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83-590: Wuppertaler Bühnen is the municipal theatre company in Wuppertal , North Rhine-Westphalia , Germany . It serves opera and plays. The opera house Opernhaus Wuppertal has served from 1956 as a venue for opera and performances of the separate dance company Tanztheater Wuppertal , founded by Pina Bausch . Plays have been performed at different locations, from 1966 to 2013 in the Schauspielhaus Wuppertal . This German theatre-related article

166-522: A bronze - relief , which depicts several images that refer to aspects of the prisoners' life at the camp. Its creation and placement was organized by pupils of the Gymnasium am Kothen, a secondary school in Wuppertal. The monument was placed in 1983, in time for the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the camp. The lane leading to the monument was named after Karl Ibach , who entered the camp at

249-655: A cubicle under the stairs, where they could neither sit nor stand and cigarette smoke was blown through the air holes. Beforehand, prisoners were made to eat "appetizers" of unsoaked salt herring smeared with lubricating grease or feces; when they regurgitated, they were forced to lick up the vomit. In November, prisoners with fresh wounds were thrown into the cold waters of the Wupper and afterwards, made to stay in their wet clothes. There were also simulated executions. According to one former SA paramedic , about 25 prisoners attempted suicide; others succeeded or simply died from

332-405: A few days, intending not just to confine, but also to weaken them physically and mentally through terror. The sudden surge of thousands of new prisoners created a critical shortage of places to confine them. Interior Minister of Prussia Hermann Göring began to look for regional locations in cities for short-term, temporary means to house the newly arrested. Between March and May 1933, prisoners in

415-476: A former Prussian Vice Minister President , Wilhelm Bökenkrüger, a former director of the Wuppertal employment office, and Georg Petersdorff, the secretary of the Düsseldorf and Cologne Reichsbanner Gaue . Despite the beatings and torture, of those prisoners who were released, most resumed their anti-Nazi activities. Beatings at Kemna, as at other early concentration camps, were frequent, beginning with

498-569: A former Kemna prisoner appeared in the Wuppertal press. After the Night of the Long Knives , when the SA was purged, its top leaders removed and its power curbed just two weeks later, Joël began an investigation and soon had a number of witnesses willing to testify. Concurrently, opponents of Veller from within the party contacted Joël to warn him of the influence of the "Veller clique", Wolff and

581-474: A long band along the narrow Wupper Valley leads to a spatial impression of Wuppertal being larger than it actually is. The city is known for its steep slopes, its woods and parks, and for being the greenest city in Germany, with two-thirds green space of the total municipal area. From any part of the city, it is only a ten-minute walk to one of the public parks or woodland paths. The Wupper Valley was, along with

664-566: A major industrial centre, being home to industries such as textiles, metallurgy , chemicals, pharmaceuticals, electronics, automobiles, rubber, vehicles and printing equipment. Aspirin originates from Wuppertal, patented in 1897 by Bayer , as does the Vorwerk Kobold vacuum cleaner . The Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy and the European Institute for International Economic Relations are located in

747-451: A monument honoring the victims of the camp. It was installed across the road rather than at the actual site of the camp because the owner of the factory then in the building would not allow the monument to be placed there. The main building and an addition, built by the prisoners, were renovated, and still exist, as does a house that belonged to the camp. Neither the buildings nor the property are protected as landmarks. The monument contains

830-409: A new infirmary was set up in a walled-off section of room two. Of the prisoner housing, room one was considered the worst because there was an increased likelihood of attracting the attention of a passing SA man, an occurrence that could lead to immediate abuse. Most feared by the prisoners, however, were the torture rooms; the bunker, the freight elevator and the cubicles, where inmates were denied even

913-747: A part of the British Zone of Occupation , and subsequently part of the new state of North Rhine-Westphalia in West Germany . Wuppertal currently has a population of about 355,000. The number of inhabitants more than doubled in 1929 as a result of the Barmen – Elberfeld merger. The economic boom of the 1950s and 60s saw the establishment of new industry headquarters and with it an influx of workers, including migrant workers from Turkey , Greece and Italy . Population numbers during these times of as-yet unparalleled growth peaked at about 423,000 in 1963; in

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996-597: A remarkable ten consecutive doubles between 1993 and 2002. During 1996 , they even won the European Cup as the first and so far only German side, beating Italy 's SFT Como in the final. A year later, they narrowly missed out on back-to-back trebles, losing to French side CJM Bourges in the newly christened EuroLeague's final. In 2002, the club withdrew from the Bundesliga due to financial troubles, their then-main sponsor Gold-Zack Werke filing for insolvency

1079-538: A year later. After a decade-long stay in amateur divisions, Barmer TV returned to the second-tier 2nd Bundesliga North in 2014. Wuppertal co-hosted the 1998 FIBA World Championship for Women as one of seven host cities. In roller hockey , Wuppertal club RSC Cronenberg are one of the most successful German teams, having won the German championship and the German Cup in both men's and women's competitions. In total,

1162-598: A young elephant named Tuffi was put aboard the Wuppertal Schwebebahn (monorail), as a promotion for the Althoff Circus. The swinging tram upset the elephant, and she trumpeted, charged, and plummeted 12 m (40 ft) into the river below. Tuffi suffered minor injuries; she lived until 1989. In 1999, the Schwebebahn had its thus far only fatal accident . Between 1873 and 1987, Wuppertal

1245-540: Is Cronenberger SC from the district of Cronenberg . Their greatest success to date is reaching the 1952 German amateur football championship final which they lost 5–2 against VfR Schwenningen . Today, they play one tier below WSV in the Oberliga Nordrhein . Famous players include Günter Pröpper who scored 39 of WSV's 136 Bundesliga goals and West Germany international Horst Szymaniak , as well as Cronenberg's Herbert Jäger who represented Germany at

1328-562: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Wuppertal The city straddles the densely populated banks of the River Wupper , a tributary of the Rhine . Wuppertal is located between the Ruhr ( Essen ) to the north, Düsseldorf to the west, and Cologne to the southwest, and over time has grown together with Solingen , Remscheid and Hagen . The stretching of the city in

1411-498: Is a " linear city ", owing to the steep hillsides along the river Wupper . Its highest hill is the Lichtscheid , which is 351 m (1,152 ft) above sea level . The dominant urban centres Elberfeld (historic commercial centre) and Barmen (more industrial) have formed a continuous urbanized area since 1850. During the succeeding decades, "Wupper-Town" became the dominant industrial agglomeration of northwestern Germany. During

1494-406: Is a unique German initiative to educate youth from the age of 4 to 18 in science outside the school program. The current mayor of Wuppertal is Uwe Schneidewind of Alliance 90/The Greens , who was elected in 2020. The most recent mayoral election was held on 13 September 2020, with a runoff held on 27 September, and the results were as follows: The Wuppertal city council governs the city alongside

1577-415: Is correct, that many prisoners in protective custody were beaten. The beatings take place mostly during interrogations ... Now, if the prisoners didn't want to say anything, then they were beaten, namely with fists and truncheons, sometimes also with a whip ... As far as the normal scope of beating prisoners is concerned, we have deemed it justified, since the official authorities, who at times viewed

1660-589: Is difficult to ascertain because camp records were destroyed and there is little other information from which a precise number can be deduced. Of the total number of prisoners, 646 people have been identified by name. Those imprisoned were primarily those swept up in mass arrests of political opponents from the Communist Party ( Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands , KPD) and the Social Democrats ( Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands , SPD) from

1743-531: Is located in the Barmen quarter of Wuppertal on 8,700 m (2.1 acres) at Beyenburger Straße 146. The camp was sometimes referred to as "Konzentrationslager Wuppertal-Barmen", the name printed as the return address on postcards sent by prisoners, but is primarily known as "KZ Kemna", KZ being the German abbreviation for "concentration camp". The main building was a four-story former factory at number 146. Also on

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1826-478: The 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki during his stay with the club. In handball , Wuppertal's most successful team is Bergischer HC , playing in the top-tier Handball-Bundesliga which they were promoted to for the second time during 2013, reaching 15th place during the 2013–14 campaign and therefore staying among the top scorers for a second consecutive season. BHC originates from a 2006 cooperation between

1909-506: The Bergisches Land were housed by the dozens in schools, SA barracks, cellars and other locations; prisons moved their women to other locations to make more room for the new prisoners. These were all in residential areas, however, and the torture already being practiced caused unrest in the community, prompting the SA to seek a new, larger location on the outskirts of town. They found a suitable location, an empty factory in Wuppertal,

1992-422: The Bergisches Land , also certain unaligned Christians, and unionists. Jews who were there were imprisoned for their political views, not because they were Jews, although the SA's anti-semitism resulted in worse treatment if one even appeared to be Jewish. There were also transports and others arrested individually from the area, including nearby cities such as Duisburg , Düsseldorf , Krefeld and Essen . While

2075-590: The Machtergreifung ; and that this behavior of the state's attorney has given impetus to this element. On April 1, 1935, more than a year after the camp was closed, the court lifted the injunction and gave the accused a reprimand. The state's attorney conducted three more examinations of witnesses and on January 18, 1936, sent his report and the case files to the Reich's ministry of justice. The report gave little attention to criminal proceedings, and little store

2158-533: The Ore Mountains and before the Ruhr , the first highly industrialized region of Germany, which resulted in the construction of the Wuppertal Schwebebahn suspension railway in the then independent cities of Elberfeld and Barmen . The increasing demand for coal from the textile mills and blacksmith shops from those cities encouraged the expansion of the nearby Ruhr . Wuppertal still is

2241-860: The line from Wuppertal to Solingen (operated as the S 7) and the Prince William Railway to Essen (now S-Bahn line S 9), all of the branch lines connecting to main line in the city of Wuppertal are now closed. This includes, among others, the Düsseldorf-Derendorf–Dortmund Süd railway (the Wuppertaler Nordbahn ), the Burgholz Railway , the Wuppertal-Wichlinghausen–Hattingen railway , the Wupper Valley Railway and

2324-450: The mainline through the valley are the RE 4 ( Wupper-Express ), RE 7 ( Rhein-Münsterland-Express ), RE 13 ( Maas-Wupper-Express ), RB 48 ( Rhein-Wupper Bahn ) and four Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn services: the S 7 , S 8 , S 9 and S 68 (peak hours only). Every 30 minutes, it is served by a long-distance ( Intercity-Express , InterCity , EuroCity ) service in each direction. With the exception of

2407-488: The "welcome beating" on arrival at the camp right through to having to run a gauntlet when leaving. Because prisoners and guards were political opponents who were former neighbors and co-workers, punishment and torture at Kemna took on a personal nature. Prisoners were brought to interrogations naked and gagged with cloth stuffed in their mouths, were tied to special whipping benches, where they were whipped with rubber clubs, whips and sticks. Bleeding, they were then locked in

2490-529: The 1920s . Torture was practiced and the screams of the men were audible to people living and working nearby, and severely injured men were taken to nearby hospitals, all causing word of the camp's misdeeds to spread quickly. There was a major release of prisoners in October 1933; those released were forced to sign a document promising to keep secret all they had seen and experienced at the camp, and were threatened with re-arrest if they disobeyed. The Nazis wanted

2573-414: The 1920s, then became a defense as guards claimed that at Kemna, they had only tried to gain some delayed satisfaction for prior assaults. Hilgers was sentenced to death. The sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment in a Zuchthaus and in 1956, he was granted clemency and was released on December 21. Across the road from the former site of Kemna concentration camp is a small lane that leads to

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2656-455: The 1970s, a period of steady decline followed in the wake of industrial losses. As of 31 December 2022, the largest groups of foreign residents were: In total, Wuppertal possesses over 4,500 buildings classified as national monuments, most exemplifying styles such as Neoclassicism , Eclecticism , Historicism , Art Nouveau / Jugendstil and Bauhaus . The American TV station CNN recommended Wuppertal as one of 20 places worldwide to visit in

2739-420: The 1995–96 European Cup Winners' Cup , losing the final in five sets. After the wide-reaching retreat of Bayer AG from less popular professional sport during 2008, the club acquired the name Wuppertal Titans and later A!B!C Titans Berg. Land . However, the loss of their main sponsor eventually resulted in the team having to terminate during 2012. Presently, they once more play by the name of Bayer Wuppertal in

2822-508: The 20th century, this conurbation had been surpassed by Cologne , Düsseldorf and the Ruhr area , all with a more favourable topography. From 5 July 1933 to 19 January 1934 the Kemna concentration camp was established in Wuppertal. It was one of the early Nazi concentration camps , created by the Nazi Party to incarcerate their political opponents upon gaining power in 1933 . The camp

2905-502: The Bundesliga before returning to the 2nd division and re-introducing its old name. After the establishment of BHC in 2006, LTV lost its financial base and was relegated several times, currently playing in the fifth-tier Verbandsliga. In volleyball , SV Bayer Wuppertal was one of Germany's leading men's teams for many years during the 1990s and 2000s. The team was part of the well-known mass-sports club originating in Leverkusen and

2988-567: The Corkscrew Railway . Thus, there were once 31 stations in the Wuppertal area, including nine stations on the mainline. Nowadays only ten are serviced any more. Wuppertal Hauptbahnhof is the location of the lost luggage services for Deutsche Bahn . The Wuppertal Suspension Railway , a suspended monorail , serves the city and its surroundings. It has operated since 1901, with new cars added beginning in December 2016. In 1950,

3071-627: The Düsseldorf state police. They also sought support from Rudolf Hess , then Hitler's deputy, who had the Reichsinspekteur conduct an investigation. The Reichsinspekteur met with Winckler, who gave him the findings of his own investigation and urged him to resolve the charges unequivocally. Days later, on August 18, 1934, Hess issued a temporary injunction for "abuse of the gravest kind against protective custody prisoners at Camp Kemna" against Veller, Hans Pfeiffer, Hilgers, Wolff and three other SA leaders from Wuppertal. All were expelled from

3154-495: The Nazi Party. Although the ministry of justice had handed out letters of protection to their informants, one was taken into protective custody as soon as word of Winckler's investigation spread. The informant was released after five days, after Joël was informed and intervened. The regional Nazi leadership unleashed a barrage of attacks—including death threats—against Winckler, himself a Nazi Party member, hauling him before

3237-482: The age of 18. Three other locations in Wuppertal are also named for former Kemna prisoners: Friedrich-Senger-Platz, Otto-Böhne-Platz and Oskar-Hoffmann-Treppe. In 1948 Ibach wrote a book about the camp, which for decades was one of only two sources of information about it. There is a 3.6 kilometers (2.2 mi)-long path from the market square in Langerfeld to the memorial. Marked with handmade wooden signs along

3320-407: The beatings and at times took part in them, in part knew of the beatings and condoned and tolerated our approach. If in one or another case the mistreatment exceeded the normal scope, this was entirely the result of the behavior of the prisoner himself. The brutality was aggravated by alcohol, particularly at night. Frequent and extreme drunkenness, which was a common problem within the SA, aggravated

3403-514: The case again. The first major German trial regarding a concentration camp was about Kemna, the Kemna Prozeß in 1948. Thirty people were charged, either with having been responsible for the crimes that took place there, or for having carried them out. The fact that guards and prisoners had often been known to one another from the Kampfzeit , the turbulent "fighting times" from 1919 through

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3486-474: The city. Barmen was the birthplace of Friedrich Engels . Wuppertal in its present borders was formed in 1929 by merging the industrial cities of Barmen and Elberfeld along with the communities of Vohwinkel , Ronsdorf , Cronenberg , Langerfeld and Beyenburg . The initial name Barmen-Elberfeld was changed in a 1930 referendum to Wuppertal ("Wupper Valley"). The new city was administered as part of Prussia 's Rhine Province . Uniquely for Germany, it

3569-508: The club, which enjoyed its last season in a nationwide division during the 2009–10 season , looks back on a rich and eventful history since its establishment as the result of a 1954 merger between the two main Wuppertal clubs SSV 04 Wuppertal and TSG Vohwinkel 80 . The club spent a total of seven seasons in the top flight of German football, three of which in the Bundesliga , which they were promoted to during 1972. In their first season in

3652-415: The deaths took place in hospitals after Kemna had closed. Under pressure from Göring's personal adjutant , the case was later reopened in hearings before the highest party court. The court found that the investigations had been conducted in a one-sided manner, with testimony coming only from "implacable enemies of the new state" whose credibility the judge questioned. Although the accused had gone beyond

3735-754: The domestic laws of the country where perpetrated.” Following this, on August 30, 1946, the British military government approved the jurisdiction of German courts to handle such crimes when they did not involve other nationals, but were German against Germans. In November 1946, the Wuppertal branch of the Union of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime (VVN) began work to re-open the case against Kemna and to pursue other cases of Nazi war crimes . They located Winckler, who had been transferred to Kassel in 1935 and returned to Wuppertal in 1946. Winckler began working on

3818-407: The door, as if poured from a bucket." Room two led to the toilets and contained a small room where food was served and a 17-man crew peeled potatoes for the kitchen. In late September 1933, in preparation for a large transport of 200 men, the guards' quarters and the infirmary were moved into the house, which had previously been empty. Afterward, the former infirmary became the main torture room and

3901-481: The early concentration camps was to repress and terrorize opponents of the new regime, primarily communists, but also socialists, dissenting Christians, and trade unionists . Unlike later concentration camps, the prisoners and the guards at Kemna were from the same cities and in many cases, knew each other and were already enemies from the German Revolution of 1918–1919 and subsequent political battles of

3984-509: The effects of the torture. Some survivors were crippled mentally or physically from their treatment, some for the rest of their lives. Beatings and torture were so routine at Kemna, that the SA- Oberscharführer Bruno Wolff, who served as deputy camp commandant during the last three months of Kemna's existence, was quite open when asked about prisoner abuse in an interview with the state's attorney in 1934. It

4067-412: The grounds were a house at number 142, a boiler unit and some smaller buildings. A 3 m (9.8 ft) chain-link fence, topped with barbed wire surrounded the property, replacing a barbed wire barrier that was originally erected. On the ground floor of the main building were the kitchen, laundry room and a registration room where all new prisoners were recorded. Above that, on the second floor, were

4150-412: The guards in other concentration camps were from various parts of Germany, prisoners and guards at Kemna were all from the same area and often knew each other personally. Some prisoners were prominent in their areas or in the region and were considered "trophy prisoners" and subjected to especially harsh treatment and vengeful torment. These "big shots", as the SA called them, included Heinrich Hirtsiefer,

4233-426: The institution, the SA established a hierarchy within the prisoner population, choosing some to work as prisoner functionaries and by establishing some of the large holding cells in the building as preferable to others. There was a major release of prisoners in October 1933, but for many, Kemna was just the first place of confinement on the way to other concentration camps. In the evening and particularly at night,

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4316-444: The management, squad and main sponsor of LTV Wuppertal and rivals SG Solingen from the nearby city of the same name . The club advertises itself as a representative of the entire Bergisches Land region. The team plays its home games at both Wuppertal's Uni-Halle (3,200 seats) and Solingen's Klingenhalle (2,600 seats). Wuppertal's past most successful club are the aforementioned LTV Wuppertal . LTV spent most of their seasons in

4399-729: The mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows: Wuppertal is well connected to the rail network. The town lies on the Cologne–Hagen and the Düsseldorf–Hagen railway lines, and is a stop for long-distance traffic. The central station is located in the district of Elberfeld. Regionalbahn trains and some Regional-Express trains also stop at Oberbarmen , Barmen , Ronsdorf and Vohwinkel . There are also S-Bahn stations in Langerfeld , Unterbarmen , Steinbeck , Zoologischer Garten and Sonnborn . The rail services that operate on

4482-590: The men won 13 German championships and nine cups, the women ten championships and nine cups. Both teams play their home games at Alfred-Henckels-Halle . Wuppertal hosted several international tournaments, including the World Championship in 1997 ( men ) and 2004 ( women ) and the European Championship in 1992 , 2010 ( men ) and 2011 ( women ). Four institutions of higher education are in Wuppertal. The privately financed Junior Uni

4565-402: The name change remained the only visible attribute of the merger with the club's colours and crest remaining unaltered. The additional "Borussia" was scrapped again during 2013 due to fans' demand amidst a change of leadership which was brought about to lead the club through necessary insolvency proceedings which have been completed as of September 2014. Another noteworthy Wuppertal football club

4648-514: The nationwide first division, the club reached a remarkable fourth place and qualified for the UEFA Cup for the first and only time in its history. After a first-round defeat by Polish side Ruch Chorzów and another two widely unsuccessful Bundesliga campaigns, the club disappeared from the top flight again, though, and has yet to return. During 2004, the club merged with local rivals SV Borussia Wuppertal to form Wuppertaler SV Borussia , though

4731-679: The need for a firm hand to deal with the type of prisoners held there. Locals began warning each other with the saying, "Watch yourself, or you'll end up in Kemna!" With rumors about the camp spreading, the Nazis emptied and closed the camp just six months after it opened, fearing the risk to their image at home and abroad. Although the Third Reich wanted the public to become familiar with the term "concentration camp" (in German, Konzentrationslager ) and understand its implications enough to dread it, it

4814-460: The normal camp standards of meals, washing, toilets and the infirmary. In addition to these, a wing was added to the main building with the prisoners forced to provide the labor. The new wing had guards' quarters, plus individual cells and a sound-insulated interrogation room. The SA began using the new wing in December 1933 just before the camp was closed. The total number of prisoners is estimated to have been between 2,500 and 5,000. The number

4897-768: The office was Johannes Pauli, another former Kemna prisoner, who, recognizing the charges from his own experience, set the cogs in motion and on July 12, 1945, Warnstedt was arrested. Other former Kemna prisoners also began to report their experiences and more arrests followed. On December 20, 1945, the Allied Control Council established a new law, " crimes against humanity ", with the definition, “Atrocities and offenses, including but not limited to murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, imprisonment, torture, rape, or other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population, or persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds whether or not in violation of

4980-536: The owner of which, on a promise by the local district government to purchase the property later, agreed to allow the SA to use rent-free in the short term. Kemna became one of the first concentration camps in Germany, and existed from July 5, 1933 to January 19, 1934. It was run by the Düsseldorf SA and Wuppertal police chief ( Polizeipräsident ) Willi Veller and backed by the Düsseldorf district government. The first commandant, SA Sturmführer Hugo Neuhoff,

5063-662: The party court. In mid-December 1934, Prussian Ministry of Justice state secretary, Roland Freisler ordered the files on the case to be turned over to the Nazi Gau leadership. The party then immediately initiated proceedings at the highest party court in Munich, which was already dealing with objections to the expulsions. The main hearings were held February 19–20, 1935. The accused had numerous witnesses, including some prominent individuals. It also issued an opinion on two deaths of former inmates attributed to their confinement, though

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5146-459: The perpetrators given a warning. No crimes were prosecuted. After the war, the Kemna Trial became the first major German trial regarding a concentration camp. Nonetheless, the camp was afterward largely forgotten, with no research into its past and for decades, only two sources supplying most of the information known about the camp. In 1983, a monument honoring the prisoners who suffered there

5229-533: The point "necessary to break the resistance" and had "as a result, transgressed the Führer 's order, that the National Socialist state well knows how to render his opponent harmless, but beyond that, eschews all vengeance". The court noted that the SA in the Wuppertal industrial area had to contend with especially persistent communist opponents, who never stopped trying to organize underground, even after

5312-483: The public to become familiar with the term "concentration camp" and regard it with dread, but worried that the excesses at Kemna and the other early concentration camps would turn public opinion against them and thwart their plans. As a result, the camp was closed in January 1934, just six months after it opened. After the SA lost political influence, reports of torture led to an investigation and eventually to hearings and

5395-416: The quarters for the commandant and room three, which initially provided quarters for the guard staff and, during that time, was where most of the torture took place. The third floor was divided into two rooms where the prisoners were housed, rooms four and five. All the windows in these rooms were painted black, both inside and out, preventing prisoners from looking out and passersby from looking in, and causing

5478-420: The rooms to be dark, even during the day. Nonetheless, these rooms were considered the best; they were outfitted with beds, tables and benches in the summer of 1933, and were not as close to the torture area. The attic floor contained a clothing storeroom, an orderly room and prisoner quarters for Nazis placed in "protective custody". Special cells for harsh punishment were the freight elevator and cubicles under

5561-480: The screams of prisoners were heard at a bar 600 meters (0.37 mi) from the camp, as well as by people who lived across the Wupper . On the weekend, family members and friends of those incarcerated, as well as others, who were merely curious, took walks in the neighboring woods, from where the camp was clearly visible. Articles appeared in the local press, referring obliquely to "enhanced interrogations" and explaining

5644-420: The second and third tiers, before they merged with Wuppertaler SV's handball section in 1996 to form HSG LTV/WSV Wuppertal . The handball combination was promoted to the Bundesliga after its inaugural season, finishing 8th before dissolving again in 1998. However, the mere departure of Wuppertaler SV still allowed LTV Wuppertal, whose professional team were renamed HC Wuppertal , to play another three seasons in

5727-452: The situation at Kemna, as numerous former inmates later testified. Typically, off-duty guards would go out drinking at nearby taverns and hours later, return inebriated, ready to take part in interrogations. Sometimes, they would begin their own so-called interrogations, unsupervised. Local taverns, normally closed at the hours the guards were ready to drink, were faced with violence and threats if they did not re-open. Willi Veller's drinking

5810-429: The stairs, where prisoners were forced to crouch for hours. Rooms one and two, also prisoner housing, were in two one-story buildings closer to the river and where until October 1933, the prisoners had no beds and slept directly on the ground, with just a bit of straw underneath them. Room one led to the "bunker", a concrete former coke storage room adjacent to the boiler unit, and the infirmary. The heating equipment

5893-402: The third-tier Regionalliga, unable to promote with their current financial set-up. Perhaps one of the most successful Wuppertal sports clubs was the women's basketball team of Barmer TV (known as BTV Wuppertal between 1994 and 2000, BTV Gold-Zack Wuppertal between 2000 and 2002 and Wuppertal Wings internationally). An 11-time German champion and 12-time German Cup winner, they won

5976-412: The way, it was built in 2001 by a Wuppertal youth organization and representatives of several secondary schools. In 1999 and 2000, the monument was vandalized and a Union of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime event at the memorial was attacked by 14 right-wing extremists . The subsequent trial attracted attention from all over Germany. From June 4 to July 10, 2005, the story of Kemna concentration camp

6059-599: The year 2020 because of the Schwebebahn, the architectural diversity and the Nordbahntrasse, a 22-kilometre (14 mi) cycle route across the city 2020. Main sights include: In football , Wuppertal's most popular club is Wuppertaler SV which currently play in the Regionalliga West , the fourth tier of the German football league system . Playing their home games at the city's Stadion am Zoo ,

6142-409: Was concerned about the consequences of public awareness of the practice of torture at Kemna and the other early concentration camps. The prisoners were brought to Emslandlager , forced to sing, as they marched out of Kemna, "Forward, march to Emsland, Camp Kemna is closed—happy is he who forgets". The German word for happy, " glücklich ", also means "lucky" or "fortunate". Kemna concentration camp

6225-593: Was established in a former factory on the Wupper in the Kemna neighborhood of the Barmen part of Wuppertal. During World War II , about 40% of buildings in the city were destroyed by Allied bombing, as were many other German cities and industrial centres (see Bombing of Wuppertal in World War II ). However, a large number of historic sites have been preserved, such as: The US 78th Infantry Division under Major General Edwin P. Parker Jr. captured Wuppertal against scant resistance on 16 April 1945. Wuppertal became

6308-516: Was installed across the street from the former concentration camp; the builders of the monument were forbidden by the owner of the property from erecting any memorial on the site itself. After the Reichstag fire of February 27, 1933, and the subsequent Reichstag Fire Decree suspended most civil liberties, the Nazis moved quickly to debilitate their political enemies. They conducted mass arrests of some 10,000 of their political opponents within just

6391-402: Was non-functional; a battlefield forge stood in the unit. The bunker was 16 m (170 sq ft), with one small opening and an iron door leading to room one. New prisoners lived there for days, even weeks. As many as 50 men at a time were forced to live there in stifling air and heat; one witness said, "The exhaled breath of those locked up was so great that water condensed and ran under

6474-568: Was one of the early Nazi concentration camps , created by the Third Reich to incarcerate their political opponents (ostensibly in protective custody ) after the Nazi Party first seized power in 1933. The camp was established in a former factory on the Wupper river in the Kemna neighborhood of the Barmen quarter of Wuppertal . It was run by the SA group in Düsseldorf . The purpose of

6557-402: Was promoted to the Bundesliga in 1978. Reacting to low attendances, the eponymous Bayer AG decided to relocate the volleyball team to Wuppertal in 1992, where there also was a Bayer-funded club. After the move, the club won various titles, including the German championship in 1994 and 1997 and the German Cup in 1995. In addition to that, they finished runners-up to Greek side Olympiacos S.C. in

6640-501: Was served by its own tram network . Wuppertal is twinned with: The Wuppertal Suspension Railway is twinned with Shonan Monorail since 2018. The Shonan Monorail is located in Kanagawa , Japan and connects the cities between Kamakura and Fujisawa . Both suspended railways made a campaign of their twinning in 2018. Kemna concentration camp Kemna concentration camp ( German : Konzentrationslager Kemna, KZ Kemna )

6723-409: Was set by the witnesses. Joël concluded by recommending that the entire case be suppressed. Nazi Germany surrendered unconditionally on May 8, 1945, and barely two weeks later, Herbert Claus, a former Kemna prisoner and before that, a police wachtmeister , wrote a letter to the Wuppertal criminal police making serious accusations against a former Kemna guard, Hermann Warnstedt. Newly re-employed in

6806-495: Was so out of control that he was incapable of showing up for work on a regular basis—and it was no secret. Because of the many severely injured prisoners who were brought to the local hospitals, rumors about Kemna began to spread, although cautiously, since speaking about the situation could land one in the same predicament. On March 8, 1934, the state's attorney, Gustav Winckler , made his first report to his superior, Günther Joël, regarding Kemna. On July 16, 1934, an account from

6889-642: Was soon replaced by Alfred Hilgers , who, at the same time was the SA Standarte 258 of the Koburg Protective Custody camp in Mettmann . In a space expected to hold 200-300 prisoners, the SA guards confined up to 1,100 prisoners in unsanitary, overcrowded conditions in a former textile factory on Beyenburger Straße, directly on the banks of the Wupper . Torture and arbitrary violence were daily events. To maintain order and help run

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