Dora–Mittelbau at Nordhausen stands as a stark symbol of Nazi industrialised brutality. Carved into the Kohnstein in the Harz mountains, the Mittelwerk’s 20-kilometre underground complex produced the V-1, V-2, and jet engines for the Me 262 and Ar 234. From 1943 to 1945, some 60,000 prisoners were forced to labour there; around 20,000 perished under appalling conditions, many while excavating tunnels with rudimentary tools. The weapons produced were strategically ineffective, exacting a higher human toll in construction than in combat. In April 1945, surviving inmates were subjected to one of the war’s most horrific crimes. Near Gardelegen, over a thousand prisoners were locked in a barn by SS guards, assisted by local forces and Hitlerjugend, and set ablaze; 1,016 men died. Karel Margry’s study, based on two After the Battle stories, meticulously documents Nordhausen and Gardelegen. The original features included wartime black-and-white photographs alongside modern-day colour comparisons; however this reprint has converted the latter to black and white, but the historical and visual value of the investigation remains compelling. Issue 101 (“Nordhausen”) and Issue 111 (“The Gardelegen Massacre”) remain key resources for understanding these atrocities.
