Architects of Death

by Karen Bartlett

  If they had allowed Prüfer to leave, Ludwig and Ernst Wolfgang could have rid themselves of two problems: a difficult employee; and the issue of manufacturing ovens for concentration camps, the horrors of which had not escaped them. In letting Prüfer go, the brothers could have said, with justification, that they no longer had the technical expertise to continue working in the area, which accounted for only the smallest percentage of their firm’s business.

  Instead, the Topfs chose not to free themselves of their ties to the SS, but to use Prüfer as a conduit to deepening their association.

  Looming over both brothers was the prospect of being called up to serve in the army. Although Ernst Wolfgang appears to have avoided a call-up due to his claims of ill-health, Ludwig’s notice arrived on 19 September 1941, a few days after his thirty-eighth birthday. (The same month that Prüfer insulted the brothers again, by claiming that they had done nothing to help Topf employees sent to the Front – ‘In the context of a discussion about parcels to be sent to the [called-up Topf workers],’ Ernst Wolfgang writes, ‘Herr Prüfer took the liberty of commenting that so far the company had done and paid nothing whatsoever for these people. I immediately set the record straight in the strongest terms.’)53

  Ludwig’s great fear must have been that he would be sent straight into action on the Eastern Front – a likely death sentence. Instead he received a relatively soft posting, and was assigned to a construction regiment about 35 miles from Erfurt near Gotha. Despite this stroke of luck (no doubt secured by much manoeuvring behind the scenes), both brothers dedicated themselves to getting Ludwig out of the army altogether, applying after a month for him to receive Uk status, which meant he was needed for vital war work at Topf and Sons. This first request was denied outright and Ludwig was not even allowed the fourteen-day ‘working holiday’ the brothers had requested. Despite this, Ludwig persuaded his military superior to get Weimar Military Command to grant him one week’s special absence on 10 November. During this week the brothers applied themselves earnestly to making a second attempt at getting Ludwig out of the army. On 13 November the Topfs applied again for Uk status, sending a letter to the President of Industry and Trade stating:

  It is our view that the military command is under the impression that the war work carried out by J. A. Topf and Sons is limited to the manufacture of grenades and repair of steering gear for the ‘He III’. For this reason we are writing to you again to draw your attention to the war essential task we currently have in hand, i.e. orders with priority status S and SS, as well as construction priority O, which we are required to fulfil within the next few months.54

  The Topfs listed their order for essential war contracts, totalling 7.8 million RM, which include parts and repairs, mines, aircraft, oil, light metal plants and agriculture and food. Finally they noted another customer – whose order only accounts for 150,000 RM, but which receives special emphasis: ‘The Reichsführer of the SS (approx. twenty-five cremation ovens for prison camps in the East – extremely urgent!)

  To back up this application, the Topf brothers played their trump card – their relationship with the SS. On the day before they submitted the application, someone from the company in Erfurt rang the SS Construction Management Unit at Auschwitz. Following this call, the camp’s deputy construction manager, SS-Obersturmführer Walter Urbanczyk, wrote a letter to military command in Weimar outlining an expected arrival of 120,000 Russian prisoners, meaning that ‘the construction of the cremation system has, therefore, become extremely urgent’. The person responsible for the installation of this system, Urbanczyk claimed, was Ludwig Topf, but ‘we were today informed in a telephone conversation with Topf and Sons that they will be unable to install this cremation system because the above-mentioned Ludwig Topf has been called up as a construction soldier.’ Urbanczyk requested that Ludwig be released from military duties for three weeks to oversee the Auschwitz work – but again military command ignored this request, perhaps seeing it for the fabrication that it was.

  Faced with the stark reality of military service, Ludwig and Ernst Wolfgang must have been dismayed when they realised that only one man could save them: Kurt Prüfer. On 21 November Prüfer wrote to the head of construction at Auschwitz, Karl Bischoff, to discuss his recent visit to the SS Main Office for Household and Buildings in Berlin, before going back to the urgent and ‘problematic’ nature of the oven installation at Auschwitz. Under the circumstances, Prüfer writes, he has asked Ludwig Topf, ‘who came up with the idea for the three-muffle cremation oven’ to take an interest in the project and to visit the camp in person. To do this, however, he would need to be released from his military duties, and Prüfer suggests, Bischoff could write a telegram to Topf and Sons explaining why Ludwig is so vital to the project’s success. Helpfully, he even provided Bischoff with an outline of what to say:

  Herr Topf is currently a construction soldier with the Third Construction Ersatz Regiment … since he is about to be granted a leave of absence, I would ask you to send a telegram to my company, and would suggest the following wording: ‘Urgently request visit from Herr Ludwig Topf from 2 to 5 December for discussion new oven construction.’55

  Ludwig’s presence would allow him to see for himself the urgency of the operation, Prüfer concludes, ‘this would then have a positive effect on our delivery times’.

  This time the effort is successful. The SS send the telegram, which still exists with handwritten notes. Ludwig Topf is granted his leave and never returns to military service. Prüfer, meanwhile, has demonstrated the strength of his connections with the SS; he is recognised as an equal when bargaining with them. (It is something he attempts again when trying to secure the release of the son of a Topf and Sons’ foreman from Buchenwald in 1943 – but on that occasion he fails.)

  Prüfer and the Topf brothers never develop a warm relationship, but Prüfer now realises that he has a powerful tool at his disposal. In the fevered atmosphere of Topf and Sons in the 1940s, it is not surprising that an employee might use any leverage available.

  During this period company memos and letters in the Topf and Sons archive reveal a snapshot of life in the company in one short space of time. From February to April 1942, the company was working with the Nazi regime to begin implementing the ‘final solution’ of the total extermination of the Jewish race – but the Topf archives reveal not a hint of this. Instead of documenting a business in a state of meltdown over such a moral calamity, the files tell the story of a company riven by factional fighting, fear and suspicion, with the directors themselves preoccupied with petty disputes, and unable to control their employees’ behaviour.

  Over the course of six weeks, company files detail a range of volatile and unpredictable revelations, beginning with allegations that Ernst Wolfgang Topf had insulted his workers by turning up drunk one night and calling them ‘communist pigs’. On 16 February, the Nazi shop steward Eduard Pudenz writes the following memo:

  On the morning of 16 February 1942, the foreman, Nagel, came to my office and told me the following:

  Herr E. W. Topf had gone into the turning shop one night and had called the operators working there ‘communist pigs’. This had been discussed by the metal workers, and if true, ‘people would be very angry about it’.

  Following an investigation, there is disagreement about whether Ernst Wolfgang called his workers ‘communist pigs’ or actually said: ‘Come on, you communists! I want to go and have a bite of bread with you!’56

  Many meeting and memos concerning this incident follow, but this startling exchange reveals several things about life at Topf and Sons. It suggests that the Topf brothers were aware of the communist groups operating in their workshop; that Ernst Wolfgang’s behaviour was sufficiently questionable that the idea of him turning up drunk in the middle of the night and hurling abuse at staff seemed plausible; and that even the lowliest workers regarded the Topf brothers with more disdain than fear.

  Pudenz resolves to get to the bottom of the matter, b
ut before he can investigate further, an even more worrying situation transpires. Later that same day, he discovers an explosive canister on the company premises:

  FILE NOTE

  Herr E. W. Topf

  Re ‘Explosive capsule’ found on company premises

  Shop steward Pudenz appeared at 15:15 and showed us a small capsule from which a number of fuses were hanging … We reported it to the Security Service, via the fire authority, since we wanted to know the nature of the object, i.e. was it just a harmless firework or a device that had been set to explode? LT [Ludwig Topf] personally handed the explosive device to the security service. They will investigate its contents and, if appropriate, inform the Gestapo.

  Erfurt, 17 February 194257

  No one seems particularly astonished that a member of the workforce would want to blow up the company – even taking into consideration the fact that Topf and Sons employed opponents of the regime.

  There are now two serious staff issues under investigation, but dissent in the workforce, and questions about Ernst Wolfgang’s treatment of his staff, raises its head again only ten days later in lengthy discussions concerning the resignation of Fritz Meier, a senior administrator who has been working closely with Ernst Wolfgang for over a year. Due to the war regulations, Meier must request permission to leave his job, and he makes it clear in a conversation with Ludwig exactly why he wishes to do so. At 10 a.m. on 27 February they sit down for a meeting: ‘Meier replied that Herr E. T. had spoken about him in highly abusive terms. It was therefore impossible for him to remain in the company. When Herr L. T. asked Meier to repeat the defamatory word or words, Meier initially refused, before saying E. T. had called him an ‘arsehole’.58

  Ludwig immediately agrees to release Meier, but puts the reason down to his brother being dissatisfied with Meier’s work. According to the file notes, Ludwig ‘recognised that there was no longer any basis for successful collaboration with him – and not because of Meier’s blackmail. (The arguments Meier made were of a downright blackmailing character!)’. However, when Ludwig speaks to his brother, Ernst Wolfgang says he wants to speak with Meier personally. Ernst Wolfgang and Fritz Meier then sit down for a meeting in the presence of a secretary – and argue back and forth at great length.

  Ernst Wolfgang wants to carry out an investigation (one of the many that seem to be constantly underway at Topf and Sons) saying:

  ‘You want me to believe I have insulted your honour! Without giving me any opportunity to defend myself.’

  It was ‘Serious abuse!’ Meier insists. ‘What kind of abuse?’, Ernst Wolfgang demands to know. The memo notes: ‘Meier replied that he couldn’t say the word because there was a lady present … Herr E. T. found it hard to understand this misplaced sensitivity. He didn’t comment further, however, but began to guess what the word might have been. He hit upon the word, “arsehole”, at random.’

  Following this exchange, the two continue to spar over whether Meier will document his allegations and name those who had made him aware of the insult. This seems to send Meier in to a panic: ‘Meier then gave every appearance of wanting to leave the room immediately, as if he wanted to run out of the building … Herr E. T. replied emphatically: “You are my employee; I do not give you permission to leave the building!”’ By mid-afternoon, and after involving many other members of staff in the dispute, the Topf brothers agree to let Meier leave the premises.

  With Fritz Meier’s eventual, exhausted departure, both brothers have spent an entire working day embroiled in an argument about whether Ernst Wolfgang called a staff member an ‘arsehole’ – or, more to the point, whether he could prove it. Rather than address Meier’s complaints, the brothers let their emotions run riot as they determine to discover who made such claims. And it seems Fritz Meier is not alone in his unhappiness – a few days later an anonymous letter about the company lands on the desk of the Weimar Military Command.

  On 5 March, Ernst Wolfgang opens a file on the anonymous letter (which it transpires is the second such epistle), beginning with an account of a preliminary meeting between operations director Gustav Braun, representing Topf and Sons, and the Erfurt Chamber of Industry and Trade, who have been asked to investigate the matter and report back to Military Command.

  The contents of the letter were approximately as follows:

  1. J. A. Topf and Sons, Erfurt, is a complete shambles of a business. Everything’s all over the place and no one has a handle on what’s going on.

  2. An acting director from Berlin therefore needs to be installed and the senior directors of the company need to be removed from their posts. A commission to investigate this scandalous state of affairs has already been formed. The writer merely wished to secure the agreement of the Military Command: this was supposedly required in order for the action to be implemented by Berlin…

  3. The same conditions can be found in both the office premises and operations. Waste of materials, faulty work, discrepancies etc. – these all occur constantly.

  4. Company director E. T. doesn’t arrive until 11 a.m., and hardly bothers with the business at all. Pursues his own private interests. The same applies to company director L. T.

  5. The financial situation is in complete disarray. The company is still living on down payments. When these run out, it will go bankrupt, causing monstrous harm to the state.

  6. Production planning is just a completely disorganised, disordered group of people. To all intents and purposes it doesn’t actually exist at all, it just swallows up a lot of money. And it’s the same with the other departments too.

  7. The firm continually does things that are not permitted; its manufacturing isn’t actually war manufacturing.

  8. The firm should be attached to the Gustloff Foundation.59

  The Erfurt Chamber of Commerce asks Gustav Braun to address each of these points in detail, as well as provide examples. He does so and then reports back to Ernst Wolfgang, who seems most concerned by the allegation that he only arrives at the office at 11 a.m.:

  On the subject of my late arrival … It had been unreservedly confirmed by the Chamber of Industry and Trade that a company director is not required to keep the same office hours as his workers, but must be free to shape his office hours and other activities as he judges best … They fully understood that my physical and nervous constitution meant that I chose to work different hours – with more emphasis on the afternoon and evening – and did not start at 8 a.m.

  Regarding the claims of ‘financial disarray’ the Erfurt Chamber of Commerce reveals that it is already aware of Topf and Sons’ reliance on bank loans. Braun then discusses the claims concerning the planning and construction department – and specifically mentions the dismissal of Fritz Meier and the allegation that Ernst Wolfgang had called him an ‘arsehole’. The conversation again then turns back to the leadership of Ernst Wolfgang:

  ‘Overall, then, Herr Braun responded to each individual accusation with examples and arguments showing how we work. He even dismissed the accusation that E. T. was never to be found in the company.’

  Braun’s role as operations director

  made it possible for E. T. to be released from operational tasks of that kind. This was a fundamental working and business principle of the company, because E. T. was currently responsible for the entirety of the company administration and planning, and it would lead to fragmentation if he popped up everywhere. This, too, the gentlemen found understandable.

  The meeting concludes with Gustav Braun informing the Chamber of Industry and Trade about the existence of another anonymous letter, which they then ask Braun to forward to them so that they can try and identify the sender ‘and punish him in a way that will make an example of him’. Included in brackets are Ernst Wolfgang Topf’s musings ‘(I just wonder how they propose to do that; for no one knows who sent the letter, and it won’t be easy to find out.)’

  The difficulty of the task notwithstanding, Ernst Wolfgang begins an exhaustive process to do just
that – he starts by accusing Eduard Pudenz of being the author. An alarmed Pudenz swears that he is innocent and does not agree with the letter’s contents.

  As the name of the letter writer appears to contain a ‘Z’, Ernst Wolfgang moves on to an interview with Herr Belz in the production planning department, and tried to get him to submit a list of names of those dissatisfied with the production planning process.

  In an emotional outburst, Ernst Wolfgang explains:

  Our work for the company is our life’s work. We care for it as much as we care for ourselves and we are always available for it; and if it’s in trouble, we are always the first on the scene. On the other hand, in normal circumstances, our working time is intended to be devoted to company management issues, so as to prevent our strength and energy being exhausted on everyday matters. We need time for planning and for reflecting on the effects of our work: we mustn’t allow ourselves to be pushed and pulled about by events.

  This seems ironic given that the Topf brothers are constantly distracted by every piece of passing gossip, but Ernst Wolfgang goes on:

  Our goal is always to work in a planned way, even if personal circumstances occasionally make this impossible. It’s not our aim to be ‘popular’, since popularity is usually achieved at the expense of actual success…

  We draw no salary, on which savings could be made. No time-limited contracts for us: we’re here to the end. That is our destiny and we are constantly aware of it.

  As Ernst Wolfgang had so rightly surmised, the Topf brothers were certainly not popular, and a further series of meetings with staff revealed a deep dislike of company management. With some relief, the Topf brothers received news on 19 March that the Erfurt Chamber of Industry and Trade were consigning the allegations made in the anonymous letter ‘to the wastepaper basket’ and a relieved Ernst Wolfgang composed a long handwritten note for the file about the difficulty the brothers faced in running the company – along with the ultimate nobility of their cause.