KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps

by Nikolaus Wachsmann

  251. Given Himmler’s keen interest in Jewish KL prisoners, he must have approved this major initiative, perhaps on the occasion of his visit to Dachau on February 16, 1937; IfZ, F 37/19, Himmler diary. For more detail on the policy, BArchB, R 58/264, Bl. 285: Heydrich to Stapoleitstellen et al., February 17, 1937. Heydrich only referred to Jewish prisoners in protective custody and so-called instructive custody (that is, returning émigrés), but the new policy of concentrating Jews in Dachau presumably applied to Jewish men in preventive police custody, as well.

  252. Wünschmann, “Cementing,” 589.

  253. Wünschmann, “Jewish Prisoners,” 158, 166. On January 1, 1938, 2,457 prisoners were held in Dachau; DaA, ITS, Vorläufige Ermittlung der Lagerstärke (1971).

  254. Dillon, “Dachau,” 239. See also Burkhard, Tanz, 95–100; NCC, docs. 210 and 220.

  255. ITS, ARCH/HIST/KL Dachau 4 (200), Bl. 43: LK Dachau, Führungsbericht Leo L., July 6, 1938.

  256. Wünschmann, “Jewish Prisoners,” 164–65; Broszat, Kommandant, 167; Eicke order of the IKL, March 1, 1937, NCC, doc. 155. The Dachau SS appears to have imposed similar isolation on Jews in 1935 and 1936.

  257. Quote in Broszat, Kommandant, 169. See also ibid., 168; Eicke order of the IKL, March 1, 1937, NCC, doc. 155. On Jews as hostages, see Burrin, Hitler.

  258. Quote in Hett, Crossing, 226. See also ibid., 220; “Die Erpresser von Dachau,” Neuer Vorwärts, December 19, 1937; Wünschmann, “Jewish Prisoners,” 164.

  259. Burkhard, Tanz, 89–94; DaA, 9394, A. Lomnitz, “Heinz Eschen zum Gedenken,” July 3, 1939; Litten, Mutter, 226.

  260. NLHStA, 158 Moringen, Acc. 105/96, Nr. 104: G. Glogowski to H. Krack, August 26, 1937 (my thanks to Kim Wünschmann for sharing this document).

  261. DaA, 9394, A. Lomnitz, “Heinz Eschen zum Gedenken,” July 3, 1939; Litten, Mutter, 209–10, 225–29; Jahnke, “Eschen,” 29–33; Hett, Crossing, 221–24, 227–28, 236–45; Königseder, “Regimegegner,” 357–60; Wünschmann, “Jewish Prisoners,” 164. For the mortality figures, see DaA, Häftlingsdatenbank.

  262. Barkai, “‘Schicksalsjahr.’”

  263. Evans, Third Reich in Power, 574–79, 657–61; Friedländer, Nazi Germany, 241–68; Longerich, Holocaust, 98–109.

  264. Wünschmann, “Jewish Prisoners,” 173. See also Neugebauer, “Österreichertransport,” 195–98; Riedel, Ordnungshüter, 195.

  265. Quotes in Riedel, Ordnungshüter, 196; Eichmann minute, May 30, 1938, NCC, doc. 102. More generally, see Wünschmann, “Jewish Prisoners,” 182–83; Cesarani, Eichmann, 62–64; Schmid, “Aktion,” 34. Several hundred more Austrian Jews arrived in Dachau on “mixed” transports with other prisoners.

  266. By June 1938, there were some 2,500 Jewish prisoners in the packed Dachau camp, crammed into several barracks of the new compound. For the above, see Wünschmann, “Jewish Prisoners,” 174–75, 186; A. Hübsch, “Insel des Standrechts” (1961), 88–93; M. Simon to Führer der Sturmbanne, June 10, 1938, in Merkl, General, 119.

  267. Quote in Gruner, Jewish Forced Labor, 3.

  268. Quote in Heydrich to Kripo, June 1, 1938, NCC, doc. 103. More generally, see Wünschmann, “Cementing,” 595–97; idem., “Jewish Prisoners,” 193–200, 205; Berkowitz, Crime.

  269. Barkow et al., Novemberpogrom, 46; Stein, Juden, 18; Wünschmann, “Jewish Prisoners,” 206; Dirks, “‘Juni-Aktion.’” For Jewish communities, see SD-Hauptamt II 112, Lagebericht, October 8, 1938, in Kulka and Jäckel, Juden, doc. 2509. For a full-length study, see Faludi, “Juni-Aktion.”

  270. Schmid, “Aktion,” 36–37; Stein, Juden, 15; idem., “Funktionswandel,” 169; Wünschmann, “Jewish Prisoners,” 193.

  271. Quotes in Wünschmann, “Jewish Prisoners,” 202; Stein, Juden, 22. See also ibid., 19–24; Barkow et al., Novemberpogrom, 43–91; Report of the Amsterdam Jewish Central Information Office, July 1938, NCC, doc. 246.

  272. Report of the Amsterdam Jewish Central Information Office, July 1938, NCC, doc. 246; Stein, Juden, 24–26; idem, “Funktionswandel,” 169; BwA, Totenbuch. Although they accounted for less than twenty percent of the Buchenwald prisoner population, Jews made up more than forty percent of victims in this period.

  273. Quote in summary of reports by released prisoners and lawyers, late July 1938, in Barkow et al., Novemberpogrom, 77.

  274. Dachau held around twice as many Jewish prisoners as Buchenwald in summer 1938. Between eighteen and twenty-six Jewish prisoners (the figures are not conclusive) died from June to August 1938 in Dachau, compared to at least ninety-two in Buchenwald. See DaA, Häftlingsdatenbank; BwA, Totenbuch.

  275. Historians have speculated that the authorities decided to move Jewish prisoners out of Dachau at the time of the “Sudeten Crisis” to make room for prisoners expected from Czechoslovakia. In autumn 1938, following the Munich agreement, some two thousand prisoners from the Sudetenland were indeed deported to Dachau. See Wünschmann, “Jewish Prisoners,” 189; Stein, Juden, 31–33.

  276. Stein, Juden, 33; Neurath, Gesellschaft, 43.

  277. BwA, Totenbuch; Stein, Juden, 26.

  278. I am drawing closely on Wachsmann, “Policy,” 139–40. See also Steinweis, Kristallnacht, 16–17, 36–48; Evans, Third Reich in Power, 580–86. For the quote, Fröhlich, Tagebücher, I/6, November 10, 1938, 180.

  279. Fröhlich, Tagebücher, I/6, November 10, 1938, 181.

  280. Police orders in IMT, vol. 25, 377–78, ND: 374–PS.

  281. “Dr. Adler” quote in WL, B. 216, January 1939; the author’s real name is unknown (WL to the author, May 14, 2012). See also Steinweis, Kristallnacht, 92–97; Wünschmann, “Jewish Prisoners,” 212–13. According to one estimate, up to thirty-six thousand Jews were arrested during and after the pogrom; Pollmeier, “Verhaftungen,” 168. On the Frankfurt Festhalle, see Gerhardt and Karlauf, Nie mehr, 232.

  282. Kulka and Jäckel, Juden, docs. 2607, 2628, 2633, 2856; Steinweis, Kristallnacht, 92–93.

  283. Quotes in Regierungspräsident Niederbayern und Oberpfalz, Monatsbericht, December 8, 1938, in Kulka and Jäckel, Juden, doc. 2582; SD-Unterabschnitt Württemberg-Hohenzollern, Lagebericht, February 1, 1939, ibid., doc. 2778. For other critical voices, see ibid., doc. 2624; NCC, doc. 296. On support for the detention of Jews, see Kulka and Jäckel, Juden, docs. 2587, 2631. More generally, see Longerich, “Davon,” 124–35; Evans, Third Reich in Power, 590–91.

  284. Quotes in WL, B. 216, anonymous report, January 1939, translation in NCC, doc. 249; Stein, Juden, 41. See also ibid., 43; Freund, Buchenwald!, 36; Barkow et al., Novemberpogrom, 574, 608.

  285. Around 6,000 Jews arrived in Sachsenhausen (November 1938); 9,828 in Buchenwald (November 10–14); 10,911 in Dachau (November 10–December 22). No Jewish men were sent to Mauthausen and Flossenbürg. See Pollmeier, “Verhaftungen,” 171; Stein, Juden, 41; Riedel, Ordnungshüter, 198. The SD reported that around twenty-five thousand Jewish men had been taken to the KL after the pogrom; SD-Hauptamt II 1, Jahreslagebericht 1938, in Kulka and Jäckel, Juden, doc. 2766.

  286. According to Werner Best, the camps had held twenty-four thousand prisoners just before the pogrom; his figure of sixty thousand prisoners after the pogrom is too high; BArchB, R 2/12164, Bl. 25–28: Best to RMi Finanzen, November 26, 1938.

  287. Figure for late September 1938 in Fahrenberg and Hördler, “Lichtenburg,” 169.

  288. Hackett, Buchenwald, 250.

  289. NCC, doc. 247; OdT, vol. 3, 22; Naujoks, Leben, 91–92.

  290. Quote in WL, B. 216, anonymous report, January 1939, translation in NCC, doc. 249. See also Stein, Juden, 43–45; Wünschmann, “Jewish Prisoners,” 213–14; Richarz, Leben, 330–31; Hackett, Buchenwald, 249.

  291. Quotes in NCC, doc. 249; Freund, Buchenwald!, 38, 41. See also Stein, Juden, 44–46, 55–56; Richarz, Leben, 331–32; Barkow et al., Novemberpogrom, 523–24.

  292. Quote in Naujoks, Leben, 93. See also Wünschmann, “Jewish Prisoners,” 216–17; Pollmeier, “Verhaftungen,” 176; Trouvé, “Klinkerwerk,” 75.

  293. NCC, docs. 247–49;
Stein, Juden, 22, 27; Trouvé, “Klinkerwerk,” 75; Richarz, Leben, 329; Stein, Juden, 44; Burkhard, Tanz, 117.

  294. Quote in Sopade report, May 1937, NCC, doc. 220. For abuses of Jewish prisoners by fellow inmates, see Barkow et al., Novemberpogrom, 67, 75.

  295. Wünschmann, “Cementing,” 580–81, 588, 592.

  296. For example, see Stein, Juden, 50.

  297. WL, B. 216, anonymous report, January 1939, translated in NCC, doc. 249.

  298. Quoted in Wünschmann, “Konzentrationslagererfahrungen,” 53.

  299. Stokes, “Das oldenburgische Konzentrationslager,” 207; Meyer and Roth, “Zentrale,” 210; Rudorff, “Misshandlung,” 46–47.

  300. For Eicke, see BArchB, Film 44564, Vernehmung O. Pohl, January 6, 1947, p. 6; Tuchel, Konzentrationslager, 266; NCC, doc. 155. For other examples of SS corruption, see Internationales Zentrum, Nazi-Bastille, 54–56; Hackett, Buchenwald, 129; Riedel, Ordnungshüter, 204–14; Decker, “Stadt Prettin,” 214.

  301. Quote in Verordnung über eine Sühneleistung der Juden, November 12, 1938, in Hirsch et al., Recht, 371–72. More generally, see Bajohr, Parvenüs, 101–20.

  302. HLSL, Anklageschrift gegen Koch und andere, 1944, pp. 20–24, ND: NO-2366; BArchB (ehem. BDC), SSO, Morgen, Konrad, 8.6.1909, Bl. 854–64: Ermittlungsergebnis, December 5, 1943. For SS corruption in Dachau and Sachsenhausen after the pogrom, Naujoks, Leben, 92–93; Riedel, Ordnungshüter, 200–202.

  303. Quote in Broszat, Kommandant, 170. See also Hackett, Buchenwald, 248; Stein, Juden, 46.

  304. Jewish prisoners who died in the KL in late 1938 had overwhelmingly been arrested after the outbreak of the pogrom. No deaths of Jewish men were recorded in Mauthausen and Flossenbürg during this period, since neither camp held Jews at the time (Wünschmann, “Jewish Prisoners,” 189, n. 736). For the figures, see note 111 (above) and KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau, Gedenkbuch. Several hundred “November Jews” died from injuries sustained in the KL following their release; Wünschmann, “Jewish Prisoners,” 215.

  305. WL, B. 216, anonymous report, January 1939, translation in NCC, doc. 297.

  306. Quote in H. Nathorff, manuscript, 1939–40, in Gerhardt and Karlauf, Nie mehr, 206–25, p. 225. See also Kaplan, Dignity, 129–44; Longerich, Holocaust, 114–17, 125–27; Distel, “‘Warnung,’” 986; Wachsmann, “Policy,” 141.

  307. See also Dillon, Dachau, chapter 4; Stein, Juden, 65.

  308. Wünschmann, “Jewish Prisoners,” 217–20, Heydrich quote on 217; Riedel, Ordnungshüter, 202–203; Loritz quote on 203. See also Stein, Juden, 48–50, 64–65, 70; NCC, docs. 249, 283, 301; ITS, ARCH/KL Buchenwald, Ordner 185 A, Bl. 2: Judenaktion vom 10.11.38.

  309. For the figures, see Wünschmann, Before Auschwitz; Friedländer, Nazi Germany, 241, 245, 316–17 (excluding Jews living in the Czech Protectorate and the Sudetenland).

  310. Prisoner figures for the end of 1938: Buchenwald 11,028; Dachau 8,971; Flossenbürg 1,475; Lichtenburg c. 800 (figure for late November 1938); Mauthausen 994; Sachsenhausen 8,309. See Gedenkstätte Buchenwald, Buchenwald, 698; Drobisch and Wieland, System, 266, 271–72; OdT, vol. 4, 26; Maršálek, Mauthausen, 123.

  311. In the first eight months of 1938, 11,631 new prisoners came to Dachau and Buchenwald; in the first eight months of 1939, 4,041 new prisoners arrived in both two camps; NMGB, Buchenwald, 698; DaA, ITS, Vorläufige Ermittlung der Lagerstärke (1971). For Austrian Gypsies, see Zimmermann, Rassenutopie, 117–18; Danckwortt, “Sinti und Roma,” 81.

  312. Quote in Eicke to LK, March 10, 1939, NCC, doc. 162. See also Drobisch and Wieland, System, 289, 308–309; ITS, OuS Archiv, 1.1.6.0, folder 0004/200, Bl. 47: IKL to KL Dachau, April 13, 1939; ibid., Bl. 51: IKL to KL Dachau, April 18, 1939; ibid., Bl. 52: Sipo to KL Dachau, April 18, 1939; BArchB, R 58/264, Bl. 376–77: Heydrich to Stapostellen, April 5, 1939; HStAD, BR 1111, Nr. 188.

  313. Pohl to Himmler, April 30, 1942, IMT, vol. 38, 363, ND: 129–R.

  314. BArchB, R 2/12164, Bl. 25–28: Best to RM Finanzen, November 26, 1938; ibid., Bl. 29–32: Haushalt, December 30, 1938; IfZ, Fa 127/1, Heydrich to Pohl, January 1939; ibid., W. Best, Vermerk, December 3, 1938.

  315. For example, see Evans, Third Reich in Power, 591; Pingel, Häftlinge, 94.

  316. See note 111. Ninety prisoners are known to have died in the KL between January and May 1938, compared to 354 prisoners between June and August 1938.

  317. In Buchenwald, “asocial” Jews were more likely to die in June 1938 than “pogrom” Jews in November 1938; Stein, Juden, 20, 41; BwA, Totenbuch. For prisoner perceptions at the time, see WL, B. 216, anonymous report, January 1939.

  318. For the figures, see note 111.

  319. Several historians imply that all, or almost all, KL fatalities in this period were Jewish men arrested after the pogrom (e.g., Fritzsche, Life, 138). In fact, “November Jews” made up just under half of the dead: in all, 969 prisoners are known to have died in the KL between November 1938 and January 1939; at most, 453 of them were “November Jews.” For the figures, see note 111.

  320. In Sachsenhausen, more “asocial” prisoners (141) than Jews (60) perished between November 1938 and January 1939. For the figures, see note 111.

  321. By contrast, Karin Orth assumed that the release of Jewish prisoners resulted in a sharp fall in prisoner mortality; Orth, System, 53.

  322. Of the 566 prisoners who died in KL between February and April 1939, 369 were classified as asocial (among them were seven “asocial” Jews). For the figures, see note 111 above.

  323. For the figures, see note 111 (figures for 1939 cover the period June to August).

  324. Stein, Konzentrationslager, 91; Naujoks, Leben, 122; Applebaum, Gulag, 68.

  325. Quote in Naujoks, Leben, 122.

  326. Poller, Arztschreiber, 121–24, quotes on 123–24; Röll, Sozialdemokraten, 94–97.

  4. War

      1. Quote in Domarus, Hitler, vol. 3, 1315. See also ibid., 1311–14, 1318. Hitler got the timing wrong: Germany had started the war at 4:45 a.m. For KL prisoners, see Naujoks, Leben, 139; Schrade, Elf Jahre, 197.

      2. Speech to commanders in chief, August 22, 1939, in Akten, D/7, p. 172, ND: 1014–PS. See also Baumgart, “Ansprache”; LaB, B Rep. 057–01, Nr. 3865, Bl. 171–80: Vernehmung E. Schäfer, September 14, 1965.

      3. For this and the previous paragraph, see LaB, B Rep. 057–01, Nr. 3870, Bl. 1051–65: Vernehmung K. Hoffmann, August 15, 1969; ibid., Bl. 1072–1101: OStA Düsseldorf, Verfügung, August 26, 1969; M. Crombach, Lebenslauf, 1953, in AS, Projektordner Sender Gleiwitz; Runzheimer, “Grenzzwischenfälle”; Schrade, Elf Jahre, 194–96. Müller quote in “‘Grossmutter Gestorben,’” 72–73. At least one more corpse was left behind during the mock attack on Gleiwitz; this victim was not a KL prisoner but a local sympathizer of the Polish cause.

      4. Figures in appendix, table 2; Beevor, World War, 946.

      5. Fröhlich, Tagebücher, I/5, May 30, 1938, 325.

      6. Broszat, Kommandant, 104.

      7. The new main camps were Auschwitz, Gross-Rosen, Majdanek, Natzweiler, Neuengamme, Niederhagen, and Stutthof. Inmate figures in appendix, table 1.

      8. For a different view, see Gellately, Backing, 261.

      9. Rossino, Hitler, 227–29.

    10. Wildt, Generation, 421–28, quote on 426; Rossino, Hitler, 53–57.

    11. Rossino, Hitler; Böhler, Auftakt; Mallmann and Musial, Genesis. On atrocities against Jews, see Pohl, “Judenpolitik,” 22–25.

    12. Sydnor, Soldiers, 37–63, 87–312; idem, “Theodor Eicke,” 155; Merkl, General, 137–43; Kaienburg, Wirtschaftskomplex, 74–77, 89; Kárný, “Waffen-SS,” 242; Orth, SS, 157; Leleu, Waffen-SS, 541–677. After Eicke’s death, the command of the SS Death’s Head division fell to Max Simon, another prewar Camp SS veteran; Merkl, General.

    13. Merkl, General, 159–60; Zámečník, Dachau, 113–15.

    14. Orth, SS, 163, 171–72.


    15. For this and the previous paragraph, see BArchB (ehem. BDC), SSO, Glücks, Richard, 22.4.1889; ibid., RS (ehem. BDC), B 5195, quote on Bl. 2748: Glücks to Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt, November 19, 1935; Tuchel, Inspektion, 58; idem., Konzentrationslager, 339; IfZ, F 13/7, Bl. 383–88: R. Höss, “Richard Glücks,” November 1946; Hördler, “Ordnung,” 49; Moors and Pfeiffer, Taschenkalender, 375. Glücks’s appointment came in October 1939 (Kaienburg, Wirtschaftskomplex, 77), and was officially confirmed on November 15, 1939. His direct subordination to Himmler apparently ended on December 31, 1941 (in staffing matters, the IKL was officially subordinated to the SS Leadership Main Office, founded on August 15, 1940); Tuchel, Konzentrationslager, 228.

    16. Quotes in IfZ, F 13/7, Bl. 389–92: R. Höss, “Arthur Liebehenschel,” November 1946; BArchB (ehem. BDC), SSO, Liebehenschel, Arthur, 25.11.01, R. Baer, Stellungnahme, July 3, 1944. See also ibid., R.u.S. Fragebogen, August 28, 1944; ibid., Film 44837, Vernehmung A. Liebehenschel, September 18, 1946; Tuchel, Konzentrationslager, 382; Cherish, Kommandant, 28. For Glücks’s view, see BArchB (ehem. BDC), SSO, Höss, Rudolf, 25.11.1900, Glücks to Wander, January 14, 1941. In the mid-1930s, Liebehenschel had spent more than two years as Lichtenburg adjutant; Hördler, “SS-Kaderschmiede,” 92.

    17. Orth, SS, 60, 81; Sofsky, Ordnung, 121.

    18. Orth, SS, 95–96, 99, 136–37, 181–89, 233–40.

    19. Quote in IfZ, F 13/7, Bl. 387: Rudolf Höss, “Richard Glücks,” November 1946. See also Orth, SS, 164. Orth suggests that Glücks hardly interfered with commandants, which pushes this point too far.

    20. A draft was circulated to the KL in February 1940, followed by the completed version one year later; apparently, there were only a few changes to Eicke’s prewar rules. BArchB, NS 4/Ma 1, Bl. 2: Glücks to LK, February 22, 1940; Himmler, DV für KL, 1941, ND: 011–USSR, IMT, vol. 39, pp. 262–64 (extracts); Tuchel, Inspektion, 100.

    21. Quote in IfZ, F 13/7, Bl. 389: R. Höss, “Arthur Liebehenschel,” November 1946.

    22. Schulte, “London”; BArchB, NS 3/391, Bl. 4–22: Aufgabengebiete in einem KL, n.d. (1942), Bl. 5–6, 15.