The Württemberg town of Vaihingen an der Enz was involved in the Nazi suppression system from the first to the last day. Initially, the workhouse at Kaltenstein Castle served as a collection point for the concentration camp at Heuberg, but later it accommodated sick prisoners from that camp. During World War II, in addition to prisoners of war, Ukrainian forced laborers also came to the town. The workhouse also housed prisoners from penal institutions, many for political reasons. In the spring of 1944, work began near the town on a large armaments project codenamed "Stoffel." An abandoned quarry was to be converted into a "bunker factory" and handed over to the Messerschmitt company. In addition to forced laborers from various countries, forced laborers from Russia and, from August 1944, around 2,200 concentration camp inmates were employed, for whom a new camp had been built. When the "Stoffel" project had to be abandoned, the SS continued to operate the camp as a "hospital and recovery camp" for inmates from the southwestern German region. Until liberation on April 7, around 1,500 people died here.