Oberndorf

From our region, many people were employed in the town of Oberndorf in Germany. This town housed the Mauser arms factories, which were crucial to the German war industry. Mauser was, among other things, the producer of the K98, the standard weapon of a German soldier.

Due to the severe tobacco shortages during the war, the cigar industry was under pressure. The Germans needed labor and preferred to recruit workers from non-essential professions. As a result, many people from the cigar industry were forced to go to Oberndorf.

In Oberndorf, workers of various nationalities were housed in different camps. Initially, the Dutch had slightly more freedoms than some other nationalities, such as the Russians. Some Dutch workers frequently visited German cafés, shops, and boarding houses in Oberndorf.

However, as the war progressed, conditions worsened. The workers suffered from a lack of adequate food and clean clothing, and they had to work long and hard hours. In addition to the threat of Allied air raids, the deteriorating conditions took their toll.

Typhus broke out among the workers, and the Germans set up a special camp to isolate the infected workers. Various workers from our municipality did not return alive from Oberndorf. Some others returned so weakened that they later died in Valkenswaard from the effects of their labor deployment.