Der Friesenwall. An Unfinished Last-Ditch Coastal Defence System

Hans Faber
May 4
5 min read

Updated: Sep 19

On 28 August 1944, a desperate Hitler ordered the construction of a massive defensive line in northern Germany, stretching from the Netherlands to Denmark. Intended as a safeguard in case the Allies opened a fourth front, it followed the model of the Atlantikwall and was named der Friesenwall. The name also reflected the twisted Nazi myth of the so-called strong Frisians of pure Aryan descent. The wall, planned to run roughly 240 kilometers, was never completed. After just four to five months, construction was abandoned as the Nazi regime began to collapse. Despite the short timeframe, the project cost many lives. Most of the Friesenwall was soon erased—levelled with spade and rain, and reclaimed by grasslands soon after the war. Only a few scattered concrete and earthen remnants survive today—along with the name.

The Friesenwall was a military defence system made up of successive lines of obstacles and fortifications. One of its key features was an anti-tank ditch, approximately 5 meters wide and 2.5 meters deep, constructed directly behind the sea dike along the Wadden Sea. In addition, the system included a network of trenches and more than 4,600 Ringstände—also known as Tobruks or kazematten. These were small, concrete bunkers equipped with 360-degree gun emplacements, designed to offer all-round defensive fire.

The construction of the Friesenwall relied on forced labour from a wide range of sources. Among those put to work were local civilians—including, at times, schoolchildren—the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth), the Reichs Arbeits Dienst (‘national labour service,’ RAD), an estimated 16,000 prisoners of war, and at least 6,000 Häftlinge (prisoners) from Konzentrationslager Neuengamme, abbreviated KZ Neuengamme. This concentration camp, located near the city of Hamburg, played a central role in supplying labour for the project. Prisoners from KZ Neuengamme were transferred to five satellite camps in the regions of Emsland, Ostfriesland, and Nordfriesland to work on the Friesenwall. These camps were (source: KZ-Gedenkstätte Neuengamme):

KZ Aurich-Engerhafe (region of Ostfriesland), number of prisoners: 2,000; 188 deaths registered;
KZ Husum-Schwesing (region of Nordfriesland), number of prisoners: 2,500; 297 deaths registered;
KZ Ladelund (region of Nordfriesland), number of prisoners: more than 2,000; 300 deaths registered;
KZ Meppen-Dalum (region of Emsland), number of prisoners: 1,000; unknown number of deaths;
KZ Meppen-Versen (region of Emsland), number of prisoners: 1,800-3,000 prisoners; 472 number of deaths registered.

All these deaths occurred within just a few months. Approximately half of the prisoners were from the Netherlands; the rest came from across Europe—primarily Denmark, France, and Poland, but also from Germany, Latvia, and Italy. Most of the Dutch prisoners had been arrested during razzias in September 1944, in cities and towns such as Gorinchem, Putten, Rotterdam, and Staphorst. After their arrest, they were deported to concentration camp Neuengamme.

The work was exceptionally exhausting. The heavy clay soil was difficult to lift and move, and the groundwater in these (former) marshlands lay just beneath the surface. As a result, the prisoners were forced to dig while standing ankle- or even knee-deep in water. The autumn of 1944 brought frequent rain, further worsening the already wet and miserable conditions. To make matters worse, the labour had to be carried out with primitive tools—seven days a week, twelve hours a day.

clockwise — KZ Ladelund, Friesenwall near Schobüll-Husum, KZ Aurich-Engerhafe, near KZ Neuengamme, KZ Husum-Schwesing (sanitair barrack), KZ Husum-Schwesing (kitchen barrack), and KZ Meppen-Versen

The entire massive construction of the Friesenwall along the German Wadden Sea coast was futile from the start. By the time Hitler ordered its construction in late August 1944, it was already clear that the Nazi regime was collapsing. In early June, the Allies had launched Operation D-Day on the coast of Normandy. Meanwhile, from June to August, the Red Army advanced from the east during Operation Bagration, forcing the Nazi army to fight on both western and eastern fronts. Then, in mid-August, a third front opened in the south with Operation Dragoon, as Allied forces landed on the Mediterranean coast of France. Despite all this, Hitler pushed for the construction of the Friesenwall—apparently preparing for a potential fourth front in the north.

By December 1944, construction of the Friesenwall had already begun to scale down, and by February/March 1945, it was definitively abandoned. In the case of NZ Husum-Schwesing, 300 men died within just thirteen weeks between September and December 1944 (NDR 2024). After the work ceased, prisoners from the satellite camps were returned to the main camp, KZ Neuengamme—either on foot or by train. These transports, which took place between December 1944 and March 1945, claimed many more lives. One death march, for instance, via the town of Cloppenburg, resulted in the deaths of fifty men. Upon arrival at NZ Neuengamme, countless more prisoners perished due to the horrific conditions in the camp—extreme shortages of food and clothing, lack of hygiene, rampant disease, and brutal treatment.

As mentioned, most of the Friesenwall was erased after the war—its ditches filled in, trenches levelled, and the land returned to the flat, windswept grasslands it once was. Today, only a few traces of this senseless and colossal undertaking remain, faintly visible in the vast green emptiness—the green desert—of the northern landscape.

Note 1 — Somehow military defence walls appeal to the imagination. For this go to our blog post Another Brick in the Wall. A Love-Hate Relationship and be amazed how many such walls, bulwarks, and fortifications from yesteryear already have gotten a UNESCO world heritage status.

Note 2 — Our blog post Refuge on a terp 2.0. Waiting to be liberated also concerns the end-game of the Second World War, this time in the province of Noord Holland in the Netherlands.

Note 3 — The term Friesenwall is also being used for a certain type of property boundary, made of field boulders, its top covered with earth. The more general German term for these walls is Friesenmauer ‘Frisian wall’. Authentic Friesenmauern can be found in the region of Nordfriesland in the north of Germany, especially on the Wadden Sea islands of Amrum and Sylt.