KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps

by Nikolaus Wachsmann

  257. Riedel, Ordnungshüter, 273–86; OdT, vol. 2, 493–95; BArchB, NS 4/Sa 2, Bl. 22–26: K. Wendland to Gestapo, April 1942.

  258. BArchB, NS 4/Sa 2, Bl. 14–20: RKPA, Vernehmung H. Loritz, June 20, 1942; ibid., Bl. 27: Loritz to Pohl, June 24, 1942; IfZ, statement P. Wauer, May 21, 1945, ND: NO-1504, p. 5.

  259. Bajohr, Parvenüs, 164–66. For Himmler’s spending, see his recently unearthed private correspondence; www.welt.de/himmler/.

  260. On Loritz’s career, see Riedel, Ordnungshüter, passim.

  261. BArchB, Film 44563, Vernehmung O. Pohl, January 2, 1947, pp. 4–6 (Pohl largely disputed this episode); Dillon, “Concentration Camp SS,” 84.

  262. For WVHA awareness, see BArchB, NS 3/426, Bl. 82: WVHA-D to LK, June 12, 1943.

  263. Orth, “Kommandanten,” 760; BArchB (ehem. BDC), SSO, Piorkowski, Alex, 11.10.1904, Himmler to Piorkowski, May 31, 1943.

  264. Riedel, Ordnungshüter, 288–326; OdT, vol. 2, 494.

  265. BArchB (ehem. BDC), SSO, Koch, Karl, 2.8.1897, KL Lublin to WVHA-D, July 15, 1942; ibid., Stab Reichsführer SS to SS Personalhauptamt, July 25, 1942; ibid., Koch to SS und Polizeigericht Krakow, August 2, 1942; ibid., SS Polizeigericht Berlin, EV, February 17, 1943; Mailänder Koslov, Gewalt, 345–50; Marszałek, Majdanek, 136 (with incorrect dates and figures); Witte et al., Dienstkalender, 493.

  266. Quote in BArchB (ehem. BDC), SSO, Koch, Karl, 2.8.1897, Himmler to Berger, March 12, 1943. See also ibid., Brandt to Berger, March 24, 1943; Himmler to Pohl, March 5, 1943, in Heiber, Reichsführer!, 245–47.

  267. HLSL, Anklageschrift gegen Koch, 1944, ND: NO-2366; BArchB (ehem. BDC), SSO, Koch, Karl, 2.8.1897, Weuster to Jüttner, August 25, 1943. The first SS investigation of Koch, begun in 1941, had been shut down by Himmler in July 1943.

  268. Weingartner, “Law”; BArchB (ehem. BDC), SSO, Morgen, Konrad, 8.6.1909, Chef des Hauptamtes SS-Gericht to Himmler, August 3, 1944; testimony K. Morgen, August 7, 1946, IMT, vol. 20, 488–89; Gross, Anständig, 145–48.

  269. For a perceptive analysis of Morgen’s postwar testimony, and its uncritical use by some historians, see Wittmann, Beyond Justice, 160–74.

  270. For example, see testimony of K. Morgen, August 7–8, 1946, IMT, vol. 20, 490, 504–505, 511. The USSR chief prosecutor counted Morgen among the “famous perjurers” of the trial; ibid., vol. 22, 323.

  271. HLSL, Anklageschrift gegen Koch, 1944, pp. 46–47, 74–75, ND: NO-2366.

  272. Ibid., quote on 35.

  273. BArchB (ehem. BDC), SSO, Morgen, Konrad, 8.6.1909, K. Morgen, Ermittlungsbericht, December 5, 1943; ibid., ZBV-Gericht Kassel, Anklageverfügung gegen G. Michael, December 5, 1943. It is not clear if or when Michael was sentenced.

  274. BArchL, B 162/4782, Anklageschrift gegen H. Hackmann, November 15, 1974, pp. 120–23. See also ibid., B 162/7998, Bl. 746–47: Zentrale Stelle to StA Koblenz, May 14, 1970; BArchB (ehem. BDC), SSO, Hackmann, Hermann, 11.11.1913; Hördler, “Ordnung,” 50. Released from U.S. custody in 1955, Hackmann was later tried in Düsseldorf and sentenced in 1981 to ten years in prison for crimes in Majdanek.

  275. HLSL, Anklageschrift gegen Koch, 1944, pp. 38–39, 48, ND: NO-2366; IfZ, F 65, pp. 57–68: Dr. Morgen, Die Unrechtsbekämpfung in Konzentrationslagern, December 21, 1945 (here comments by Wiebeck); ibid., Bl. 10–20: Cernely to RKPA, June 30, 1944, Bl. 19.

  276. HLSL, Anklageschrift gegen Koch, 1944, pp. 40–46, ND: NO-2366; StAAu, Vernehmungsniederschrift I. Koch, April 29, 1949, pp. 13–14; BArchB, Film 2922, Bl. 2699424: Polizeipräsident Weimar to Hauptamt SS-Gericht, March 26, 1945; NARA, RG 549, 000–50–9, Box 437, Interrogation H. Schmidt, March 2, 1947; Weingartner, “Law,” 292–93.

  277. Testimony G. Reinecke, August 7, 1946, IMT, vol. 20, 436; testimony K. Morgen, August 7, 1946, ibid., 488; IfZ, F 65, Bl. 10–20: Cernely to RKPA, June 30, 1944, Bl. 11.

  278. BArchB (ehem. BDC), SSO, Morgen, Konrad, 8.6.1909, Chef des Hauptamtes SS-Gericht to Himmler, August 3, 1944; ibid., Morgen to Breithaupt, February 2, 1944; Weingartner, “Law,” 289; IfZ, F 65, Bl. 57–68: Dr. Morgen, “Unrechtsbekämpfung in Konzentrationslagern,” December 21, 1945, Bl. 67; ibid., Bl. 111–12: Morgen to RKPA, June 16, 1944. Cases of fraud and theft in the KL were also pursued by other authorities, including the local SS, the RSHA, and the WVHA (e.g., OdT, vol. 8, 110; OdT, vol. 6, 652–58). Among the larger cases was a police investigation of sleaze in Sachsenhausen, which began in November 1943; according to a well-informed survivor, two SS men were shot in autumn 1944 for stealing clothes and valuables that had found their way to the camp from Auschwitz and Majdanek (IfZ, F 65, Bl. 10–20: Cernely to RKPA, June 30, 1944, Bl. 10; Weiss-Rüthel, Nacht, 128, 160–61; Banach, Elite, 171; Riedle, Angehörigen, 244–45).

  279. In addition to Buchenwald, Morgen’s commission worked in Auschwitz, Majdanek, Plaszow, Sachsenhausen, and Dachau. After the war, Morgen also claimed credit for investigations in Herzogenbusch and Warsaw, though he was not instrumental in either case; IfZ, F 65, Bl. 57–68: Dr. Morgen, “Unrechtsbekämpfung in Konzentrationslagern,” December 1, 1945, Bl. 66; ibid., Bl. 111–12: Morgen to RKPA, June 16, 1944.

  280. Quotes in IfZ, F 65, Bl. 111–12: Morgen to RKPA, June 16, 1944.

  281. BArchB (ehem. BDC), SSO, Florstedt, Hermann, 18.2.1895, Glücks to SS Personalhauptamt, March 5, 1943; ibid., Terminnotiz, November 10, 1943; ibid., Film 2922, Bl. 2699424: Polizeipräsident Weimar to Hauptamt SS-Gericht, March 26, 1945. There are unconfirmed reports that Florstedt was executed before the end of the war; Orth, SS, 208 (n. 13).

  282. BArchL, B 162/1124, Bl. 2288–2316: Volksgerichtshof Krakow, Urteil, September 5, 1946, Bl. 2312–13; OdT, vol. 8, 271. Göth was sentenced to death in Krakow in September 1946 and executed.

  283. DAP, Aussage H. Bartsch, March 13, 1964, 5798 [with wrong date], 5820, 5857; ibid., Aussage G. Wiebeck, October 1, 1964, 19700–701.

  284. Quote in StB Nr. 51/43, November 16, 1943, in Frei et al., Kommandanturbefehle, 359. Such draconian threats were not unusual. In May 1944, Auschwitz camp staff had to acknowledge in writing that they knew that “I will be punished by death if I take any sort of Jewish property”; Strzelecki, “Plundering,” 167.

  285. DAP, Aussage H. Bartsch, March 13, 1964, 5799; Langbein, Menschen, 339; Perz and Sandkühler, “Auschwitz,” 297.

  286. IfZ, F 65, Bl. 111–12: Morgen to RKPA, June 16, 1944, quote on 112; ibid., Bl. 72–74: Erklärung G. Wiebeck, March 22, 1954.

  287. Tuchel, “Registrierung”; Lasik, “Organizational,” 170–92; Langbein, Menschen, 371–73; IfZ, G 20/1, Das Oberste Volkstribunal, Urteil, December 22, 1947, p. 108; BArchB, RS B5261, Lebenslauf M. Grabner, n.d. (1939).

  288. IfZ, G 20/1, Das Oberste Volkstribunal, Urteil, December 22, 1947, p. 111.

  289. StB Nr. 54/43, December 1, 1943, in Frei et al., Kommandanturbefehle, 371; DAP, Vernehmung F. Hofmann, April 22, 1959, 3880.

  290. DAP, Aussage G. Wiebeck, October 1, 1964, 19700–701; ibid., Aussage H. Bartsch, March 13, 1964, 5866. Morgen later claimed that Grabner was charged with murder in two thousand cases (testimony K. Morgen, August 7–8, 1946, IMT, vol. 20, 507). However, another member of Morgen’s team testified that Grabner was charged with fewer than two hundred killings (DAP, Aussage H. Bartsch, March 13, 1964, 5864–65). Morgen’s team also issued charges for illicit prisoner killings against two Buchenwald officials, the camp doctor Waldemar Hoven and the bunker supervisor Martin Sommer, though neither man was convicted before the end of the war.

  291. DAP, Aussage G. Wiebeck, October 1, 1964, 19700–703, Boger quote on 19703; ibid., Aussage W. Hansen, November 27, 1964, 26002–3; ibid., Aussage W. Boger, July 5, 1945, 3253–56.

  292. The case of Adam Grünewald, the Herzogenbusch commandant convicted by an SS court in 1944 after prisoners suffocated in a detention cell (see note 179, above), illustrates Himmler’s attitude. As the highest SS authority, Himmler immediately came to the rescue of Grünewald, who did not have to serve his prison sentence, was awarded a week’s holiday, and then joined the SS Death�
��s Head division. See BArchB (ehem. BDC), SSO, Grünewald, Adam, 20.10.1902.

  293. DAP, Aussage W. Boger, July 5, 1945, 3256–57; Langbein, Menschen, 374–75; Broad, “Erinnerungen,” 194.

  294. DAP, Aussage W. Boger, July 5, 1945, 3252.

  295. For example, see Hackett, Buchenwald, 126, 341.

  296. Czech, Kalendarium, 672.

  297. IfZ, F 65, Bl. 111–12: Morgen to RKPA, June 16, 1944; BArchB (ehem. BDC), SSO, Morgen, Konrad, 8.6.1909, SS-Richter beim Reichsführer SS to Chef des Hauptamtes SS-Gericht, August 26, 1944; Longerich, Himmler, 311.

  298. For the last point, see Himmler to Bormann, February 10, 1944, in Heiber, Reichsführer!, 316.

  299. IfZ, F 65, Bl. 10–20: Cernely to RKPA, June 30, 1944.

  300. StN, EE by G. Wiebeck, February 28, 1947, ND: NO-2331; Schmeling, Erbprinz, 98; testimony of G. Reinecke, August 7, 1946, IMT, vol. 20, 439; DAP, Aussage K. Morgen, March 9, 1964, 5592.

  301. Schulte, Zwangsarbeit, 40–41; Schwarz, Frau, 93 (n. 15); OdT, vol. 2, 340–41; Witte et al., Dienstkalender, 643.

  302. Bindemann, “Koserstrasse 21”; Koch, Himmlers, 75–77, 81; StN, testimony O. Pohl, June 13, 1946, ND: NO-4728, p. 7.

  303. See also Bajohr, Parvenüs, 192.

  304. Zámečník, “Aufzeichnungen,” 240.

  305. OdT, vol. 2, 340–41; Schulte, Zwangsarbeit, 32. See also chapter 8, below.

  306. OdT, vol. 4, 535–38; Koch, Himmlers, 78–80; BArchB, Film 44563, Vernehmung O. Pohl, September 17, 1946, p. 8. One of Pohl’s SS companies (DVA) had bought the estate for farming experiments, and Pohl rented the manor house at a favorable rate.

  307. Zámečník, “Aufzeichnungen,” 225, 229, 240. See also BArchB (ehem. BDC), SSO Pohl, Oswald, 30.6.1892, Fragebogen zur Berichtigung der Führerkartei, October 1936; ibid., Film 44563, Vernehmung O. Pohl, January 2, 1947, p. 2.

  308. Zámečník, “Aufzeichnungen,” 199–200, 212, quote on 240.

  8. Economics and Extermination

      1. Pohl to LK et al., April 30, 1942, IMT, vol. 38, 365–67, ND: 129–R, quotes on 366, taken from Pohl’s summary of the conference on April 24–25, 1942. See also Pohl to Himmler, April 30, 1942, in ibid., 363–65; testimony O. Pohl, 1947, TWC, vol. 5, 434; BArchB, Film 44563, Vernehmung O. Pohl, January 2, 1947, p. 11. Contrary to what Pohl implied in his April 30, 1942, summary of the conference for Himmler, handing responsibility for forced labor to the commandants was no major departure from previous practice but restated an earlier order by Glücks (which had spelled the end of the brief SS experiment with local labor representatives formally overseeing KL labor deployment); BArchB, NS 4/Na 103, Bl. 2–4: Glücks to LK, February 20, 1942.

      2. For grumbling, see Judgment of the U.S. Military Tribunal, November 3, 1947, TWC, vol. 5, 981. The April 1942 WVHA conference was also attended by KL plant managers.

      3. For example, see IfZ, F 13/6, Bl. 343–54: R. Höss, “Oswald Pohl,” November 1946, Bl. 352–53; IfZ, ZS-1590, interrogation of G. Witt, November 19, 1946, pp. 11–12. During 1942, Pohl saw Himmler on average almost once a month; Witte et al., Dienstkalender.

      4. BArchL, B 162/7998, Bl. 623–44: Vernehmung J. Otto, April 1, 1970, Bl. 630–31; Tuchel, Konzentrationslager, 28. In January 1943, for example, Himmler asked for a survey of the prisoner population of Auschwitz and Majdanek since the beginning; NAL, HW 16/23, GPD Nr. 3, WVHA-D to Auschwitz and Majdanek, January 26, 1943.

      5. Himmler’s official diary lists visits to Ravensbrück (March 3, 1942), Dachau (May 1, 1942, and November 13, 1942), Auschwitz (July 17–18, 1942), and Sachsenhausen (September 29, 1942); Witte et al., Dienstkalender.

      6. Zámečník, “Aufzeichnungen,” quote on 197–98.

      7. Longerich, Himmler, 701–25.

      8. Müller, “Speer,” 275–81; Kroener, “‘Menschenbewirtschaftung,’” 777–82, 804; Naasner, Machtzentren, 445–55. More generally, see Tooze, Wages, 513–89.

      9. BArchB, Film 44564, Vernehmung O. Pohl, February 5, 1947, p. 5.

    10. Schulte, Zwangsarbeit, 200–201; Witte et al., Dienstkalender, 371. Himmler’s initial order for setting up the WVHA did not encompass the IKL (Befehl Reichsführers SS, January 19, 1942, in Naasner, SS-Wirtschaft, 225–26), so its addition was clearly an afterthought. The IKL was officially incorporated on March 16, 1942; R. Glücks, Stabsbefehl Nr. 1, March 16, 1942, in Tuchel, Inspektion, 90–91.

    11. Quote in WVHA, Befehl Nr. 10, March 13, 1942, in Tuchel, Inspektion, 88. See also BArchB, NS 19/2065, Bl. 36–37: Himmler to Pohl, March 23, 1942.

    12. StANü, K.-O. Saur, Niederschrift über Besprechung, March 17, 1942, ND: NO-569; Protocol Hitler-Speer conference on March 19, 1942, in Boelcke, Rüstung, 74–82. See also Buggeln, System, 15.

    13. Quotes in BArchB (ehem. BDC), SSO Pohl, Oswald, 30.6.1892, “Warum bin ich Nationalsozialist,” January 24, 1932; ibid., E. Pohl to Himmler, July 4, 1943. See also IfZ, F 13/6, Bl. 343–54: R. Höss, “Oswald Pohl,” November 1946; Witte et al., Dienstkalender, 381. Himmler’s office diary for 1941–42 records just three meetings with Glücks.

    14. Schulte, Zwangsarbeit, 201–208, 447; Allen, Business, 154–58; Judgment of the U.S. Military Tribunal, November 3, 1947, TWC, vol. 5, 993, 997–1000, 1004–1008, 1023–31, 1043–47; BArchB, Film 44563, Vernehmung O. Pohl, September 26, 1946 (p. 79), December 17, 1946 (p. 36); Naasner, SS-Wirtschaft, 242–43; Kaienburg, Wirtschaft, 20.

    15. Testimony O. Pohl, June 3, 1946, in Mendelsohn, The Holocaust, vol. 17, 47.

    16. Liste Stab/Amtsgruppe D, September 6, 1944, in Tuchel, Inspektion, 200–203; Kaienburg, Wirtschaftskomplex, 348.

    17. BArchB, Film 44840, Vernehmung G. Maurer, June 26, 1947, p. 1; testimony Sommer, TWC, vol. 5, 345–46, 678; Fernsprechverzeichnis, January 15, 1945, in Tuchel, Inspektion, 204–207. For the SS mess hall, see IfZ, ZS-1154, Vernehmung H. C. Lesse, November 16 and 19, 1946.

    18. Liste Stab/Amtsgruppe D, September 6, 1944, in Tuchel, Inspektion, 200–203. It is likely that a few women, not listed here, worked as SS telegraph and radio operators; Mühlenberg, SS-Helferinnenkorps, 322. For the above, see also StANü, G. Rammler report, January 30, 1946, ND: NO-1200, p. 8.

    19. R. Glücks, Stabsbefehl Nr. 1, March 16, 1942, in Tuchel, Inspektion, 90–91. According to a well-informed WVHA-D official, an additional office for troop instruction was added later; StANü, G. Rammler report, January 30, 1946, ND: NO-1200, p. 9.

    20. BArchL, B 162/7998, Bl. 623–44: Vernehmung J. Otto, April 1, 1970, Bl. 639; ibid., Nr. 7999, Bl. 768–937: StA Koblenz, EV, July 25, 1974, Bl. 786–89; Broszat, Kommandant, 204–207. For a floorplan of the T-Building, Tuchel, Inspektion, 208–209.

    21. BArchL, B 162/7999, Bl. 768–937: StA Koblenz, EV, July 25, 1974, Bl. 895; testimony O. Pohl, June 3, 1946, in NCA, supplement B, 1582.

    22. Quote in testimony O. Pohl, June 13, 1946, in NCA, supplement B, 1604. See also BArchL, B 162/7997, Bl. 615–19: Vernehmung W. Biemann, December 9, 1969, Bl. 618.

    23. BArchL, B 162/7997, Bl. 525–603: Vernehmung K. Sommer, June 30, 1947; BArchB, Film 44563, Vernehmung O. Pohl, September 26, 1946, p. 42; ibid., Film 44840, Vernehmung G. Maurer, March 14, 1947 (quote on p. 1) and March 19, 1947; ibid., NS 4/Na 6, Bl. 30: Glücks to LK, January 13, 1944; Allen, Business, 183–84; Schulte, Zwangsarbeit, 390–91.

    24. MacLean, Camp, 276–77; BArchB, Film 44840, Vernehmung G. Maurer, March 19, 1947, pp. 11–13; ibid., Film 44563, Vernehmung O. Pohl, September 26, 1946, pp. 47–48.

    25. LG Münster, Urteil, February 19, 1962, JNV, vol. 18, 271; BArchL, B 162/7996, Bl. 325–38: Vernehmung J. Muthig, March 18, 1960, Bl. 333; IfZ, F 13/8, Bl. 486–87: R. Höss, “Dr. Enno Lolling,” November 1946.

    26. StANü, G. Rammler report, January 30, 1946, ND: NO-1200; Hahn, Grawitz, 238–40.

    27. Hahn, Grawitz, 237–38. Appointments of KL doctors also went th
rough the SS Leadership Main Office (and later the Reich doctor SS); ibid., 375.

    28. IfZ, F 13/8, Bl. 486–87: R. Höss, “Dr. Enno Lolling,” November 1946, quote on 487; IfZ, Interview with Dr. Kahr, September 19, 1945, ND: NO-1948, p. 4.

    29. R. Glücks, Stabsbefehl Nr. 1, March 16, 1942, in Tuchel, Inspektion, 90–91; BArchB, Film 44563, Vernehmung O. Pohl, September 26, 1946, p. 85. For more detail, see Bartel and Drobisch, “Aufgabenbereich.”

    30. There was a gap of eight months between the two appointments (September 1, 1942, to May 1, 1943), during which the post was apparently unoccupied; Schulte, Zwangsarbeit, 464; BArchB (ehem. BDC), SSO, Kaindl, Anton, 14.7.1902, Dienstlaufbahn; BArchL, B 162/7997, Bl. 525–603: Vernehmung K. Sommer, June 30, 1947, Bl. 544.

    31. Quotes in BArchB (ehem. BDC), SSO, Burger, Wilhelm, 19.5.1904, R. Höss, Dienstleistungszeugnis, May 7, 1943. See also Schulte, Zwangsarbeit, 464; APMO, Dpr-ZO, 29/2, LG Frankfurt, Urteil, September 16, 1966; Lasik, “Organizational,” 230.

    32. Broszat, Kommandant, 171, 202–204, 210; StANü, G. Rammler report, January 30, 1946, ND: NO-1200, p. 3; Fernsprechverzeichnis, January 15, 1945, in Tuchel, Inspektion, 204–207.

    33. BArchB (ehem. BDC), SSO, Kaindl, Anton, July 14, 1902, Dienstlaufbahn; Buggeln, Arbeit, 116.

    34. For example, see OdT, vol. 6, 66–69.

    35. MacLean, Camp, 286.

    36. Kaienburg, Wirtschaft, quote on 1047–48; Orth, SS, 210–11. More generally on Pohl’s recruitment policy, see Allen, Business.

    37. Eicke order for Lichtenburg, June 2, 1934, NCC, doc. 148.

    38. Wildt, Generation, especially page 861. For the term “fighting administration,” used by Heydrich, see ibid., 858.

    39. Schwarz, Frau, 251–53.

    40. BArchB, Film 44564, Vernehmung O. Pohl, February 5, 1947, quote on 3; testimony O. Pohl, June 3, 1946, in Mendelsohn, Holocaust, vol. 17, 45.

    41. Cf. Kaienburg, Wirtschaft, 410–12.

    42. For the appointments of Liebehenschel, Lolling, and Kaindl, see BArchB (ehem. BDC), SSO, Kaindl, Anton, 14.7.1902, WVHA-A to Chef des SS-Personalhauptamtes, March 16, 1942. Kaindl had served in the IKL as the head of administration from October 1, 1941; Liebehenschel as chief of staff since May 1, 1940; Lolling as chief physician since June 1, 1941.