up at the top of Matt Berg a caravan camp - until the city had demolished the last barracks and the Fire Service in the 60s, the last car of land paddock was burned and the residents assigned housing.
Junkers Camp 1: Forstbachweg 2
The camp located in 1 of the Bettenhausen Junkers Works (now the site of the AEG) was "intended only for" Western workers. France, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg were demonstrably housed there. Together with the Junkers camp 2 it was one of the great Cassel camps: in the 28 barracks were located at the same time, each of about 3000 people. When the air raid on 3 October 1943, the two Junkers significantly destroyed camp.
Junkers Camp 2: Forstbachweg 4
The camp was only 2 of the Junkers works for Eastern workers (from the Soviet Union) and Poland has been established. It was surrounded by a 2m high fence and barbed wire from company police guarded the Junkers works. This works police worked closely with the Security Service of the secret police, they learned of the instructions. The workers were held in closed columns to work. "Punitive measures" should be carried out in the camp, which recihten at that time against the "eastern peoples" of the withholding of food to the murder by hanging.
Fieseler Camp 1: Lilienthalstra�e at the sports ground 03
This is the first major camp of the Fieseler Werke in Bettenhausen. It was built in 1941 and conducted under the name Stock Wartheland. There were there) Polish and Russian civilian workers (men and women. The camp was surrounded by a 2m high wire fence and guarded by the security guard, with the Security Service of the Gestapo "worked". A former resident of the camp recalls the murder of (so-called "execution") of Poland in the camp, and while the speech delivered an operating officer. In the short term were 1942 and 1943 "Western workers' housed there.
Fieserler Camp 2: N�rnberger Strasse
At camp located in Nuremberg's Road (at today's highway 83), also called stock Waldau, was it initially a part of the camp Wartheland that should be extended ". In April 1943 Dutchmen, Belgians and French from the camp Wartheland here, and so it was a purely "western camp" arrived. After a heavy air raid on 30 July 1943 the camp was rebuilt Waldau and existed until the war ended.
Staple fiber A.G. Camp 1: Lilienthalstra�e
It has been a question of a camp for "east" - and "Western workers", which was located near the Spifa. The camp was guarded and surrounded by barbed wire fence. It was destroyed in 1943 during an air raid.
Staple fiber A.G. Camp 3: Am Eichwald
This was the so-called Oakwood barracks. The camp was "designed exclusively for" Western workers, who (no guards were able to move relatively freely). It was right on the Losse. A smaller camp 2 of Spifa was in the street Ochsh�user 31-43.
Storage Diana Work: Windhukstra�e 38
The camp was set up for "Eastern workers" and "Western workers" and surrounded by a barbed wire fence. Of maltreatment in the camp reported the police report from the postwar period.
Fa Wegmann: Stock Siemensstra�e
Forced laborers from France and Belgium, who had to work with Wegmann, were housed here. A former resident of this camp recalls the murder of a Russian co-workers (from the "Russian" side of the company Wegmann in Schillerstrasse), who had been accused of stealing a suit. The camp was in the air raid Siemens Street, 22 October 1943 destroyed.
Stock Salzmann
The camp of Salzmann & Co. factory was located in the Sandersh�user 34th Street For a long time women were housed there from Poland and the Soviet Union, who had to work at the factory .. In September 1944 the camp Salzmann same time a so-called hybrid bearings: so-called "mixed Jewish spouse" and "Jewish half-breeds is" were housed there. Altogether there were 1000 to 3000, had been transferred from other parts of Germany (eg, from Dortmund) into this labor of Kassel-Bettenhausen (Henschel).
Stock Wartekuppe
The camp was Niederzwehren Wartekuppe in Polish at the beginning of the war, prisoner of war camp, later it was forced labor camps for those who work for the company to Cred�. They were housed women and men there. In 1944 this camp was a hybrid bearings (similar to the camp Salzmann, attached only much smaller). A "Jewish Barracks" was established, which was separated by a fence from the other camp. The inhabitants of the barracks met Jews - as "survival of the Community" as a time of witness reports - along with the slave laborers and forced laborers in air strikes only if both groups were trying to protect themselves in a ditch. Other so-called hybrid bearings have been established in Kassel in schools in the Schiller Street and Oberzwehren 1944th
KZ Aussenkommando Kassel: In Druseltal 85
From July 1943 until the American invasion on 4 April 1945, there has been in Kassel, a small camp with about 150 prisoners. It was one of the 136 commandos of the concentration camp Buchenwald (near Weimar). Were carried out by the prisoners (from Poland, the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Belgium, France and the Netherlands) works for the Higher SS and Police Leader of Prince Josias Waldekc and Pyrmont.
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