Meuselwitz () is a town in the
Altenburger Land
Altenburger Land is a district in Thuringia, Germany. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the district of Greiz, the Burgenlandkreis (Saxony-Anhalt), and the districts Leipzig, Mittelsachsen and Zwickau in Saxony. The district is a mem ...
district, in
Thuringia
Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million.
Erfurt is the capital and lar ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. It is situated 12 km northwest of
Altenburg and 11 km east of
Zeitz
Zeitz ( hsb, Žič) is a town in the Burgenlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the river White Elster, in the triangle of the federal states Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Saxony.
History
Zeitz was first recorded u ...
.
History
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, a subcamp of the
Buchenwald concentration camp operated here. It provided
slave labour
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
for
HASAG
HASAG (also known as Hugo Schneider AG, or by its original name in german: Hugo Schneider Aktiengesellschaft Metallwarenfabrik) was a German metal goods manufacturer founded in 1863. Based in Leipzig, it grew from a small business making lamps ...
, the third largest consumer of
forced labour during the war. All satellites of Buchenwald were HASAG factories. The Meuselwitz plant used 1,666 prisoners, of which, 1,376 were women. The
SS charged less for women; they had a higher mortality rate.
Wintersdorf has been part of the town Meuselwitz since December 1, 2007.
People
*
Wolfgang Hilbig
Wolfgang Hilbig (31 August 1941 2 June 2007) was a German writer and poet.
Life
Wolfgang Hilbig was born in Meuselwitz, Germany. His grandfather had emigrated from Biłgoraj (Congress Poland, Russian Empire) before the First World War. In 19 ...
(1941-2007), German author and poet
References
Altenburger Land
Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg
{{Altenburger-geo-stub