“The Magnetite Project” - An Internet Project by a School at Lake Constance

The project group “The Ueberlinger Mine on the Internet” from the Secondary School Überlingen at Lake Constance presents a comprehensive online documentation on the history of their hometown during the National Socialist period.

Under the code name "Magnesit" (“Magnetite”), around 800 prisoners from the Dachau concentration camp dug a four kilometer long tunnel system between October 1944 and April 1945. These tunnels were to be a ‘bomb-proof’ refuge for Friedrichshafen’s heavy industry, where armaments for the Second World War were produced (airship constructors Zeppelin, Maybach, Dornier and the Zahnradfabrik). At least 168 prisoners did not survive the imprisonment and working conditions. 97 of them are buried at the concentration camp cemetery Birnau.

Most of the tunnels are still accessible today. About 3,6 km are still walkable; 2,5 km can be driven by car and 1,5 km by truck. Today part of the tunnel system is used for storing boats, and there are almost no traces left of the time in which it was built.

The students of the Realschule Überlingen researched and documented the history of the tunnel system during and after the World War II, under the guidance of certified teacher Werner Bux. A virtual tour of the tunnel system and surrounding area supplements this comprehensive and attractively presented information source.

Find out more: http://www.stollen-ueberlingen.de/

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• 29/01/2010 - 17:01