View source for HASAG

{{Short description|Former German metal goods manufacturer}}
{{For|the [[Romania]]n village of Hașag|Loamneș}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2011}}
{{Infobox company
| name = HASAG
| image = Częstochowa - Hasag-Pelcery plaque 2.jpg
| image_size = 320px
| image_caption = HASAG plant in [[Częstochowa]], [[occupied Poland]]. Nearby plant at [[Skarżysko-Kamienna]] had an estimated death toll of 35,000 people before 1945
| native_name = Hugo Schneider AG
| native_name_lang = de
| type = [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|Slave labour]]
| industry = [[Arms manufacturing]]
| founded = <!-- if known: {{start date|YYYY|MM|DD}} in [[city]], [[country]] -->
| founder = <!-- or: | founders = -->
| hq_location =
| hq_location_city =
| hq_location_country =
| area_served = <!-- or: | areas_served = -->
| key_people =
| products =
| owners = [[Joint venture]]
| num_employees = 16,581 prisoners of [[Auschwitz]], 5,288 at [[Schönefeld]],<ref name="conne" /> 1,902 from [[Buchenwald]],<ref name="cold-flöss" /> 41,800 from [[Jewish ghettos in German-occupied Poland]]<ref name="heart"/> as well as at least 13,850 German employees mostly in managerial positions <ref name="conne" />
| num_employees_year =  1942
}}
'''HASAG''' (also known as Hugo Schneider AG, or by its original name in {{langx|de|Hugo Schneider Aktiengesellschaft Metallwarenfabrik}})<ref name="heart"/> was a German metal goods manufacturer founded in 1863. Based in [[Leipzig]], it grew from a [[small business]] making lamps and other small metal products by hand into a large factory and publicly traded company that sold its wares in several countries. During the [[Second World War]], Hasag became a Nazi arms-manufacturing conglomerate with dozens of factories across [[German-occupied Europe]] using slave labour on a massive scale. Tens of thousands of Jews from Poland, and other prisoners, died producing munition for Hasag.<ref name="bolechowski">{{cite web | url=http://www.echodnia.eu/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140717/POWIAT0110/140719160&Template=printpicart | title=Przywrócą prawdę o Hasagu. W skarżyskim obozie pracy w czasie wojny zginęło około 35 tysięcy osób | trans-title=Restoring truth about Hasag. At its Skarżysko-Kamienna camp during World War II some 35,000 prisoners perished | publisher=EchoDnia.eu | work=Monograph "Hasag" by Krzysztof Gibaszewski published by Muzeum Orła Białego, Poland | date=17 July 2014 | accessdate=28 April 2015 | author=Mateusz BOLECHOWSKI | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150428130837/http://www.echodnia.eu/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20140717%2FPOWIAT0110%2F140719160&Template=printpicart | archive-date=April 28, 2015 | url-status=dead| df=mdy-all }}</ref>
It began making armaments during the [[First World War]], a decision that ultimately increased the company's profitability. The loss of military business after the war resulted in dropping sales. HASAG struggled during the 1920s in the [[Weimar Republic]]. As the [[Nazi Party]] grew in influence and [[March 1933 German federal election|eventually came to power]] in 1933, growing militarism led to the company's return to [[arms industry|small arms production]] under the new SS leadership. Following the [[invasion of Poland]] at the onset of World War II the company expanded to accommodate thousands of  ''[[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|NS-Zwangsarbeiters]]'' from concentration camps and ghettos. It was the third largest user of [[forced labor]] in Europe, with armaments factories in Germany and Poland. Though HASAG was dismantled after the war, the [[trademark]] remained in use until 1974.
== History ==
[[File:Hugo Schneider 1888.jpg|thumb|200px|Hugo Schneider, 1888]]
The company was founded in September 1863 as Häckel und Schneider in Paunsdorf, near Leipzig,<ref name="conne">[http://www.conne-island.de/nf/107/21.html Nazi history in Leipzig] conne-island.de Retrieved March 22, 2010 {{in lang|de}}</ref> with 20 employees who made lamps by hand.<ref name="conne" /><ref name="worm">Holger Worm, [http://www.wachauer-petromax.at/htmlobj-hasag_entwicklung/hasag-entwicklung_produkte_feb07.pdf Chronology and overview of Hasag products] (PDF) Wachauer-Petromax (January 19, 2007). Retrieved March 23, 2011 {{in lang|de}}</ref>  Hugo Schneider was a 27-year-old [[Silesia]]n salesman; his partner, Ernst Häckel, was a [[plumber]], who had started the business making lamps, [[tinware]] and painted wares in 1854.<ref name="worm" /> Over the next few years, the company began making [[gas lamp]]s, the production of which soon increased with the growing use of gas lighting.<ref name="worm" /> Schneider took over his partner's share of the business in 1871 and by 1880, the firm had grown from a simple [[factory]] to an industrial plant, with 200 employees.<ref name="worm" /> It soon grew to over 300 employees and began exporting not just to other European countries, but also to South America, Asia and Australia.<ref name="worm" /> Schneider died on June 1, 1888, and his son, Johnannes Schneider-Dörfel took over the business.<ref name="worm" />
In 1899, with the involvement of the [[Darmstädter Bank]] and other banks, the firm was established as an ''[[aktiengesellschaft]]'', manufacturing metal goods under the name "Hugo Schneider AG (Hasag)".<ref name="worm" /> Schneider's sons retained 63 percent of the company, but bankers now sat on the board controlling the company. A venture involving other banks resulted in the opening of a factory in [[Warsaw]], Poland.<ref name="worm" /> In 1902, in addition to lamps, the company began making [[portable stove]]s for heating and cooking, bicycle headlights and brass sheeting and wire. The company grew to 1200 employees and the value of the stock increased several times.<ref name="worm" /> By 1913, the company was a major producer of all types of petroleum and gas lamps.<ref name="worm" /> The outbreak of World War I briefly interrupted the success of the business, as HASAG lost important foreign markets, but this was soon supplanted by the production of small arms.<ref name="worm" /> HASAG's 1914 [[annual report]] included the news that in September, the company had, after making some adjustments to its operation, succeeded in obtaining large orders for military supplies, which allowed the company to return to "normal sales revenues". In fact, the company's net profit tripled over its previous non-military sales.<ref name="worm" /> The company made [[Cartridge (firearms)|rounds]] and other military items in heavy use on the front.
[[File:HASAG Wappen.jpg|thumb|130px|HASAG logos]]
After the war, the company returned to the manufacture of goods it had produced before the war<ref name="conne" /> and added production of [[vacuum flask]]s to replace the production of [[Shell (projectile)|shell]] casings.<ref name="worm" /> Sales dropped<ref name="conne" /> to pre-war levels.<ref name="worm" /> The [[Great Depression|worldwide economic crisis]] and the [[Weimar Republic#Years of crisis (1919–1923)|situation in Germany]] affected HASAG as well, as workers continually found their remuneration to be inadequate.<ref name="worm" /> By 1930, HASAG had 1,000 employees and annual sales of 5 million [[Reichsmark]]s, but this was a drop from previous levels. In October 1931, the company reported that sales were down nearly 15 percent and the company's value had dropped by nearly 30 percent. The board sought changes in company management and on October 1, 1931, Paul Budin was brought in.<ref name="worm" />
Budin, an [[Schutzstaffel|SS]]-[[Sturmbannführer]] and Nazi Party member, was appointed manager of HASAG in 1932.<ref name="heart">[http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/nazioccupation/hasag.html "HASAG: Hugo Schneider Aktiengesellschaft Metalwarenfabrik"] Holocaust Research Project. Retrieved March 22, 2011</ref> One of his deputies was Dr. Georg Mumme, an [[Sturmabteilung|SA]]-[[Sturmführer]].<ref name="conne" /> As was common in the Nazi armaments industry, nearly all of the deputies and directors were in the SS, the [[Gestapo]] or the SA, most notably Wilhelm Renner, father of [[Hannelore Kohl]],  who later became the head of the military business and helped develop the [[Panzerfaust]].<ref name="conne" />
In 1934, with [[Adolf Hitler]] and the Nazi Party [[Nazi Germany#Consolidation of power|in control of the government]] and a [[German re-armament|growing militarization in Germany]], HASAG undertook intensive negotiations with the ''[[Reichswehr]]'' and again received contracts for ammunition production,<ref name="worm" /> having been classified as a military supplier. Production began in autumn 1934. [[Dresdner Bank]] and the [[Allgemeine Deutsche Credit-Anstalt]] financed the development of the company into an arms manufacturer and the old products became a sideline.<ref name="worm" /> In 1935, Budin was promoted to general manager; the main plant in Leipzig was expanded and new factories were built.<ref name="worm" />
The military contracts were very lucrative because they did not have to arrange [[distribution (business)|distribution]] to a large number of [[retailing|retailers]], rather they sold in bulk directly to one customer, the [[Third Reich]]. By 1939, HASAG had become one of the biggest arms manufacturers in Germany,<ref name="schlieben">[http://schlieben-berga.de/index.php?id=1&key=0&href=index "Von der Petroleumlampe zur Panzerfaust – Das vergessene Konzentrationslager Schlieben/Berga"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130529210741/http://www.schlieben-berga.de/index.php?id=1&key=0&href=index |date=May 29, 2013 }} Schlieben-Berga concentration camp memorial website. Retrieved March 25, 2011 {{in lang|de}}</ref> with 3,700 employees and annual sales of 22 million Reichsmark.<ref name="conne" /> Under Renner's leadership, HASAG remained one of the largest arms manufacturers in central Germany till the end of [[World War II]].
== Use of forced labor ==
[[File:Częstochowa tablica Hasag-Pelcery 19.08.09 p.jpg|thumb|200px|Memorial to Jewish forced laborers at labor camp HASAG-Pelcery in [[Częstochowa ghetto|Częstochowa]], Poland]]
Initially, only "elite, especially reliable German workers" were allowed to work in the arms industry,<ref name="conne" /> but with the outbreak of World War II in 1939 and many men entering the [[Wehrmacht]] and [[Luftwaffe]], workers became harder to find. An agreement was reached between the arms inspector and [[Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger]], the ''SS-Obergruppenführer'' of the [[General Government]], allowing Jews to be used as workers.<ref name="conne" />
During the war, HASAG had factories in eight German cities and three Polish ones. Most of the workers were either forced laborers, primarily from eastern Europe, or prisoners from concentration camps. The forced laborers lived under heavy police surveillance in barracks near the factories. In 1942 and 1943, such labor camps were set up near all six of the factories in Poland.<ref name="conne" /> Few workers were there voluntarily and most of those were Germans in managerial positions. At the beginning of 1942, HASAG had 13,850 employees. They began bringing in Polish [[Unfree labour|forced laborers]] in spring 1944,<ref name="conne" /> and in 1945, had eight ''Außen[[kommando]]s'', first from [[Ravensbrück concentration camp]] and then from Buchenwald, setting up a labor subcamp next to every HASAG factory in Germany.<ref name="heart" /> At [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Birkenau]], the mortality rate for an ''Außenkommando'' was officially calculated. It was three and a half months.<ref name="Frankfurter">Bernhard Frankfurter (ed.), translated and annotated by Susan E. Cernyak-Spatz, [https://books.google.com/books?id=7AiY1QFhJygC&pg=PA183 ''The meeting: an Auschwitz survivor confronts an SS physician''] Google Books. English translation (2000) Syracuse University Press, p.&nbsp;183 {{ISBN|0-8156-0604-4}}</ref> There were 16,581 prisoners in these [[Arbeitslager|labor subcamps]], including 10,557 women, both Jews and non-Jews and 4,025 Jewish men. The main factory in the [[Schönefeld]] quarter of Leipzig had 5,288 forced laborers, of whom, 5,067 were women.<ref name="conne" />
HASAG was able to use women to replace male workers because of automation and their machinery, also the company produced small and medium-sized arms.<ref name="heart" /> The company preferred to employ and exploit the [[slave labor|prisoner labor]] available from numerous Nazi labor camps and maintained by the SS, and became the third largest user of forced laborers in Germany.<ref name="worm" /><ref name="ev">Edward Victor, [http://www.edwardvictor.com/Holocaust/Altenburg.htm "Altenburg: Philatelic Materials"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190421204354/http://www.edwardvictor.com/Holocaust/Altenburg.htm |date=April 21, 2019 }} Edward Victor. Retrieved March 18, 2011</ref> HASAG employed more women than men because the [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] charged less for women. They worked more quickly than men and were more adaptable; they also had a lower mortality rate.<ref name="conne" />
In 1944, Reichs Minister for Armaments and Munitions [[Albert Speer]] gave HASAG special authority under the title "Hochlauf (run-up, production boost) [[Panzerfaust]]",<ref name="heart" /><ref name="pnn">[http://www.pnn.de/brandenburg-berlin/172259/ "KZ-Außenstelle Schlieben Das vergessene Lager"] ''Potsdamer Neueste Nachrichten'' (April 20, 2009). Retrieved March 25, 2011 {{in lang|de}}</ref> making the company the weapon's sole producer in Germany. This enabled HASAG to expand further. At one labor camp, HASAG Werk Schlieben, also called Schlieben-Berga concentration camp,<ref group=note>German sources use several different terms for the satellite labor camps, sometimes ''Außenlager'' literally, "outside camp", sometimes ''Außenstelle'' ("outside site" or "post") and sometimes, ''KZ'', short for ''Konzentrationslager'' ("concentration camp"). This is in addition to other names, which refer to them as HASAG factories.</ref> 1.5 million Panzerfaust "Gretchen" [[Recoilless rifle|guns]] per month were filled with explosives.<ref name="lr-schlieben">[http://www.lr-online.de/regionen/herzberg/Fuehrung-im-ehemaligen-Hasag-und-KZ-Gelaende-in-Berga;art1056,2695683,0 "Führung im ehemaligen Hasag- und KZ-Gelände in Berga"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725012327/http://www.lr-online.de/regionen/herzberg/Fuehrung-im-ehemaligen-Hasag-und-KZ-Gelaende-in-Berga;art1056,2695683,0 |date=July 25, 2011 }} ''Lausitzer Rundschau'' online (October 3, 2009). Retrieved March 25, 2011 {{in lang|de}}</ref> The average life expectancy of a prisoner sent to work there was two months.<ref name="lr-schlieben" /> In the early hours of October 12, 1944, an explosion occurred that killed 96 prison laborers.<ref name="lr-schlieben" /> The cause of the explosion was never determined, whether it was sabotage, accident or a bomb.
With the [[Eastern Front (World War II)#January–March 1945|Soviet offensive in 1945]], the situation in Poland became more dangerous for HASAG's factories. Operations were moved to Germany,<ref name="cold-flöss">[http://www.club-courage.eu/hasag/HASAG-Aussenlager-des-KZ-Buchenwald-in-Colditz-und-Floessberg.html "HASAG-Außenlager des KZ Buchenwald in Colditz und Flößberg"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321154050/http://www.club-courage.eu/hasag/HASAG-Aussenlager-des-KZ-Buchenwald-in-Colditz-und-Floessberg.html |date=March 21, 2012 }} Club Courage, e.V. (March 20, 2007) Retrieved March 28, 2011 {{in lang|de}}</ref> establishing a number of smaller operations in different towns around Leipzig with good rail and road connections to the main factory in Leipzig. Labor camps were set up in [[Colditz]], [[Delitzsch]], Flößberg (in [[Frohburg]]), [[Grimma]], [[Golzern]] and [[Borsdorf]].<ref name="cold-flöss" /> Exact figures for the number of prison laborers are unknown, however, there were at least 718 prisoners, primarily [[Hungary|Hungarian]] and Polish Jews at the labor camp in Colditz.<ref name="cold-flöss" /> The factory in Flößberg had at least 1,902 prisoners from [[Buchenwald concentration camp|Buchenwald]] and probably from [[Gross-Rosen concentration camp]], as well. As at Colditz, Flößberg's slave laborers were primarily Hungarian and Polish Jews, but one-quarter to one-fifth were [[political prisoner]]s from various countries in Europe.<ref name="cold-flöss" />
In 1945, thousands of prisoners were taken out of HASAG factories in a [[death march]]. In April 1945, with the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] nearing the city, Budin blew up the company's main building and office building in Leipzig. He is assumed to have blown up his family and himself along with them.<ref name="conne" /><ref name="heart" /><ref name="ev" /> The company's files were never found and are assumed to have been burned.<ref name="conne" />
=== Life at a HASAG factory labor camp ===
Charles Kotkowsky, a [[Buchenwald concentration camp|Flößberg labor camp]] survivor, recalled his arrival there on December 28, 1944. His group was brought in to build an arms factory in the forest. They had to clear the woods and lay railway tracks.<ref name="ckotkow">Charles Kotkowsky, [http://migs.concordia.ca/memoirs/kotkowsky/kot_mem.html "Flossberg"] [[Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies]]. ''Remnants: Memoirs of A Survivor''. [[Concordia University (Quebec)|Concordia University]] Chair in Canadian Jewish Studies (2000). Retrieved March 28, 2011</ref> The conditions were deplorable. Aside from the gnawing hunger, there were no sanitary facilities or running water for the prisoners, so they could not wash themselves or their clothing<ref name="flöss-hist">[http://www.floessberg-gedenkt.de/geschichte.html History of Flößberg concentration camp] Initiative Flößberg gedenkt. Retrieved March 28, 2011 {{in lang|de}}</ref> and it rained often, making the camp very muddy. Many inmates used their morning [[ersatz]] coffee to wash themselves; since it tasted so bad, it was not worth drinking.<ref name="ckotkow" /> Following their breakfast of thin coffee, prisoners were forced to perform 12 hours of physically hard labor under the supervision of capricious guards,<ref name="flöss-hist" /> who vengefully beat them with sticks and screamed at them.<ref name="ckotkow" /> Finally, in the evening, came a bowl of thin soup with a small piece of bread.<ref name="flöss-hist" /> Kotkowsky called the hunger "incomprehensible" and said food was so sparingly distributed, even a [[kapo (concentration camp)|kapo]] was found stealing bread.<ref name="ckotkow" /> They slept in cold wooden barracks with straw mattresses or just on bare wood<ref name="flöss-hist" /> during a winter that was exceptionally cold.<ref name="scasey">Stephen P. Casey, [http://isurvived.org/Survivors_Folder/Stephen_Casey-hungarian.html "My Story, 1944–45: Hungary to Buchenwald, Mauthausen and Back"] Holocaust Survivors and Remembrance Project (March 2005). Retrieved March 2011</ref> Another survivor, Stephen Casey (born István Katona), said there were bodies lying in the mud everywhere around the camp, sometimes for days where they fell.<ref name="scasey" />
[[File:Denkmal Berga.JPG|thumb|200px|Monument to the victims of HASAG Werk Schlieben-Berga labor camp]]
Conditions were so bad at Flößberg, that the [[commandant]] told the SS to make some improvements, not because of concern for the prisoners' welfare, but because missile production and therefore the war effort would be negatively affected.<ref name="scasey" /> One of Kotkowsky's friends found the conditions so unbearable, he took the opportunity to be returned to Buchenwald with a transport of prisoners too sick to work, betting his chances of survival against the odds.<ref group=note>Prisoners labeled "sick" were often exterminated before they had a chance to recover and Buchenwald had a high mortality rate. In this case, the gamble paid off, though and the prisoner survived.</ref><ref name="ckotkow" />
One night, after the factory had been built and gunpowder brought in to begin making weapons, British bombers destroyed the factory in a fifteen-minute bombing raid, after which it rained, filling [[bomb crater]]s with muddy water. No barracks were hit, which infuriated the SS, who took it out on the prisoners.<ref name="ckotkow" /> A few days later, a transport arrived with Hungarian prisoners, who died soon after from the cold, the starvation and the beatings. Kotkowsky said that "prisoners were always disappearing" and more would simply be brought from other slave labor camps.<ref name="ckotkow" /> Within Leipzig and the surrounding towns, more people died at Flößberg than at any other [[Nazi concentration camp]] or as a result of Nazi ideology.<ref name="lvz">Thomas Lang, [https://archive.today/20120711082901/http://nachrichten.lvz-online.de/region/geithain/juedische-gemeinden-gegen-umbettung-von-toten-des-kz-aussenlagers-floessberg/r-geithain-a-40159.html "Jüdische Gemeinden gegen Umbettung von Toten des KZ-Außenlagers Flößberg"] ''Leipziger Volkszeitung'' online. (July 19, 2010). Retrieved March 29, 2011 {{in lang|de}}</ref>{{Dubious|date=August 2011|reason=Is this implying that more individuals were killed at the Flößberg camp than any other concentration camp throughout Europe (definitely incorrect) or just in the Leipzig area (even then sourcing seems inadequate for such a statement)? Ambiguous wording.}}
In March, the SS decided to give the camp and the prisoners a "spring cleaning".<ref name="ckotkow" />
{{blockquote|text=There were no baths to take care of millions of lice, so we had to undress and stand naked waiting at a wall. After freezing for half an hour, they unleashed several fire hoses on us and not everyone was able to withstand that. Each thrust of water in the cold weather knocked us against the wall. There was no way out. How we survived that ordeal was beyond my understanding. |author=Charles Kotkowsky |source=''Remnants: Memoirs of A Survivor''}}
With Allied forces nearing and more and more German troops seen in retreat, the SS evacuated Flößberg labor camp on April 13, 1945.<ref name="ckotkow" /><ref name="scasey" /> They were packed into [[cattle car]]s without food and taken on a circuitous route through [[Czechoslovakia]] to [[Mauthausen concentration camp]], where they arrived about two weeks later.<ref name="scasey" /> Many prisoners died along the way.<ref name="ckotkow" /> American forces arrived in the village of [[Frohburg|Flößberg]] on April 14, 1945.<ref name="scasey" />
== Postwar years ==
After the war, the main factory in Leipzig began to produce cooking pots, milk canisters, lamps and other items<ref name="conne" /> until 1947, when the machinery and equipment was dismantled and seized by the [[Soviet Military Administration in Germany|Soviet occupation force]]<ref name="conne" /> as [[war reparation]]s. Most of the buildings were demolished.<ref name="conne" /><ref>Leipzig Permoserstraße Zur Geschichte eines Industrie- und Wissenschaftsstandorts, UFZ-Umweltforschungszentrum Leipzig-Halle GmbH (2001)</ref>
After 1949, HASAG's civilian patents were used by [[Volkseigener Betrieb]]en, the publicly owned industrial enterprises in the former [[German Democratic Republic]] (East Germany). The company MEWA (VEB Metallwaren Leipzig) produced a high-powered lantern according to a HASAG design.<ref>[http://www.petroman.de/steckbrief/showad.php?adid=209 "MEWA Starklichtlampe"] Petroman.de Retrieved March 22, 2011 {{in lang|de}}</ref> The VEB Leuchtenbau Leipzig owned the [[trademark]]ed name "HASAG", and extended it in 1963. The [[brand]] was discontinued in 1974.<ref>[https://archive.today/20110807192525/http://publikationen.dpma.de/DPMApublikationen/shw_tm_dpi.do?bibdatid=691167&id=DD463881 Trade marks: Document DD463881] Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt.. Retrieved March 22, 2011 {{in lang|de}}</ref>
== Legacy ==
[[File:Mahnmal außenlager flößberg.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Gate outside the former Flößberg labor camp]]
The former HASAG Werk Schlieben, also called [[Schlieben concentration camp|Schlieben-Berga]] [[concentration camp]], has an organization devoted to protecting its memory.<ref name="lr-schlieben" /> Tours of the one-time labor camp are given and a number of former prisoners have returned for a visit, even from abroad.<ref name="pnn" /> There is a memorial plaque at the site and there are plans for a monument.<ref name="pnn" />
A new memorial for the 72 [[History of the Jews in Poland|Polish]] and [[Hungarian Jews]] who perished at the HASAG Colditz labor camp was unveiled at the Colditz cemetery on March 30, 2007.<ref name="colditz">[http://www.club-courage.eu/gedenkstaettecolditz/Gedenkstaette-Colditz.html "Gedenkstätte Colditz"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321154258/http://www.club-courage.eu/gedenkstaettecolditz/Gedenkstaette-Colditz.html |date=March 21, 2012 }} Club Courage, e.V., republished from ''Leipziger Volkszeitung - Muldentaler Kreiszeitung'' (March 31, 2007). Retrieved March 28, 2011 {{in lang|de}}</ref> An earlier memorial to the "Victims of Fascism" was unveiled in 1948 and renovated in 1975, when a [[Nazi concentration camp badges|red triangle]] was added to commemorate the political prisoners who died. In 1995, two plaques were added to include honor the memory of forced laborers and [[prisoner of war#World War II|prisoners of war]], as well.<ref name="colditz" /> In unveiling the new memorial, the mayor of Colditz, Manfred Heinz, said that each generation must always remind the next of the past, that such events are never repeated. He also said that the memorial was not to be seen as just a reminder of the forced laborers of the past, rather as a rejection of [[extremism]], as well.<ref name="colditz" />
The Flößberg labor camp was razed after the war. Today, there is a gate marking the spot, though a local group is trying to raise money to erect a more extensive memorial.<ref>[http://www.floessberg-gedenkt.de/gedenkstaette.html "Erinnerungsort"] Initiative Flößberg gedenkt. Retrieved March 29, 2011 {{in lang|de}}</ref> There is a prisoner cemetery with 38 prisoner graves on the grounds of the former camp, which the state of [[Saxony]] [[Chemnitz (region)|regional administration in Chemnitz]] had suggested should be moved to [[Borna, Germany|Borna]]. The proposal was opposed by Jewish and other groups<ref name="lvz" /> and the regional administration backed off in November 2010. Now there are plans to fix up the graveyard and improve other parts of the site.<ref>[http://www.floessberg-gedenkt.de/aktuell/2010/30.11.2010.html "Landesdirektion Chemnitz lehnt Umbettung ab - Häftlingsfriedhof Flößberg bleibt erhalten"] Initiative Flößberg gedenkt. (November 30, 2010). Retrieved March 29, 2011 {{in lang|de}}</ref>
== Goods produced ==
* Lighting and heating equipment, camping stoves
* Electrical, home and cooking appliances
* Insulated ([[Vacuum flask|thermal]]) containers<ref>[http://www.wachauer-petromax.at/htmlobj-hasag_entwicklung/hasag-entwicklung_produkte_feb07.pdf Overview of HASAG Development and Products] (PDF) (January 19, 2007) p.&nbsp;5</ref>
* Enamel and tinned ware
* [[Automotive lighting]] and bicycle accessories, electrical headlights and fog lights
* Searchlights, circuit lamps, outdoor lights, stoplights, lanterns, bicycle headlights and tail lights, horns and switches
* Electrical bulbs, [[gas mantle]]s
* Cast steel, rolled steel and [[noble metals]] products
===Selected weaponry===
* Disposable, [[recoilless rifle|recoilless weapon]] anti-tank [[Faustpatrone]]
* [[Panzerfaust]] ([[shaped charge]]), recoilless gun
* [[Fliegerfaust|Fliegerfaust-A]], [[ground-to-air]] [[rocket launcher]]
* [[Flare Pistol LP 42]]
== HASAG factories, 1942–1945 ==
The precise number of people forced to work at HASAG factories is unclear because many records were destroyed in the war. The numbers below represent a tally of those known to have worked or perished at the factories below and represent a minimum.
* Leipzig Permoserstraße (main factory)
* Leipzig, northern factory
* [[Taucha]] (also called Hasag Werk II)
* [[Colditz]] satellite [[labor camp]] (1944 – mid-April 1945). 718 known prisoners slave laborers, primarily Hungarian and Polish Jews<ref name="cold-flöss" />
* Delitzsch (1944)
* Flößberg labor camp, subcamp of [[Buchenwald concentration camp]] (November 30, 1944 – April 13, 1945). 1,902 (primarily Jewish) slave laborers, 235 known deaths,<ref>[http://www.floessberg-gedenkt.de/geschichte.html History of Flößberg subcamp] Initiative Flößberg gedenkt. Retrieved March 22, 2011 {{in lang|de}}</ref> of which, 195 are known by name<ref>[http://www.floessberg-gedenkt.de/opfer.html "Den Opfern einen Namen geben"] Initiative Flößberg gedenkt. Retrieved March 28, 2011 {{in lang|de}}</ref>
* Grimma (in 1944)
* Borsdorf (in 1944)
* [[Altenburg]]
* [[Meuselwitz]]
* [[Langewiesen]], later [[Dermbach]]
* [[Oberweißbach]]/[[Eisenach]]
* [[Berlin-Köpenick]]
* [[Schlieben]]/Berga, Schlieben concentration camp, third largest of the 136 Buchenwald labor subcamps<ref name="schlieben" /> with between 2,000 and 5,000 female prisoners from [[Ravensbrück concentration camp|Ravensbrück]], and Buchenwald <ref>Walter Strand, ''Das KZ-Aussenlager Schlieben''. Verlag Bücherkammer (2005)</ref>
* German factories in [[Skarżysko-Kamienna]] with 35,000 dead,<ref name="bolechowski"/> [[Kielce]] and [[Częstochowa ghetto]] (1942/1943 to January 1945) using up to 41,800 Jewish forced laborers.<ref name="heart" />
* Partner/co-operative production in [[Milan]] and [[Rome]]
==Prominent prisoners==
<!--ALPHABETICAL ORDER-->
* [[Louise Aslanian]], French-Armenian writer, poet, French Resistance fighter
* [[Alena Hájková]], Czech Communist resistance fighter and historian
== See also ==
* [[Industrial plans for Germany]]
== Footnotes ==
{{reflist|group=note}}
== References ==
{{reflist|2}}
== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101205134802/http://www.archiv.sachsen.de/archive/leipzig/4218_3230383631.htm State archive] [[States of Germany|Bundesland]] of Saxony {{in lang|de}}
* [http://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=18213 Leipzig Memorial of Forced Labour] official website. (Note: most of the site is not yet translated into English.)
* [http://geschichte.public-ip.org/texte.html Gedenkstätte zur Erinnerung an die Zwangsarbeiter und Zwangsarbeiterinnen in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus in Leipzig] {{in lang|de}}
* [http://www.deathcamps.org/occupation/czestochowa%20ghetto.html Częstochowa ghetto, important HASAG production facilities]
* [http://www.club-courage.eu/hasag/HASAG-Aussenlager-des-KZ-Buchenwald-in-Colditz-und-Floessberg.html HASAG-Außenlager des KZ Buchenwald in Colditz und Flößberg] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321154050/http://www.club-courage.eu/hasag/HASAG-Aussenlager-des-KZ-Buchenwald-in-Colditz-und-Floessberg.html |date=March 21, 2012 }} {{in lang|de}}
* [http://www.floessberg-gedenkt.de/ Geschichte und Erinnerung an den HASAG-Standort Flößberg] Flößberg concentration camp memorial website {{in lang|de}}
* [http://schlieben-berga.de/index.php?id=1&key=0&href=index HASAG Werk Schlieben] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130529210741/http://www.schlieben-berga.de/index.php?id=1&key=0&href=index |date=May 29, 2013 }} Schlieben-Berga concentration camp memorial website {{in lang|de}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCR_lPl1CpE Vergessener Rüstungsgigant – Die Leipziger HASAG | MDR DOK ] Documentary about memorial aspects of the HASAG industrial estate, forced labor, and Helmut Kohl's wife {{in lang|de}}
* {{PM20|FID=co/045005|TEXT=Documents and clippings about|NAME=}}
* [https://militariatoday.com/militaria-collectors-references/ww2-german-waffenamt-markings-codes HASAG ammunition production list] The list of WW2 German Waffenamt codes, numbers and manufacturers
== Further reading ==
{{Commons category|HASAG}}
* ''Leipzig Permoserstraße zur Geschichte eines Industrie- und Wissenschaftsstandorts'', UFZ-Umweltforschungszentrum Leipzig-Halle GmbH, 2001 {{ISBN|3-932900-61-8}}
* Felicja Karay, ''Wir lebten zwischen Granaten und Gedichten. Das Frauenlager der Rüstungsfabrik HASAG im Dritten Reich''. Translated from the Hebrew by Susanne Plietzsch. Cologne: Böhlau, 2001 {{ISBN|3-412-14501-7}}
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[[Category:Nazi forced labour]]
[[Category:Companies of Nazi Germany]]
[[Category:Nazi concentration camps in Germany]]
[[Category:Defunct companies of Germany]]
[[Category:Defunct manufacturing companies of Germany]]
[[Category:Firearm manufacturers of Germany]]
[[Category:Manufacturing companies based in Leipzig]]
[[Category:Companies involved in the Holocaust]]
[[Category:1863 establishments in the German Confederation]]
[[Category:German companies established in 1863]]