Operation "Desert", Unternehmen "Wüste", was a desperate attempt to tap new fuel sources for the retreating armed forces of the collapsing Nazi Reich during the last months of World War II. About 10,000 laborers from concentration camps were forced to build and operate several refinery facilites that were supposed to produce oil from local oil shale deposits - a technically and economically pointless undertaking. The operation resulted in 1,500 tons of unusable oil and more than 3,500 dead prisoners.
As time goes by, the ruins and the memories vanish.