Temporary office "Dachs"

In light of the increased Allied bombardments of Berlin from 1943 onwards, the leadership of the Reich Main Security Office decided to build a large alternative site in the woods near Wulkow. With construction in full swing since March 1944, the first RSHA employees moved into the temporary office (code name: Dachs) in the summer, while construction work continued elsewhere. In addition to the Opposition, Sabotage and Counterintelligence Departments, numerous Gestapo state departments, such as the "Poland Department", were also relocated to Wulkow.

Undisturbed by air raids and connected to the headquarters in Berlin by a communications cable, they were able to perform their criminal tasks in Wulkow. The employees of this department were responsible for, among other things, the racially oppressed Polish forced labourers in the Reich. For just minor offences, they were sent to concentration camps. They were also responsible for the killing of Poles, referred to by the obscure term "special treatment".

„The Jews only know that they are building for the SS. The actual names of the clients or the purpose of the building projects must not be mentioned in their presence (be vigilant on long-distance calls!)“

From the regulations for SS guards, 1944

From August 1944, the Jewish forced labourers were sent to work on a new construction site: a news barrack with the code name "Bärau" was built for the NSDAP party chancellery. Martin Bormann the head of the NSDAP party chancellery as well as one of Hitler's closest confidants and de facto deputy, was involved in all important decisions of the Nazi regime.

„In addition to the administration, various secret documents were also kept in specific barracks. [...] receipts, photographic documents, weapons and explosives that the German police had confiscated from the resistance groups [among others]. The archive of documents relating to the attempt on Hitler's life was also kept here.“

Former Wulkow prisoner, 1995

„I was ordered by Gruppenführer Müller to report to Trebnitz near Berlin on 28 January 1945. A certain number of subdivisions of Specialised Area IV were evacuated to there. This camp consisted of barracks and had the code name Dachs. [...] My job was to look through documents about the Slovakian uprising and to advise, help and inform the experts.“

Testimony of SS man Dieter Wisliceny in Nuremberg in 1945