The Wittenberge subcamp was formed in August 1942 and lasted until February 1945. It was the first Neuengamme sub-camp established within an industrial facility. The Kurmärkische Zellwolle und Zellulose AG (KZZW) in Wittenberge an der Elbe—one of five firms in the Phrix Group—was established between 1938 and 1940 with significant state support. The company was to produce a synthetic celluloid wool to replace foreign textile imports. The product was produced in Wittenberge from straw from which cellulose was extracted as a by-product. As early as 1940, foreign civilian laborers and prisoners of war (POWs) were working in the KZZW. By the end of 1944, they comprised more than 60 percent of the labor force. Starting in February 1942, Polish Jews worked at the factory for a few months. From August 1942 on, concentration camp prisoners from Neuengamme were also working at the factory, building a new facility from which yeast could be derived as a by-product, yeast being an intermediate p...