WWII German Forced Labor Camp Worker’s ID and similar items

This is a WWII German forced labor camp prisoner?s ID card / entry pass to an armament factory. Issued during the last weeks of the war to a slave worker of Hungarian nationality. CAMP HALLEIN Hallein is a town in the Austrian state of Salzburg. A network of forced labor camps were established in the summer and autumn of 1944 near armaments factories throughout southern part of the Reich to increase war production. In these camps over 30,000 prisoners worked almost exclusively on armaments. You can read about the Hallein camp in the book The Girl from Sighet by Hindi Rothbart, P'nenah Goldstein, the story of a DP family that went through Hallein. Hallein as a Third Reich labor camp is mentioned in various books including Hermann Langbein?s book, Against all hope. The Hallein salt caves were used by the Germans to store records of Himmler's "medical experiments" and to store thousands of artworks looted under Goering. It could be imagined that the inmates of the Hallein camp worked in those caves. While Hallein is a bit of an historical footnote compared to the most infamous camps of the era, there are few artifacts from it and the literally thousands of other labor camps that operated in Germany and in occupied Europe and, as such, a scale model of the Hallein camp is a part of world history and especially the Shoah history. Hallein was originally established as a base for mountain troops, the Mountain Troops Training and Replacement Battalion (Gebirgsjager Ausbiklungs Ersatzbataillon) No 6, which also accommodated wounded soldiers. From June 1943, or at least certainly from September of that year, around 30 male prisoners were brought to the site. They were accommodated in wooden barracks in the quarry and were employed by the Bauleitung der SS und Polizei (SS and Police Building Administration). The number of prisoners was subsequently increased to 90 persons. The camp was enclosed by wire and towers and a second barracks was built for the Schutzstaffel guards. The prisoners constructed a shooting range and area for close quarter battle training. However, in the main, they were used for forced labor in the quarry and in the town and on surrounding farms. Difficult working conditions and poor food made more of the prisoners incapable of work, and this led to repeated random murders of prisoners by the guards. In April 1945 there were still 55 prisoners remaining in the camp, but they were no longer required to work. Finally, thanks to negotiations from the townsfolk, the prisoners were allowed to leave and lived in empty barracks in the town. The camp was finally liberated by the 242nd US Infantry and initially used to house German PoWs. Face of the card bears the following information: Lagerkeller Hallein Ausweis 41175 / ID number) zu Betreten / Entry pass gültig bis Widerruf / valid until revoked Zuname / Last name: Matlak Vorname / First name: Sandor geboren am / Born on: 29. January 1923. Staatszuhorigkeit: Ungar / Nationality: Hungarian Sonderstelle / Special location Umstehende Bedingungen erkenne ich an. / I accept the following conditions. Hallein, den 27. March, 1945. Unterschrift / Signature. Reverse reads: Dieser Ausweis ist nicht übertragbar, vom Inhaber stets bei sich zu führen und beim Passieren der Eingange unaufgefordert vorzuzeigen, Inhaber ist nur zum Betreten der umstehend angegebenen Gebaude berechtigt. Der Ausweis bleibt Eigentum des Betriebes und ist beim endgültigen Verlassen des Betriebes bei der Sonderstelle abzugeben. Verlust des Ausweises muß sofort der Sonderstelle gemeldet werden. Vorschußverpflegt This translates to: This ID card is non-transferable. It must be carried by the holder at all times and presented without request when passing through the entrances. The holder is only authorized to enter the buildings listed below. The ID card remains the property of the establishment and must be returned to the special office upon final departure. Loss of the ID card must be reported immediately to the special office.