A factory in Thekla made wings for planes of Germany’s Luftwaffe. As the Germans retreated, they herded 300 slave laborers into the building, doused them with gasoline, and set fire to them with incendiary hand grenades. Many of the prisoners clawed their way out of the burning factory and ran in flames toward the electrified fence. They either burned to death, were machine-gunned by the surrounding German troops, or were electrocuted when they touched the fence. The building burned completely to the ground.
©Phil Drell