ELBING [aka BRÜCKENKOPFBAU, STOBOIBEI ELBING]

A subcamp was formed on November 20, 1944, pursuant to the commandant’s order issued that same day. The chief of Amtsgruppe D at the SS-Business Administration Main Office (WVHA) had given permission for the camp to be formed on November 10, 1944.1 SS-Oberscharführer Wilhelm Werner was designated camp commandant (Lagerführer); he was replaced by SS-Oberscharführer Albert Paul Höldtke on December 18, 1944.Some 24 guards sent by Elbing military headquarters (Wehrmachtskommandantur Elbing) were assigned to the detachment’s transport and supervision, and SS women Margarete Okon (starting December 19, 1944) and Edith Thews and Johanna Wisotzki (January 1945) were also assigned from the Stutthof camp.2 In official correspondence the camp was called Aussenarbeitslager Stoboi bei Elbing. The name Brückenkopfbau was also used.3 This was the name used for the military fortifications in the outskirts of Elbing (Elbląg). The detachment was headquartered in Stoboi (later Kamiennik Wielki) near E...