In 1944 and 1945 a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp was located on what today is Mathias-Erzberger-Straße. The camp fit 440 prisoners, who performed forced labour at HASAG. A subcamp of 1,200 women, mostly Jews, were likewise forced to support military production. Most of the prisoners did not survive a death march in 1945 after the closure of the camps. Next to these camps were 12 additional forced labor camps and prisoner of war camps, whose prisoners worked for the "Mitteldeutsche Motorenwerke GmbH" (also known as "Mimo"). These latter camps belonged at the time to the district Pönitz.