Bautzen, Gräberstätte und Gedenkstätte Karnickelberg

The cemetery and memorial is the final resting place of the victims of Special Camp No. 4 in Bautzen. This was set up in May 1945 by the Soviet military administration in Germany on the site of the Bautzen I prison, the former Royal Saxon prison, which was the most modern facility of its kind in Saxony when it was built in 1904 with 1,100 prison places. The National Socialists used the building between 1933 and 1945 to imprison political opponents and other persecuted groups, working closely with the Gestapo. Nazi functionaries and war criminals were subsequently imprisoned here, but political opponents were soon increasingly locked up under the guise of denazification. Presumably several thousand of the approximately 27,000 special camp prisoners perished. Some of the dead were found and recovered from 1992 onwards, partly with the support of the Volksbund. They found a dignified resting place on the Karnickelberg. There is a small chapel and memorial at the edge of the site. Further information can be found at the Saxon Memorials Foundation, Bautzen Memorial: https://www.stsg.de/cms/bautzen/geschichte/graeberstaette_karnickelberg