Gedenkstätte Plattenhaus Poppenbüttel, Historical memorial site in Poppenbüttel, Germany.
Gedenkstätte Plattenhaus Poppenbüttel is the last remaining prefabricated dwelling from an emergency housing settlement built in Hamburg near the railway area. The structure has been preserved as a memorial space with an exhibition that documents individual stories and living conditions from that period.
The building was constructed between 1944 and 1945 when forced laborers built it to house people left homeless by bombing raids. After the war, families continued living in these temporary shelters for years until the area was eventually redeveloped.
The memorial focuses on the lives of women who were forced to work here and the families who later sought shelter in these buildings. Visitors can see how ordinary people adapted to extraordinary hardship and what daily life looked like for those with nowhere else to go.
The site is located in the Poppenbüttel area and is accessible by public transport, especially the S-train. Visitors should check ahead about visiting times, as access is not available every day of the week.
Inside, original rooms from the 1940s are preserved, showing how multiple people shared tiny spaces with minimal furnishings and few comforts. This unchanged living space gives visitors a direct sense of the cramped conditions families endured.
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