Disease, starvation, and overwork was rife among the inmates, coupled with the harshness from the guards, this treatment killed thousands of prisoners. On Sept. 1, 1941 Flossenburg became a training camp for extrememly large numbers of Aufseherin (meaning female overseer), who were recruited by force from factories all over Germany and Poland. Over 500 women were trained in the camps and over time went on to its subcamps. Women matrons staffed the Flossenburg subcamps, such as Dresden Ilke Werke, Freiberg, Helmbrechts, Holleischen, Leitmeritz, Mehltheur, Neustadt, Nurnberg-Siemens, Oederan, and Zwodau.
It is estimated that between April of 1944 and April of 1945, more than 1500 death sentences were carried out. To this end, six new gallows hooks were installed. In the last months, the daily rate of executions overtook the capacity of the crematorium. As a solution, the SS began stacking the bodies in piles, drenching them with gasoline, and setting them afire. Incarcerated in what was called the "Bunker", those who had been condemned to death were kept alone in dark rooms with no food for days until they were executed. Amongst the Allied military officers executed here were Special Operations Executive agents:
In 1944 -
- Francois Gerard Michel - executed between June 1-15
- Gustave Daniel Alfred Bieler - executed Sept. 6
As Germany's defeat loomed, a number of the Special Operations Executives whom the SS had tortured repeatedly in order to extract information, were executed on the same day. The Special Operations Executives agents hanged on March 29, 1945 were:
- Jack Charles Stanmore Agazarian
- Phillip John Amphlett
- James Frederick Amps
- George William Hedworth Demand
- Roland Dowlen
- Marcel Georges Florent Fox
- Harry Huntington Graham
- Eugene Francis (Levin) Felangue
- James Francis George Menesson
- Brian Dominic Rafferty
- David Whytehead Sibree
- V. A. Soskice
- Jean Worms
In early April of 1945, as American forces were approaching the camp, the SS began a forced evacuation, leaving only the sickest behind. More than 7,000 prisoners would be shot before they reached Dachau. By the time the U.S. Army 90th Infantry Division freed Flossenburg on April 23, 1945, more than 30,000 prisoners had been killed.
