Over its operational period, Neuengamme and its subcamps held approximately 104,000 to 106,000 prisoners, including around 13,500 women. The largest groups of prisoners were Soviets, Poles, French, Germans, Dutch, Danes, and Belgians. Initially housing few Jews, the number increased significantly by 1944, with some 13,000 Jewish prisoners having been held in Neuengamme.

The camp’s primary function was forced labor, with prisoners employed in construction, brickworks, river regulation projects, and armaments production. The conditions were brutal, characterized by inadequate food, shelter, and medical care, leading to the spread of diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, and typhus. More than 1,000 prisoners died in a typhus epidemic in December 1941. Prisoners also suffered from beatings, arbitrary punishments, and systematic killings, including those too weak to work being sent to euthanasia killing centers.

Medical experiments were conducted on prisoners, including tests for combating typhus and tuberculosis. The camp’s subcamps, numbering around 80, were spread across northern and central Germany, providing forced labor for various industries.

As the war neared its end, the death rate in Neuengamme and its subcamps soared. In February 1945 alone, nearly 2,500 prisoners died. With the approach of British troops, the SS evacuated about 9,000 prisoners towards Lübeck in April 1945 and murdered most of the remaining 3,000 prisoners in the camp. British forces arrived on May 4, 1945. In a tragic event, around 7,000 prisoners, mostly evacuated from Neuengamme, lost their lives when the British attacked two ships carrying them on May 3.

The death register indicates that about 40,000 prisoners died in Neuengamme by April 10, 1945, with possibly 15,000 more dying in the following week and during the evacuations.

Today, the Neuengamme Memorial site serves as a place of remembrance and education. It includes preserved remnants of the camp, a museum, and educational resources, providing a comprehensive understanding of the camp’s history and its role in the Holocaust.