Concentration camp forced labour for rational armament production in the air war. New documents on the genesis of the underground aircraft factory "Esche II" ("Bergkristall") of Messerschmitt GmbH Regensburg in St. Georgen an der Gusen.
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Abstract
The files of the Messerschmitt company held in the archives of the Imperial War Museum contain some key documents that have received little attention in research to date. These concern the origins of the underground factory codenamed ‘Esche II’ or ‘Bergkristall’ in St. Georgen an der Gusen, which was built in 1944/45 by thousands of forced labourers from the Gusen concentration camp and which was intended to house production facilities for the Me 262 jet fighter plane.[1] These documents reveal much more clearly the close cooperation that existed from the outset between the Reich Air Ministry, the Messerschmitt company, the SS and the Viennese engineering firm of Karl Fiebinger, which was responsible for planning and implementing the project, the aim of which was efficient production alongside maximum protection from air raids. The tunnel complex in St. Georgen was among the largest construction projects undertaken in Austria during the Nazi era.