246. For a discussion of Nazi violence as an end in itself, see Neitzel and Welzer, Soldaten, 88–94.
247. Quotes in Broszat, Kommandant, 102; Eicke to commandant offices, December 2, 1935, NCC, doc. 151. See also Segev, Soldiers, 122, 135; Orth, SS, 131–34; Riedle, Angehörigen, 237–39; Dicks, Mass Murder, 101; Dillon, “Dachau,” 115, 118–19; Zimbardo, Lucifer, 221, 259. Dismissals from the Camp SS were common: during a six-month period in 1937, some two hundred men were sacked. A few SS men may have been bullied into killing themselves, which would explain the unusually high suicide rate among the Camp SS; Segev, Soldiers, 128.
248. Tuchel, “Kommandanten des KZ Dachau,” 337–39; Dillon, “Dachau,” 82–83, 200–201.
249. Orth, SS, 101; Tuchel, Konzentrationslager, 295.
250. For this and the previous paragraph, see Dillon, “Dachau,” 183–84, 201–202, 214–15, guard quote on 202; Schilde and Tuchel, Columbia-Haus, 67–69, Eicke quote on 68; KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau, Gedenkbuch, 19. More generally on comradeship, see Kühne, Belonging, 83.
251. Riedel, Ordnungshüter, 31–134. See also BArchB (ehem. BDC), SSO, Loritz, Hans, 21.12.1895, Loritz letter, June 19, 1934.
252. Riedel, Ordnungshüter, 141–42, 178–82, Loritz quotes on 142, 144; Dillon, “Dachau,” 204, 222, Loritz quote on 203; Internationales Zentrum, Nazi-Bastille, prisoner quote on 36; IfZ, statement P. Wauer, May 21, 1945, ND: NO-1504.
253. Riedel, Ordnungshüter, 143–49, quote on 145; Tuchel, “Kommandanten des Konzentrationslagers Flossenbürg,” 201–204; Dillon, “Dachau,” 214–16, 226–27, 233, 237; Nazi-Bastille, 37; Hördler, “Ordnung,” 78. For the Dachau death rate, see KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau, Gedenkbuch.
254. For general background, see Orth, SS, 127. For Loritz’s move to Sachsenhausen in late 1939, and his official appointment on March 11, 1940, see Riedel, Ordnungshüter, 217–29.
255. Orth, SS, 63 (n. 18); Dillon, “Dachau,” 242–43; Tuchel, “Kommandanten des Konzentrationslagers Flossenbürg,” 204; NCC, docs. 145 and 208. For Dachau as a springboard for future KL commandants, see also Hördler, “Ordnung,” 58.
256. Riedle, Angehörigen, 50 (n. 50), 135, 157, 223; Morsch, “Formation,” 169–70, 176; Kaienburg, Wirtschaftskomplex, 114–15.
257. BArchB (ehem. BDC), SSO, Koch, Karl, 2.8.1897, Personalbericht, August 3, 1937; Morsch, Sachsenburg, 336–37; Segev, Soldiers, 187–89; Schilde and Tuchel, Columbia-Haus, 64–66; StAAu, StA Augsburg, KS 22/50, Vernehmung I. Koch, April 29, 1949.
258. Quote in Hackett, Buchenwald, 338.
259. IfZ, F 13/6, Bl. 369–82: R. Höss, “Theodor Eicke,” November 1946, Bl. 378; Riedel, Ordnungshüter, 150–59.
260. Quote in BArchB (ehem. BDC), SSO, Künstler, Karl, 12.1.1901, Eicke to 1. SS-TS, January 5, 1939. More generally, see Tuchel, “Kommandanten des Konzentrationslagers Flossenbürg,” 206–209; Hördler, “Ordnung,” 76. Weiseborn’s official cause of death was a heart attack, though there were persistent rumors among inmates that he had taken his own life. For network theories applied to Nazi perpetrators, see Berger, Experten.
261. Previously, there had been some variation. In some camps, prisoners already had short-cropped (or shaved) hair from 1933–34; elsewhere, they could still keep it longer (see photos in Morsch, Sachsenburg, 227–37). For the SS practice from 1936, ibid., 286, 304–307; DaA, Nr. 7566, K. Schecher, “Rückblick auf Dachau,” n.d., 230–32; LBIJMB, MF 425, L. Bendix, “Konzentrationslager Deutschland,” 1937–38, vol. 5, 3; Neurath, Gesellschaft, 68–69.
262. In some camps, winter uniforms had green, not blue, stripes; Schmidt, “Geschichte.” The new uniforms were introduced at different times between 1937–38 (Dachau) and spring 1939 (Sachsenhausen); Zámečník, Dachau, 86; OdT, vol. 3, 51. For prisoner names and numbers, AdsD, KE, E. Büge, Bericht, n.d. (1945–46), 57; Baganz, Erziehung, 271.
263. For material benefits of some privileged prisoners, LBIJMB, MF 425, L. Bendix, “Konzentrationslager Deutschland,” 1937–38, vol. 4, 33–34.
264. OdT, vol. 1, 91–95; Baganz, Erziehung, 165; DaA, Nr. 7566, K. Schecher, “Rückblick auf Dachau,” n.d., 90. For the pioneering role of Dachau and Esterwegen, see Knoll, “Homosexuelle Häftlinge,” 65; Lüerßen, “‘Wir,’” 90–91.
265. Sofsky, Ordnung, 89.
266. DaA, 9438, A. Hübsch, “Insel des Standrechts” (1961), 77–78; Naujoks, Leben, 34; Freund, Buchenwald!, 121.
267. Naujoks, Leben, 34, 49, 62–63, 69, 76; Drobisch and Wieland, System, 294; Neurath, Gesellschaft, 44–49; Freund, Buchenwald!, 162–65. Quote in BArchB, NS 4/Bu 31, Bl. 20: A. Rödl, Allgemeine Anordnungen, October 9, 1937.
268. Some prisoners had lunch at their work sites. Others returned to the compound for a quick wash and roll call, and ate inside their quarters.
269. Neurath, Gesellschaft, 54–56, 69–78; Naujoks, Leben, 32, 69, 96; Drobisch and Wieland, System, 207; Kautsky, Teufel, 246; NCC, docs. 190–92; ITS, ARCH/KL Sachsenburg, Ordner 11, Bl. 82: Bekanntmachung, June 10, 1936. More generally on the SS administration of prisoner monies, see Grabowski, Geld, especially pages 29–51.
270. Neurath, Gesellschaft, 57–58, 239–42; Naujoks, Leben, 65–67; Kogon, Theory, 75–80; Freund, Buchenwald!, 163; Drobisch and Wieland, System, 297.
271. Fackler, “Lagers Stimme,” 151–69, 340–42, 356–61; Drobisch and Wieland, System, 297; Kautsky, Teufel, 219–22; Barkow et al., Novemberpogrom, 77.
272. Fackler, “Lagers Stimme,” 187–90; Zámečník, Dachau, 53–54; Steinbacher, Dachau, 165–70; Drobisch and Wieland, System, 215, 307–308. In the early camp Osthofen, Jews had occasional access to a rabbi; Wünschmann, “Jewish Prisoners,” 118.
273. Quote in Hett, Crossing, 218. See also Seela, Bücher; Neurath, Gesellschaft, 238–39; Fackler, “Lagers Stimme,” 182; Seger, “Oranienburg,” 37–38; Freund, Buchenwald!, 158.
274. Quotes in Neurath, Gesellschaft, 67; DaA, 9438, A. Hübsch, “Insel des Standrechts” (1961), 111. See also BArchB, NS 4/Na 6, Bl. 3–4: Eicke to LK, October 14, 1938; ibid., R 58/264, Bl. 293–97: Gestapo Munich to Stapoleitstellen et al., March 4, 1937; Baganz, Erziehung, 277; Internationales Zentrum, Nazi-Bastille, 58–59; Bettelheim, “Individual,” 440–41.
275. Langhoff, Moorsoldaten, 175–95; Lüerßen, “‘Wir,’” 131; Kautsky, Teufel, 221–22; Zámečník, Dachau, 55; Fackler, “Lagers Stimme,” 406–407.
276. BArchB, NS 19/4014, Bl. 158–204: Rede vor Generälen, June 21, 1944, Bl. 165. For a general discussion of Kapos, see Sofsky, Ordnung, 152–68.
277. For ghettos and labor camps, see Browning, Remembering, 116–17.
278. In the Gulag, the Soviet authorities had long relied on selected inmates to support them; Applebaum, Gulag, 329–37.
279. Interrogation W. Bartel, May 29, 1953, in Niethammer, Antifaschismus, 427. See also BLHA, Pr. Br. Rep. 29, Zuchthaus Brandenburg Nr. 691; Broszat, Kommandant, 72. For trusties in the 1920s, see also Hoelz, “Weißen Kreuz.”
280. Langhoff, Moorsoldaten, 34–41, 140–42, quote on 142. Kurt’s real name was Karl Schabrod; Drobisch and Wieland, System, 142. Similar elections took place in other early camps, including Dachau; StAMü, StA Nr. 34588/2, Bl. 39–40: Vernehmung K. Kapp, September 28, 1956; Wieland, “Bremischen,” 286.
281. SS documents list around four hundred prisoner functionaries in late 1938, excluding work Kapos, who must have numbered more than one hundred; OdT, vol. 3, 331. See also Naujoks, Leben, 97.
282. SS quote in DaA, 5427, Richtlinien für Capos, n.d.; prisoner quote in Neurath, Gesellschaft, 224. See also StAMü, StA Nr. 34588/8, LG München, Urteil, October 14, 1960, p. 6.
283. Quotes in SS Buchenwald instructions, n.d., NCC, doc. 196. See also Kautsky, Teufel, 214–19.
284. For early camps, see Langhoff, Moorsoldaten, 219; Richardi, Schule, 196; Wünschmann, “Jewish Prisoners,” 109–10. For the late 1930s, see Naujoks, Leben, 105–106; Freund, Buchenwald!, 37, 54, 72.
285. Naujoks, Leben, 117, 121–22, quote on 122. See also Neurath, Gesellschaft, 210–11
, 227, 245; NCC, doc. 230; Pingel, Häftlinge, 57–58. In Mauthausen, unusually, the chief camp clerk is said to have been more influential than the camp elder; Fabréguet, “Entwicklung,” 195–96.
286. Neurath, Gesellschaft, 222.
287. For the contemporaneous use of the term, see LBIJMB, MF 425, L. Bendix, “Konzentrationslager Deutschland,” 1937–38, vol. 4, 34. For the uncritical use of this term today, see Sofsky, Ordnung, 152.
288. See also OdT, vol. 1, 120; Orth, “Lagergesellschaft,” 110.
289. For one example, see DaA, Nr. 7566, K. Schecher, “Rückblick auf Dachau,” n.d., 80.
290. Naujoks, Leben, 333–39.
291. Kogon, Theory, 37.
292. Naujoks, Leben, 53–54, 77; Schikorra, Kontinuitäten, 54, 55, 219.
293. Although the SS use of triangles was not standardized until 1937–38, political prisoners had often worn red stripes or badges before; OdT, vol. 1, 92, 95; Naujoks, Leben, 30; Endlich, “Lichtenburg,” 48.
294. StANü, Auswärtiges Amt to Missionen et al., December 8, 1936, ND: NG-4048 (figures include Moringen, which did not come under the IKL). The figures are corroborated by internal Gestapo statistics; GStAPK, I. HA, Rep. 90A, Nr. 4442, Bl. 187–91, Schutzhaft, 1937.
295. More than a quarter of prisoners taken into protective custody by the Prussian Gestapo in December 1936 were accused of “Communist activities”; GStAPK, I. HA, Rep. 90A, Nr. 4442, Bl. 187–91, Schutzhaft, 1937.
296. For Gestapo warnings about former prisoners rejoining the resistance, see Gestapa, Lagebericht Marxismus, August 23, 1935, in Boberach, Regimekritik, doc. rk 127.
297. Himmler to Eicke, March 23, 1936, NCC, doc. 79. The automatic review of protective custody every three months was laid down in RdI to Landesregierungen et al., April 12, 1934, in Repgen and Booms, Akten, vol. I/2, 1235–58.
298. LBIJMB, MF 425, L. Bendix, “Konzentrationslager,” 1937–38, vol. 5, 7–20, quote on 20. More generally, see Sopade report, May 1937, NCC, doc. 220.
299. Browder, Enforcers, 82; Gestapa, Lagebericht, October 3, 1935, in Boberach, Regimekritik, doc. rk 128.
300. NLHStA, Hann. 158 Moringen, Acc. 84/82, Nr. 6, Bl. 158.
301. Longerich, Himmler, 227–33. For the figures, see Moore, “Popular Opinion,” 108–109; BArchB, R 3001/21467, Bl. 74: Evangelische Kirche to RJM, May 4, 1935.
302. Quote in Sydnor, Soldiers, 29 (n. 68). See also Wegner, Soldaten, 251, table 25.
303. Eicke quotes in W. Best to H. Göring, September 27, 1935, NCC, doc. 120. Lichtenberg was not arrested until 1941, after he spoke out once more for inmates in the camps. Following a prison term, he collapsed on a transport to Dachau and died in November 1943; Lüerßen, “‘Wir,’” 142.
304. Naujoks, Leben, 50; Dillon, “Dachau,” 107, 136–37.
305. Garbe, “Erst verhasst,” 219–22; Wachsmann, Prisons, 125–27. More generally, see Garbe, Widerstand; Kater, “Bibelforscher.”
306. Quotes in report by A. Winkler, 1938, NCC, doc. 229; AS, J D2/43, Bl. 146–54: Vernehmung G. Sorge, May 6, 1957, Bl. 147.
307. Quote in BArchB, NS 4/Bu32, Bl. 3: SlF to Kommandantur Buchenwald, November 17, 1938.
308. OdT, vol. 3, 46 (Rachuba died in Sachsenhausen in September 1942); Garbe, “Erst verhasst,” 224–36; Pingel, Häftlinge, 90–91; Lüerßen, “‘Wir,’” 211–13. In all, over four thousand Jehovah’s Witnesses were taken to the KL during the Third Reich, mostly German citizens; around one in four perished (Garbe, “Erst verhasst,” 235).
309. The number of men forced into the KL as homosexual has been estimated as between five thousand and fifteen thousand, with recent research pointing toward the lower figure; Röll, “Homosexuelle,” 95. More generally, see Wachsmann, Prisons, 144–46; Longerich, Himmler, 242–50; Jellonnek, Homosexuelle.
310. Müller, “Homosexuelle,” 74.
311. Knoll, “Homosexuelle,” 62–66; Müller, “Homosexuelle,” 75–78; idem, “‘Wohl’”; Hackett, Buchenwald, 173.
312. Quote in O. Giering, Entschädigungsantrag, 1955, in Pretzel, “Vorfälle,” 159–61. See also Ley and Morsch, Medizin, 290–97; Wachsmann, Prisons, 139–44, 146–49; Poller, Arztschreiber, 105–107. Giering was moved to a Berlin state prison in 1942 to serve a sentence for sex offenses allegedly committed in Sachsenhausen. He was released in May 1945.
313. For example, see Pretzel, “Vorfälle”; StAMü, StA Nr. 14719.
314. Quote in O. Giering, Entschädigungsantrag, 1955, in Pretzel, “Vorfälle,” 159–61. See also Heger, Männer, 91; Kogon, Theory, 35; Burkhard, Tanz, 68–71; Zinn, “Homophobie,” 85–94. For female prisoners, see Eschebach, “Homophobie.” For a (wartime) case of a Kapo being falsely accused of sex crimes by rivals, see Kożdoń, “… ich kann,” 87–89.
315. Naujoks, Leben, 8, 14–17, 27–34.
316. Neurath, Gesellschaft, 34–35.
317. Naujoks, Leben, 35–39, 55–56, 69–70, 115–17, quote on 56.
318. Quote in Suhr, Ossietzky, 215.
319. Naujoks, Leben, 45, 47–49, 103, 133, quote on 49.
320. Jahnke, “Eschen,” 27–28; Drobisch and Wieland, System, 324–25.
321. Drobisch and Wieland, System, 149–50.
322. Kirsten and Kirsten, Stimmen, 47–50; Jahn, Buchenwald!, 89–94; Gedenkstätte Buchenwald, Buchenwald, 130–31; Freund, Buchenwald!, 112–15; Poller, Arztschreiber, 159–65.
323. For background, see Pingel, Häftlinge, 51–52.
324. Rubner, “Dachau,” 67–68, quote on 67; Seger, “Oranienburg,” 50–55, quote on 51; Riedel, “Bruderkämpfe”; Knop et al., “Häftlinge,” 62–63; Langhoff, Moorsoldaten, 214–16, 235–37; Krause-Vilmar, Breitenau, 135–36.
325. Langhoff, Moorsoldaten, 240; Seger, “Oranienburg,” 52; Klausch, Tätergeschichten, 95 (n. 380); Suhr, Ossietzky, 214–15; Morsch, “Formation,” 143; Abraham, “Juda,” 150–51.
326. Deutschland-Berichte, vol. 3, 1006; Pingel, Häftlinge, 109–10; Morsch, “Formation,” 141–43; Naujoks, Leben, 17, 43–45; LBIJMB, MF 425, L. Bendix, “Konzentrationslager Deutschland,” 1937–38, vol. 4, 56–58, 62, 82.
327. Herker-Beimler, Erinnerungen, 23–24. Moringen, the central Prussian site for women in protective custody, took in female prisoners from some other German states from 1934 (Riebe, “Frauen,” 127). Since early 1936, long-term prisoners from Bavaria could be transferred to Moringen, too (IfZ, Fa 183/1, Bl. 354–55: Politische Polizei to Polizeidirektionen et al., February 13, 1936). For the influential role of the Moringen governor in this process, see Hörath, “Terrorinstrument,” 526–27.
328. Caplan, “Einleitung,” 42–44, 46; NLHStA, Hann. 158 Moringen, Acc. 84/82, Nr. 2, Bl. 144–47: Dienst- und Hausordnung, n.d. This is not to say that the Moringen director was a humanitarian: like other prison and workhouse governors, he subscribed to many of the prevailing racial and criminological stereotypes; OdT, vol. 2, 164–65.
329. Herker-Beimler, Erinnerungen, 25. See also Riebe, “Frauen,” 128–29; Hesse and Harder, Zeuginnen, 30–32, 50–52; Caplan, “Einleitung,” 12, 55; Herz, “Frauenlager,” 188–90.
330. Caplan, “Einleitung,” 51–52; Herz, “Frauenlager,” 130–31, 202.
331. Riebe, “Funktionshäftlinge,” 52–53.
332. Hesse and Harder, Zeuginnen, 34, 40–50.
333. NLHStA, Hann. 158 Moringen, Acc. 84/82, Nr. 2, Bl. 103: Moringen to Gestapa, February 18, 1937; Hesse and Harder, Zeuginnen, 40–41.
334. Herz, “Frauenlager,” 202, 220–21, quote on 220; Herker-Beimler, Erinnerungen, 27–28; Krammer, “Germans.” Beimler was killed on December 1, 1936, outside Madrid, possibly by friendly fire.
335. Fahrenberg and Hördler, “Lichtenburg,” 166–69; IfZ, F 37/19, Himmler diary, May 28, 1937. The prisoner transfers from Moringen to Lichtenburg occurred in stages between December 1937 and March 1938.
336. Hesse and Harder, Zeuginnen, 322–33; Fahrenberg and Hördler, “Lichtenburg,” 170–71, 172–73, 176–78; Riebe, “Frauen,” 136; Riebe, “Funktionshäftlinge,” 54–5
5.
337. Fahrenberg and Hördler, “Lichtenburg,” 173, 179; Hesse, “‘Erziehung,’” 112; idem, Harder, Zeuginnen, 93–94, 117–19; Endlich, “Lichtenburg,” 21; Riebe, “Frauen,” 137; Hördler, “SS-Kaderschmiede,” 109. Hesse and Harder mention a third victim, though there is no official confirmation. On corporal punishment, BArchB, NS 3/415, Bl. 1: KL Lichtenburg to IKL, March 14, 1939.
338. Hesse and Harder, Zeuginnen, 88, 122, quote on 333; Strebel, Ravensbrück, 44–47, 103–104; Endlich, “Lichtenburg,” 21–22.
339. Hesse and Harder, Zeuginnen, 50, 146, quote on 333; Strebel, Ravensbrück, 90.
340. Kaienburg, “Resümee,” 171; Strebel, Ravensbrück, 84–88. It is not clear whether corporal punishment in Ravensbrück was first carried out before the war or in 1940; Fahrenberg and Hördler, “Lichtenburg,” 180 (n. 54).
341. Koslov, Gewalt, 17–22, 99; Hördler, “SS-Kaderschmiede,” 109–19.
342. Koslov, Gewalt, 93–111, 117, 132–33, 490–91; Strebel, Ravensbrück, 72–78; Hördler, “Ordnung,” 92–93; Wolfram, “KZ-Aufseherinnen”; Toussaint, “Nach Dienstschluss.”
343. Koslov, Gewalt, 149, 159–63, 175–94; Strebel, Ravensbrück, 91–98.
344. In September 1938, the daily number of KL prisoners stood at around 24,400, including 800 women in Lichtenburg; NMGB, Buchenwald, 698; DaA, ITS, Vorläufige Ermittlung der Lagerstärke (1971); OdT, vol. 4, 22; Fahrenberg and Hördler, “Lichtenburg,” 169; AS, D 1 A/1020: Bl. 117 (my thanks to Monika Liebscher); Maršálek, Mauthausen, 109. In September 1939, there were 21,400 KL prisoners, including around 2,500 women in Ravensbrück; Pohl to Himmler, April 30, 1942, IMT, vol. 38, 363–65, ND: 129–R. My thanks to Stefan Hördler for confirming the Lichtenburg figures (also below).
345. Caplan, “Gender,” 99.
346. Arendt, “Concentration Camps,” 760. This theory does not hold for the USSR, where the camp system diminished substantially after Stalin’s death. KL prisoner figures for the end of 1937: Buchenwald 2,561; Dachau 2,462; Lichtenburg 200; Sachsenhausen 2,523. See Gedenkstätte Buchenwald, Buchenwald, 698; Drobisch and Wieland, System, 266, 271; Endlich, “Lichtenburg,” 23.
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