Repository for radioactive waste Morsleben

The repository for radioactive waste Morsleben (Endlager für radioaktive Abfälle Morsleben-ERAM) is a deep geological repository for radioactive waste in the rock salt mine Bartensleben in Morsleben, district Börde in the federal state Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.

After closure of the salt mining activities, Bartensleben was designated as a repository for radioactive waste by the former government of East Germany. Today, the shaft is operated by the Deutsche Gesellschaft zum Bau und Betrieb von Endlagern für Abfallstoffe mbH (DBE) under supervision of the Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz.

The salt mining industry in this region is over a century-old, started with the first potash mining shaft "Marie" in 1897. Shaft "Bartensleben" started between 1910–1912 and is of current depth 525 m. The mine levels in shaft "Bartensleben" are interconnected with shaft "Marie" at depths 326, 426, 466 and 506 m. The main mine structure is between 320 and 630m depth.

During the Third Reich, from February 1944 until April 1945, forced laborers and concentration camp prisoners from Ravensbrück, and Buchenwald were employed. From August 1944, 2,500 German, Soviet, Polish, Hungarian and French female concentration camp prisoners, also from the Neuengamme camp, were moved to the Beendorf camp. Initially this was a subcamp of Buchenwald and latterly of the Neuengamme camp. They worked in the salt mine.

They were forced to work in the underground tunnels of more than 400 meters depth on the production of components for the Me 262 jet aircraft and for rockets, including the V1 and V2. The components included parts for guidance systems. For secrecy the underground shafts "Marie" at Beendorf and "Bartensleben" in Morsleben were named "Bulldog" and "Polecat".

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