KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps
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147. There were 3,809 registered dead in Sachsenhausen and 1,772 in Buchenwald; StANü, Pohl to Himmler, September 30, 1943, Anlage, ND: PS-1469; OdT, vol. 3, 347.
148. In early 1941, Auschwitz I was declared a stage 1 camp and Auschwitz II a stage 2 camp (USHMM, RG-11.001M.01, reel 17, 500–5–1, Bl. 98: Chef Sipo und SD to RSHA et al., January 2, 1941). This is perplexing, since Auschwitz was not officially divided into separate camps until autumn 1943 (see chapter 7). In any case, the Auschwitz camp as a whole was officially moved to stage 2 around autumn 1942 (BArchB, NS 4/Bu 31, Bl. 1: IKL to LK, n.d.). More generally on classifications during the second half of the war, see StANü, testimony O. Pohl, June 13, 1946, pp. 13–14, ND: NO-4728.
149. Piper, “Exploitation,” 80–88; Strzelecka and Setkiewicz, “Construction,” 67.
150. LG Cologne, Urteil, October 30, 1967, JNV, vol. 26, 751–61, quote on 756. For the figure, AM Datenbank (my thanks to Andreas Kranebitter, also for other details from the Mauthausen prisoner database used in this chapter).
151. Weiss-Rüthel, Nacht, 65–67, quote on 66; Kaienburg, Wirtschaftskomplex, 301–20; Trouvé, “Klinkerwerk,” 122–35; LG Cologne, Urteil, April 20, 1970, JNV, vol. 33, 708–709.
152. For Gusen, see LG Cologne, Urteil, October 30, 1967, JNV, vol. 26, 752.
153. Quote in AS, 62/1, “Sachsenhausen. Mahnung und Verpflichtung,” n.d., 160. See also Naujoks, Leben, 166–67; AdsD, KE, E. Büge, Bericht, n.d. (1945–46), 26.
154. Quotes in Vermerk H. Müller, September 8, 1939, in Engelmann, “Sie blieben,” 76; Heinen to his wife, ibid., 127–28; Broszat, Kommandant, 107. See also ibid., 106; Morsch, Mord, 153–55; Wysocki, “Lizenz,” 238; Gürtner note, October 14, 1939, in Broszat, “Perversion,” 411.
155. Hitler Proklamation, September 3, 1939, in Domarus, Hitler, vol. 3, 1341.
156. Gruchmann, Justiz, 676. See also Gürtner note, September 28, 1939, in Broszat, “Perversion,” 408–409, ND: NG-190.
157. Kershaw, “Working.” It is likely that Hitler had kept his initial instructions to Himmler rather general; Gürtner note, October 14, 1939, in Broszat, “Perversion,” 411.
158. Quote in BArchB, R 58/243, Bl. 202–204: Chef der Sipo to Stapo(leit)stellen, September 3, 1939. See also IfZ, Himmler, Durchführungsbestimmungen für Exekutionen, January 6, 1943, ND: NO-4631; Broszat, Kommandant, 105.
159. BArchB, R 58/243, Bl. 209 and 215: Heydrich to Stapo(leit)stellen, September 7, 1939, and September 20, 1939.
160. Morsch, Mord, 158–61, quote on 158.
161. Gürtner note, September 28, 1939, in Broszat, “Perversion,” 408–409, ND: NG-190; Gruchmann, Justiz, 677–78; Wachsmann, Prisons, 401–403. On the death penalty, see Evans, Rituals, 689–737.
162. Gruchmann, Justiz, 679–81; Gürtner note, October 14, 1939, in Broszat, “Perversion,” 411.
163. Broszat, “Perversion,” 400, 412–15; Gruchmann, Justiz, 686, 689.
164. Morsch, Mord, 79–85, quote on 83; IfZ, statement P. Wauer, May 21, 1945, ND: NO-1504; Naujoks, Leben, 142–43; Hohmann and Wieland, Konzentrationslager, 22.
165. Quote in USHMM, RG-06.025*26, File 1551, Bl. 249–67: Interrogation K. Eccarius, December 20, 1946, Bl. 263. See also AS, J SU 1/61, Anklageschrift UDSSR, October 19, 1947; ibid., D 30A, Bd. 8/2 A, Bl. 126–29: E. Eggert, “Meine Erlebnisse im Zellenbau Sachsenhausen,” n.d.; ibid., D 1 A/1024, Bl. 387: Veränderungsmeldung; LG Munich, Urteil, December 22, 1969, JNV, vol. 33, 309–45; ITS, ARCH/HIST/KL Dachau 4 (200), Bl. 59: Glücks to LK, February 25, 1939; BArchB, R 3001/alt R 22/1467, Bl. 314–17: Besprechung mit den GStA am 23.1.1939.
166. Broszat, Kommandant, 107–109, quote on 107. For secret Camp SS statistics on executions, see Glücks to 1. Lagerärzte, December 28, 1942, in NMGB, Buchenwald, 257–58.
167. The first detailed regulations were apparently passed on October 17, 1940; IfZ, H. Müller to HSSPF, January 14, 1943, ND: NO-4631.
168. Camp SS executioners also occasionally operated outside the KL. In August 1942, for example, Flossenbürg SS men traveled to three Bavarian towns to execute Polish forced workers; NAL, HW 16/11, Flossenbürg to IKL, August 24, 1942; StAAm, StA Weiden Nr. 81/8, Bl. 1624–29: LG Weiden, Beschluss, July 15, 1955.
169. IfZ, Himmler, Durchführungsbestimmungen für Exekutionen, January 6, 1943, ND: NO-4631; ibid., MA 414, Bl. 6117: WVHA-D to LK, June 27, 1942; JVL, JAO, Review of Proceedings, United States v. Prince zu Waldeck, November 15, 1947, 58; Evans, Rituals, passim.
170. For example, see AdsD, KE, E. Büge, Bericht, n.d. (1945–46), 125.
171. Among the dead were 33 Poles executed in Sachsenhausen on November 9, 128 or more executed in Mauthausen (in six actions between November 12 and 25), and 40 in Auschwitz on November 22; AdsD, KE, E. Büge, Bericht, n.d. (1945–46), 123; LG Cologne, Urteil, October 30, 1967, JNV, vol. 26, 691; KL Auschwitz to IKL, November 22, 1940, in HvA 2 (1959), 131. More generally, see Broszat, Polenpolitik, passim.
172. Morsch, Mord, 93–95; Naujoks, Leben, 214–17; AdsD, KE, E. Büge, Bericht, n.d. (1945/6), 123, 150; AS, J D2/43, Bl. 86–98: Vernehmung G. Sorge, April 26, 1957; ibid., Ordner Nr. 10, Vernehmung R. Rychter, November 14, 1946.
173. In Flossenbürg, 184 Polish prisoners were executed (between February 6 and September 8, 1941) “on the order of the Reichsführer SS”; StAAm, StA Weiden Nr. 81/1, Bl. 185–87, 192–97: Augenscheinprotokoll, September 15 and 24, 1953.
174. For background, see Madajczyk, Okkupationspolitik, 187–89; Majer, “Non-Germans,” 453–54; Broszat, Kommandant, 154.
175. Majer, “Non-Germans,” 449–69, 512–19; Strebel, Ravensbrück, 284. In the incorporated territories, summary police courts were temporarily suspended between 1940 and 1942.
176. Steinbacher, “‘Mord,’” 274–80. The first recorded session of the Auschwitz court was on January 25, 1943; Piper, Mass Murder, 46.
177. On the last point, see NAL, HW 16/11, Glücks to Hinzert, September 1, 1942; BArchL, B 162/7999, Bl. 768–937: StA Koblenz, EV, July 25, 1974, Bl. 906.
178. Kershaw, Nemesis, 271–75; Domarus, Hitler, vol. 3, 1415.
179. Kershaw, “Myth,” 146.
180. Apel, Frauen, 143–44, quote on 144; Szalet, Baracke, 193–99; LG Cologne, May 28, 1965, JNV, vol. 21, 113.
181. Kautsky, Teufel, 36; Hackett, Buchenwald, 252–53; Poller, Arztschreiber, 133–34; HLSL, Anklageschrift gegen Koch, ND: NO-2366, pp. 53–54; Stein, Juden, 93–95; LG Frankfurt a. M., Urteil, February 27, 1970, JNV, vol. 22, 785–87.
182. LG Frankfurt a. M., Urteil, February 27, 1970, JNV, vol. 22, 785. The term “willing executioners” was popularized by Goldhagen, Executioners.
183. HLSL, Anklageschrift gegen Koch, 1944, ND: NO-2366, pp. 53–54; LG Frankfurt a. M., Urteil, February 27, 1970, JNV, vol. 22, 787–88; BArchB, NS 4/Bu 18, Bl. 56.
184. Quote in HLSL, Anklageschrift gegen Koch, 1944, ND: NO-2366, p. 53. See also Hackett, Buchenwald, 170–71, 196–204; LG Bayreuth, Urteil, July 3, 1958, JNV, vol. 14, 809–16; Anklage gegen Sommer, in Van Dam and Giordano, KZ-Verbrechen, 21–27.
185. Röll, Sozialdemokraten, 89–102; LG Nürnberg-Fürth, Urteil, October 21, 1953, JNV, vol. 11, 455–63.
186. Naujoks, Leben, 176–79. Of the 680 Sachsenhausen prisoners who died in January 1940, around 160 perished between January 18 and 20, many of them as victims of Höss’s action (AdsD, KE, E. Büge, Bericht, n.d. (1945–46), 111; AS, Totenbuch; StANü, Pohl to Himmler, September 30, 1943, Anlage, ND: PS-1469.
187. In Mauthausen, lethal injections probably commenced sometime between autumn 1939 and summer 1940; Maršálek, Mauthausen, 162; Hördler, “Ordnung,” 108–109.
188. Riedle, Angehörigen, 163–79; LG Bonn, Urteil, February 6, 1959, JNV, vol. 15, 416–21, 653–54; IfZ, statement P. Wauer, May 21, 1945, ND: NO-1504, p. 7. More generally, see Mann, Dark Side, 212–39; Orth, SS, 87–90. The cart driver Gustav Hermann had found fame in the 1920s as “Iron Gustav” by driving from Berlin to Paris; his feat inspired a novel by Hans Fallada (Der eiserne Gustav [Berli
n, 1938]).
189. Prisoner quote in NAL, WO 208/3596, CSDIC, SIR Nr. 727, August 11, 1944; Sorge quotes in LG Cologne, Urteil, April 20, 1970, JNV, vol. 33, 628. See also LG Cologne, Urteil, May 28, 1965, JNV, vol. 21, 93–94; Kogon, Theory, 52; BArchB, NS 3/391, Bl. 4–22: Aufgabengebiete in einem KL, n.d. (1942), Bl. 20–21.
190. Riedle, Angehörigen, 204–14, quote on 208; LG Bonn, Urteil, February 6, 1959, JNV, vol. 15, 421–22, 655–56; AdsD, KE, E. Büge, Bericht, n.d. (1945–46), 87.
191. Quote in Naujoks, Leben, 179. See also LG Munich, Urteil, January 20, 1960, JNV, vol. 16, 277–85; Trouvé, “Bugdalle.”
192. AS, J D2/43, Bl. 146–54: Vernehmung G. Sorge, May 6, 1957, quote on 147.
193. For example, see AdsD, KE, E. Büge, Bericht, n.d. (1945–46), 97–98.
194. Quote in Hohmann and Wieland, Konzentrationslager, 26. See also LG Bonn, Urteil, February 6, 1959, JNV, vol. 15, 474–75.
195. LG Bonn, Urteil, February 6, 1959, JNV, vol. 15, 535, 538, 601–602, quote on 571.
196. For the SS court system, see Vieregge, Gerichtsbarkeit, 6–17, 247–48; Longerich, Himmler, 501–505; Gruchmann, Justiz, 654–58. In theory, regular courts retained the right to prosecute alleged crimes among KL prisoners themselves. In practice, such prosecutions were very rare. For some exceptions, see Eiber, “Kriminalakte,” 32–33.
197. Quote in LG Cologne, Urteil, April 20, 1970, JNV, vol. 33, 626.
198. Kautsky, Teufel, 35–36; DaA, 9438, A. Hübsch, “Insel des Standrechts” (1961), 248.
199. Browning, Origins, 309–30.
200. Quote in LG Cologne, Urteil, April 20, 1970, JNV, vol. 33, 627.
201. For Sorge, see Riedle, Angehörigen, 184.
202. AS, J D2/43, Bl. 146–54: Vernehmung G. Sorge, May 6, 1957, quote on 152.
203. Kershaw, “Working.”
204. DaA, 9438, A. Hübsch, “Insel des Standrechts” (1961), 245.
205. Buchenwald: 802 dead (BwA, Totenbuch); Dachau: 243 (DaA, Häftlingsdatenbank); Flossenbürg: 12 (AGFl, Häftlingsdatenbank); Mauthausen: 15 (AM, Zugangslisten und Totenbücher); Sachsenhausen: 243 (AS, Totenbuch); Lichtenburg: 0 (Fahrenberg and Hördler, “Lichtenburg,” 173).
206. Buchenwald: 1,838 dead (BwA, Totenbuch); Dachau: at least 1,574 (DaA, Gedenkbuch, 19); Flossenbürg: 242 (StAAm, StA Weiden Nr. 81/1, Bl. 185–87); Mauthausen-Gusen: 3,846 (Maršálek, Mauthausen, 146); Neuengamme: 430 (Kaienburg, “Vernichtung,” 473); Ravensbrück: 36 (Strebel, Ravensbrück, 506); Sachsenhausen: 3,809 (StANü, Pohl to Himmler, September 30, 1943, Anlage, ND: PS-1469); Auschwitz: there is no exact data, but a figure of 2,500 is a reasonable guess. For the Mauthausen percentage, see Kranebitter, Zahlen.
207. For emaciated corpses, see NMGB, Buchenwald, 177–78. More generally on causes of death in the KL, see Buggeln, Arbeit, 200–203.
208. AdsD, KE, E. Büge, Bericht, n.d. (1945–46), 128–29, 139–40; HLSL, Anklageschrift gegen Koch, 1944, ND: NO-2366, p. 51; Kamieński, “Erinnerung,” 130.
209. Pressac, Krematorien, 4–15; OdT, vol. 4, 30.
210. In larger KL such as Mauthausen and Auschwitz, registry offices were set up in 1941 (Lasik, “Structure,” 180; Maršálek, Mauthausen, 150). In some smaller camps, with lower death rates, registry offices were not set up until later in 1942 (StAAm, StA Weiden Nr. 81/1, Bl. 192–97: Augenscheinprotokoll, September 24, 1953; Sprenger, Groß-Rosen, 221).
211. Pingel, Häftlinge, 99–100; Fabréguet, Mauthausen, 168.
212. Strebel, Ravensbrück, 180.
213. Wachsmann, “Introduction,” in Buber-Neumann, Dictators, vii–xxii.
214. Buber, Dictators, 186–93, quote on 192.
215. For reform, see IfZ, Himmler to Pohl, November 15, 1942, ND: PS-1583.
216. Ibid.; BArchB, NS 3/426, Bl. 16: Glücks to LK, January 20, 1943.
217. Strebel, Ravensbrück, 189–93, 250; Buber, Dictators, 190.
218. IfZ, Geschäftsbericht Texled, June 28, 1941, ND: NO-1221, quote on 11; Kaienburg, Wirtschaft, 939–77; Allen, Business, 72–78; Strebel, Ravensbrück, 213–28. The SS paid a daily rate of ten Pfennig for unskilled female labor, compared to thirty Pfennig for men.
219. Quote in Koegel to Eicke, March 14, 1939, NCC, doc. 258. See also Strebel, Ravensbrück, 56–65; Segev, Soldiers, 232–36.
220. Heike, “Langefeld,” 10–16; Buber-Neumann, Flamme, 30–43; Buber, Dictators, 263–65; Strebel, Ravensbrück, 67–68.
221. Mailänder Koslov, Gewalt, 157, 483.
222. Strebel, Ravensbrück, 283–84. Initially, almost all the dead were Polish women accused of resistance by summary courts.
223. Calculations based on Strebel, Ravensbrück, 180, 293, 506, 509. Strebel argues that the death rate among men was unusually high because this subcamp was classed as a punishment camp until late 1942 (Strebel, “‘Unterschiede,’” 120). However, its death rate was in fact lower than in some other KL. For the crematorium, see OdT, vol. 4, 476.
224. Strebel, Ravensbrück, 105–108, 185, 250; Buchmann, Frauen, 8–9.
225. Quotes in Buber-Neumann, Dictators, 164; Rózsa, “Solange,” 186 (referring to Auschwitz in 1944). See also Amesberger et al., Gewalt, 70–85; Caplan, “Gender,” 93–94; Strebel, Ravensbrück, 269–71; Suderland, Extremfall, 298.
226. Strebel, Ravensbrück, 140, 251; Buchmann, Frauen, 9.
227. Apel, Frauen, 47–48, 138–52, 339–44.
228. Böhler, Auftakt, 158.
229. Kees, “‘Greuel,’” 87–126, quote on 106 (n. 69); Krzoska, “‘Blutsonntag’”; Wildt, Generation, 432–47; Weckbecker, Freispruch, 442–45; Sydnor, Soldiers, 40.
230. Quotes in Domarus, Hitler, vol. 3, 1360.
231. Deutschland-Berichte, vol. 6, 1031–32.
232. Szalet, Baracke, 28–31; Külow, “Jüdische,” 180–82.
233. Stein, Juden, 83–84. See also BArchB, NS 4/Bu 18, Bl. 48.
234. Quote in BwA, 5244–16, Bericht J. Ihr, n.d., 1. See also Stein, Juden, 83–88.
235. Quote in WL, P. III.g. No. 998, F. Rausch, “Allen Gewalten zum Trotz,” 1959, 3. See also BArchB, NS 4/Bu 18, Bl. 53–54.
236. Hackett, Buchenwald, 184–86, 271–76.
237. Gedenkstätte Buchenwald, Buchenwald, 118.
238. BwA, 31/450, Bericht E. Frommhold, n.d. (1945), 71–72.
239. Stein, Juden, 88.
240. For this and the previous paragraph, see Szalet, Baracke, especially pages 31–42, quotes on 31, 64; Meyer, “Nachwort”; Külow, “Häftlinge,” 182–83, 198; LG Cologne, Urteil, May 28, 1965, JNV, vol. 21, 113. Szalet’s papers are held at the Leo Baeck Institute (New York), AR 10587.
241. LG Cologne, Urteil, April 20, 1970, JNV, vol. 33, 658; LG Bonn, Urteil, February 6, 1959, JNV, vol. 15, 563; Szalet, Baracke, 222.
242. Szalet, Baracke, 320. See also Külow, “Häftlinge,” 191–92.
243. Quote in LG Cologne, Urteil, April 20, 1970, JNV, vol. 33, 627. More generally, see Wünschmann, Before Auschwitz, chapter 6.
244. Buber, Dictators, 265; Heike, “Langefeld,” 15. See also Zámečník, “Aufzeichnungen,” 181.
245. BArchB, R 58/1027, Bl. 128: RSHA, Vermerk, April 23, 1940.
246. For releases after April 1940, see Strebel, Ravensbrück, 175; Stein, Juden, 65.
247. Szalet, Baracke, quote on 417.
248. Ibid.; Meyer, “Nachwort.” Szalet and his daughter left for Shanghai on May 10, 1940, and later settled in the United States.
249. Stein, Juden, 82.
250. Quote in LG Bonn, Urteil, February, 6, 1959, JNV, vol. 15, 482. See also Sprenger, Groß-Rosen, 125; OdT, vol. 1, 105; YVA, O-51/64.
251. Quote in Kwiet, “‘Leben,’” 236. More generally, see Stein, Juden, 74–82; Naujoks, Leben, 210; AdsD, KE, E. Büge, Bericht, n.d. (1945–46), 139; LG Bonn, Urteil, February 6, 1959, JNV, vol. 15, 564–65, 578–79, 588–89.
252. Seidl, “Himmel,” 169–70; Zámečník, Dachau, 120–24. Zámečník worked on Freiland II in 1941.
253. Quote in Zámečník, “Aufzeichnungen,” 173.
254. Quote in ibid., 175–76.
255. AM Datenbank. According to SS figures, 2,064 Jews were taken to this KL between 1939 and 1942; by the end of 1942, 1,985 had died; BArchB, NS 19/1570, Bl. 12–28: Inspekteur für Statistik, Endlösung der Judenfrage (1943), Bl. 24.
256. Browning, Origins, 203; Hilberg, Vernichtung, vol. 2, 610; Moore, Victims, 71–72; Stein, Juden, 96. For the use of the term “hostages,” see Befehlshaber Sipo und SD, Meldungen aus den Niederlanden, Jahresbericht 1942, in Boberach, Regimekritik, doc. rk 1593, Bl. 420673.
257. Testimony M. Nebig, 1945, in Hackett, Buchenwald, 250–51 (Nebig was one of the few Jews who stayed in Buchenwald). See also Perz, “‘Vernichtung,’” 97; Stein, Juden, 99–100; ITS, KL Buchenwald GCC 2/193, Ordner 168, KL Buchenwald to Hauptamt Haushalt und Bauen, May 21, 1941; ibid., KL Buchenwald to Deutsche Reichsbahn, May 16, 1941.
258. Quotes in AM, Totenbuch (my thanks to Andreas Kranebitter for the copy); testimony A. Kuszinsky and L. Neumeier, 1945, in Hackett, Buchenwald, 251–52. See also AM, Datenbank; Maršálek, Mauthausen, 85 (with the erroneous date June 14, 1941).
259. For example, see August, “Sonderaktion,” 269; Hackett, Buchenwald, 251.
260. For such isolated calls, see NSDAP Kreisleitung Kitzingen-Gerolzhofen, Stimmungs-Bericht, September 4 and 11, 1939, in Kulka and Jäckel, Juden, docs. 2986, 2988.
261. Pohl, Forced Labor; Corni, Ghettos.
262. Moore, Victims, 82–83; NAL, FO 371/26683–0033, Memorandum for Political Intelligence Department, Holland, December 16, 1941; LG Munich, Urteil, February 24, 1967, JNV, vol. 25.
263. Maršálek, Mauthausen, 219, 260–61, 275 (confusing the first names of the two escapees). Just seven prisoners fled from Mauthausen in 1940.
264. Maršálek, Mauthausen, 145–47, 218–19, 303–304; idem, Gusen, 5–6, 14, 39; Fabréguet, Mauthausen, 167–69; OdT, vol. 4, 371–72. The figures for the average monthly mortality refer to the period April 1940 to June 1941.
265. Quote in BArchB (ehem. BDC), SSO, Chmielewski, Karl, 16.7.1903, Personalbericht 1940. See also ibid., Lebenslauf, n.d.; LG Ansbach, Urteil, April 11, 1961, JNV, vol. 17, 153–231; OdT, vol. 4, 373.