Creation of the Falkensee subcamp

In the summer of 1943, the first prisoners moved into the Falkensee subcamp. With the increasing air raids on Berlin, the danger of fires in the forced camps increased. Therefore, the architect Wilhelm Fricke designed massive stone buildings. His design was strongly based on the barracks in Sachsenhausen concentration camp, which he had visited on December 2, 1942. He developed a floor plan and the furnishings of the building. The accommodation buildings were constructed as double barracks, ten meters wide and sixty meters long, made of slag concrete blocks, which comprised two separate functional units, each with two bedrooms, two day rooms, a washroom, a toilet room and a hallway. As can be seen from a structural history study, the camp was equipped with a long-distance heating system. The walls of the hallways and day rooms were decorated with stencil painting.

In October 1943, the camp comprised 14 such accommodation buildings, one of which was used, among other things, as an infirmary and four as production facilities. There was also a kitchen building, a bathroom with disinfection and an office. The barracks for SS guards stood right at the entrance to the camp.

The concentration camp was originally planned for a total of 5,000 prisoners, but only part of it was actually carried out. The maximum occupancy of the camp is documented in the summer of 1944 with 2,584 prisoners.