David, thank you very much for sharing. Learning these individual stories is one of the big reasons for putting this information on the Web.

Regarding the TUNNELS and CAMPS, I have another, family, interest, involving the Jewish ( & there) workers who were there during WW2.

My wife was a descendant of a Dutch Jewish family (ZEELANDER), her Grandfather having moved to UK in 1897, married a Belgian Catholic, and whose children were brought up a Catholics, her father, then on, marrying an English Protestant (CofE) became a British national and a Protestant in 1934. Complicated! My wife and I were both born in 1936.

The majority of the larger Zeelander Family remained in Holland and , inevitably, most were subsumed in the Holocaust with but a few survivors. We had met one or two who had survived, liberated fro Belsen in 1945. this Mother and Daughter ( a youg teenager)had spent time in the Minden complex, both marching daily to the Tunnels for “work”. Later they were”evacuated” in the dface of the advancing Allies, winding up in Belsen.

We tried to find out more but it was very difficult even in the 70s to finf out much, other than to see the main entrance gate near the Weser. We actiually had our a Caravan on the opposite side of the river.

This evening, I have even realised that I took part in a Shutzenfestr Rifle shoot at Barkausen , invited by a loca .. almost winning their Crown .. it would have been embarrassing! The range appears to have been built into and upper tunnel!

Hence my interest. I have continued our research into the “lost” tribe of Zeelanders with some success. I have found more, related, survivors in US and Australia, with whom I have shared information.

Well done on all this. I spent many year in total in Germany from 1957 to 1984 and later working as a civilian in Germany and UK. My home is in Devon, England.

Thanks for the comment Graham. This is definitely a work in progress. Thanks for the list of facilities. I’m still working my way through Reinhold Blanke-Bohne’s dissertation and a lot of other documents.