On March 19, 1938, the Aller-Zeitung reported the completion of the first barracks of the communal camp, which was intended to house the workers needed for the construction of the factory and the city. At the time, the newspaper already seemed to have sensed that this provisional barrack landscape would become a central part of the city - and would not simply give way to new buildings as the construction of the city progressed - as it noted: "Once the work has been completed, the barrack site will form a district in its own right."-__-0000-__-

The camp administration was responsible for this small "town of wood" -__-0001-__-, which was housed in a barrack north of the roll call square in front of the Cianetti Hall.

It was primarily responsible for administrative tasks. It was responsible for organizing the camp residents' meals, but also organized sporting events and film evenings.-__-0000-__- Through its functionaries, the camp administration also exercised a supervisory and control function. These camp leaders and functionaries were employees of the Volkswagen factory and were selected by its personnel manager. They were merely confirmed by the German Labor Front (DAF) - according to whose guidelines the communal camp was run.-__-0001-__- The camp was expanded several times between 1938 and 1945. In October 1938, it could hold between four and five thousand people, but by 1941 its capacity had increased to around 10,000. However, the occupancy rate changed constantly, eventually settling at between 8,000 and 9,000 people.-__-0002-__-

The barracks of the communal camp were built according to the regulations of the Reich Labor Service and grouped around the rectangular roll call square in front of the Cianetti Hall.

Here, as everywhere else in the Reich, the organization of the space and its subdivision into segments was intended to enable comprehensive control and discipline of the camp inhabitants by the camp administration.-__-0000-__- The rigid division of the barracks was intended to make it difficult to roam around unobserved. Individual retreats and niches were not provided for, making any form of self-dynamics virtually impossible. This was precisely the intention and was intended to contribute to the de-individualization of the residents and the formation of a "national community". The barrack-like arrangement of the barracks and the strict demarcation by fences and gates also gave the camps a military character. In practice, however, the National Socialists failed to achieve this goal, as evidenced by the particularly high number of thefts and alcohol-related offenses in the camp.-__-0001-__-

The communal camp was also segmented into different sections, each of which comprised five to seven individual camps and was under the control of a camp commander. Each individual camp consisted of nine barracks and had crew, washing and kitchen barracks, as well as an administration and leader's barrack. The latter stood at right angles to the other barracks and were slightly smaller than them. Camps 1 to 7 were located between the Schachtweg and the Cianetti Hall and had already been built in 1938. Camps 8 to 15 were located to the east of today's Porschestraße, which were converted into the "East Camp" in 1942 and separated from the rest of the site by high barbed wire fences. Camps 16 to 21, on the other hand, were located between Schachtweg and today's Lessingstraße. So-called military internees and prisoners of war were housed here from 1943 onwards.-__-0001-__-

The central task of the camp commander was to "lead the people" and "look after them".-__-0002-__- In addition to his administrative duties, he was supposed to shape the character of the camp residents in line with the National Socialist educational mission. True to the "model town" propaganda, the Aller-Zeitung saw this task as being realized in an outstanding way in the communal camp in the "town of the KdF car", which is why it was already exemplary at the top of all camps in the Reich: "The main thing, however, is the spirit that prevails in the camp and which is awakened and promoted by the camp leader through the house elders in all the residents of the barracks. It takes a lot of idealism and the right tone to make the communal camp a model camp for the whole of Germany today."-__-0003-__-

-__-0004-__- "A shanty town in the making - news from the construction work for the Volkswagen factory", in: Aller-Zeitung of March 19, 1938.
-__-0005-__- This was the contemporary name of the town, see for example: "Ein Brief aus Stube 24 - Burgenländische Zimmerer schreiben aus der Stadt des KdF-Wagens", in: Aller-Zeitung of July 23, 1938.
-__-0006-__- "Sport in the Volkswagenwerk community camp", in: Aller-Zeitung of August 23, 1938; "An Easter walk: Around the Volkswagenwerk", in: Aller-Zeitung of April 8, 1939.
-__-0007-__- Klaus-Jörg Siegfried, Das Leben der Zwangsarbeiter im Volkswagenwerk. Frankfurt am Main/New York 1988, p. 94.
-__-0008-__- Hans Mommsen/Manfred Grieger, Das Volkswagenwerk und seine Arbeiter im Dritten Reich. Düsseldorf 1996, p. 743.
-__-0009-__- Here and in the following Kiran Klaus Patel, "'Auslese' und 'Ausmerze'. Das Janusgesicht der nationalsozialistischen Lager", in: Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft, vol. 54 (2006), p. 4, pp. 339-365, here pp. 346-348.
-__-0010-__- A review of the 1938 to 1945 editions of the Aller-Zeitung revealed that numerous thefts and other crimes occurred in the camp and on the grounds of the town.
-__-0011-__- StadtA WOB, EB 5, interview with Walther Strohfeldt from September 27, 1968.
-__-0012-__- Mommsen/Grieger, Das Volkswagenwerk und seine Arbeiter im Dritten Reich (see note 5), p. 742f. and Siegfried, Das Leben der Zwangsarbeiter im Volkswagenwerk (see note 4), p. 95.
-__-0013-__- Cf. Otto Marrenbach, Foundations of Victory. The overall work of the German Labor Front from 1933 to 1940. Berlin 1940, p. 180.
-__-0014-__- "Aus Eisen u. Beton wächst das Volkswagenwerk", in: Aller-Zeitung of October 22, 1938.