Tucked away within the woods north of Treuenbrietzen lies the Sebaldushof, a web site the place layers of historical past nonetheless stand beneath the timber. What started in 1805 as a paper mill was remodeled through the Nazi period right into a secret munitions manufacturing unit, full with workshops, barracks, and a prisoner camp.
On April 21, 1945, Soviet troops of the first Ukrainian Entrance liberated the positioning after a lethal shootout with German guards, just for the Wehrmacht to recapture it two days later, forcing freed laborers again into captivity. That very same day, 131 Italian army internees had been executed in a close-by forest earlier than the camp was lastly liberated once more.
Most of the authentic buildings nonetheless stay, their concrete partitions and foundations intact among the many timber. A strolling path leads guests by means of the positioning, with info panels that share the tales of the compelled laborers, prisoners of battle, and townsfolk who as soon as labored right here beneath brutal situations.
As we speak, the Sebaldushof stands as each a historic landmark and a memorial, a uncommon place the place the previous is not only remembered, however bodily current amid the quiet of the forest.
