Construction of the troop camp
In the 1930s, the "Wehrmacht" (German armed forces) set up several military training areas. One of them was in Bergen.
With an area of over 280 square kilometres, the Bergen military training area was the largest new construction project of its kind. The military training area was used to train armoured troops. Large barrack complexes for a total of 32,000 soldiers were built on the western and eastern edges of the extensive site.
Thousands of construction workers were needed to build these "Truppenlager Belsen" (Belsen Military Base), who were housed in Barack Camps near the villages of Fallingbostel and Belsen. Up to 3,000 workers were housed in the 30 or so barracks of the "Army Construction Camp Bergen-Belsen", which were set up in the forest south of the construction site.
After the "Truppenlager Belsen" (Belsen Military Base) and Fallingbostel camps were completed in 1938/39, the accommodation was largely empty; some were used as warehouses, others were dismantled. After the German invasion of Poland, the "Wehrmacht" (German armed forces) used them as prisoner of war camps.