History:Â
The bakery was built in 1939 as one of many businesses to be run by the German SS. Because the war was already making raw materials difficult to acquire, it didn't actually open until 1941.
At this point, 80 prisoners from Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp worked to produce 10,000 loaves of bread daily. With the introduction of shift work, and the addition of two new ovens, production was ramped up to over 40,000 loaves per day. This bread was provided to prisoners in several concentration camps.
After the war, the Soviet Army continued operation of the bakery until 1948 when it was acquired by a private firm. It finally closed its door permanently in 1991.
Much of the interior was destroyed by fire in 1994.
Personal Commentary:Â
This isn't part of the tour, nor is the brick factory remains that are nearby. I'm not sure why they aren't since they represent a significant part of the day-to-day strife faced by the inmates of the concentration camps, but for some reason they're left out.
We took a brief look around the site. Since this bakery had been part of private industry for many years after the war, there was probably nothing really left over to indicate its dark past.
