Concentration Camps Inspectorate
Encyclopedia
The Concentration Camps Inspectorate (Inspektion der Konzentrationslager) was the central SS
administrative and managerial authority for the concentration camps of the Third Reich. Created by Theodor Eicke
, it was originally known as the "General Inspection of the Enhanced SS-Totenkopfstandarten
, after Eicke's position in the SS. It was later integrated into the SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt
as "Amt D".
SS-Oberführer
Theodor Eicke, became commandant
of Dachau concentration camp on 26 June 1933. His form of organization at Dachau stood as the model for all later concentration camps. Eicke claimed the title of Concentration Camps Inspector for himself after May 1934. As part of the disempowerment of the SA
through murder during the "Night of the Long Knives
" he had personally shot Ernst Röhm
on July 1, 1934.
The factional police functions of the SS was dissolved on July 20, 1934 with the subordination of the SA
. Shortly thereafter, Reichsführer-SS
Heinrich Himmler
officially named Eicke "Concentration Camps Inspector" and promoted him to the rank of Gruppenführer
in command of the SS-Wachverbände. Additionally, the Concentration Camps Inspectorate (CCI) was established as a department for Eicke. These had had a de facto existence beginning May 1934. On 10 December 1934, the CCI moved into premises at the Gestapo
headquarters on Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse 8 in Berlin
This site is today the location of Topography of Terror
, a Holocaust memorial and museum.. The CCI was subordinate to the SD
and Gestapo only in regards to who was admitted to the camps and who was released. However, what happened inside the camps was under the command of the CCI.
The head of the CCI (first Eicke) was subordinate both to the SS-Amt as an SS member and directly to the Chief of the German Police, (Reichsführer-SS) Heinrich Himmler. This form of dual subordination was characteristic of many SS posts and created free room for interpretation for their members. Eicke especially knew how to use this system for his own ends and contributed significantly to the CCI having sole control of all concentration camp prisoners.
as of 1937), the administrative department (led by Anton Kaindl
as of 1936), and a medical department, headed by a chief doctor (initially Friedrich Dermietzel, then in 1937, by Karl Genzken
). Eicke's most important subordinate, beginning in 1936, was Richard Glücks
, head of the military staff. On April 1, 1936, Glücks was named by Eicke military chief of staff of the Inspector of the Wachverbände and later became Eicke's deputy.
In August 1938, the CCI moved to Oranienburg
, to a large staff building on the southern edge of Sachsenhausen concentration camp
.
At the beginning of World War II
, Eicke was reassigned to the front, to be the commander of the SS-Totenkopf-Standarten and in November 1939, Glücks was promoted to Concentration Camps Inspector. Glücks made few changes, leaving the organizational structure intact as Eicke had set it up. This is another example of the SS practice of dual subordination.
Around the end of 1941 and beginning of 1942, it was decided that to support the Nazi war machine, concentration camp prisoners should be put to work in armaments factories. As a result, the CCI was moved under the aegis of the WHVA and reconstituted as "Amt D". Since the inception of the concentration camp system, Oswald Pohl
, head of the WVHA, had been trying to influence the administration of them.
He succeeded, in part, because while camp commandants handled the discipline of SS members under them, they were not actually their superiors. The SS camp employees received their instructions from the CCI (later Amt D), through their SS camp department heads. This is another example of the SS practice of dual subordination.
Except for the admittance and release of concentration camp prisoners, which the SD
and Gestapo handled (later as departments of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt or RSHA), the CCI had sole control over the prisoners. Eicke's agency made all decisions regarding internal camp matters. The CCI also coordinated the operations for systematic murder in other SS divisions, for example, the murder of Soviet commissar
s, Action 14f13
, keeping informed about them as well. Auschwitz-Birkenau and Majdanek concentration camps were under the CCI, having been especially built for use as extermination camps in the "Final Solution
".
("political department"), which controlled the lives of prisoners at each camp, became the most important subdivision within the CCI.
Under Eicke's direction, all new concentration camps were organized along the "Dachau model". Principally, this meant the segregation of SS members from among the guards or those working in the commandant's department. Within the commandant's department, the same sections were formed, building a core command structure that was replicated at each camp.
Because of the CCI Inspector's personnel policy, which was based largely on personal relationships, there was only a small elite of concentration camp commandants during the entire Nazi era. Unlike the guards, these "experts" were generally not dispatched to the front.
The arbeitseinsatzführer (head of "work details") was responsible for prisoner work details, both at the camp and outside and making use of professional skills and abilities. The arbeitseinsatzführer had every prisoner in the camp listed in a card file by profession and skill.
Subordinate to him, was the arbeitsdienstführer (an SS unterführer) who was responsible for assembling and superivsing the "internal command", the prisoner functionaries. The blockführer ("block" or "barracks" leader) identified candidates from the ranks of prisoners to become the blockälteste" ("barracks elder") and the stubenälteste" ("room elder"). Prisoner functionaries were used by the SS as auxiliary police in a "divide-and-conquer strategy".
was responsible for records about prisoners, their initial registration, release, transfer, police comments about the death or escape of a prisoner, investigations (which most often involved torture
or threats, and keeping prisoner card files up to date. The head of the political department was always an officer from the Gestapo, generally an officer from the Kriminalpolizei
("criminal police"). He was subordinate to the local Gestapo headquarters, but often received instructions and orders from the RSHA
, generally the office involved with matters related to "protective custody". For example, execution orders went directly from the RSHA office to the Politische Abteilung and the RSHA decreed individual admissions and release of protective custody prisoners.
As a Gestapo officer, the head of the political department reported to the RSHA or the local Gestapo headquarters. He was subordinate to them, as was his deputy. The other members of the department, however, as members of the Waffen-SS
, were subordinate to the Gestapo regarding technical and functional matters, but otherwise belonged to the stabskompanie (staff troops) so that in terms of discipline, they were subject to the camp commandant.
, first under Glücks, then Gerhard Mauer. An important office of this department was the Gefangeneneigentumsverwaltung, the "prisoners' property management", which was responsible for holding all the personal property brought to the camps by the prisoners, for sorting, bundling and storing the prisoners' money, valuables, "civilian" clothing and so on. This department was held responsible for the assets; embezzlement or misappropriation was disciplined and could be held criminally liable.
was in charge of several camp doctors, including dentists, who were subordinate to him. They had several areas of responsibility. The "troops doctor" was responsible for the medical care of the SS guards. The rest of the camp doctors divided up the remaining areas of the camp (men's camp, women's camp, etc.), according to the duty roster. The medical care of prisoners was secondary to their main tasks. Of primary importance were camp hygiene to prevent disease and maintaining prisoners' capacity to work. To this end, they availed themselves of prisoners who were doctors and nurses to serve as auxiliary staff in the infirmary. Direct contact with prisoners as patients was rare.
In addition, camp doctors had different non-medical or pseudo-medical tasks, such as selektions at arriving transports with new prisoners and in the infirmary, supervision of gassing procedures
, supervision of the removal of dental gold from dead prisoners' mouths, certification of death after executions, especially murders committed by the camp Gestapo, performing abortions and sterilizations on prisoners, as well as taking part in pseudo-scientific human experiments
.
Excluding the approximately 110 camp doctors, who were subject to a bit more fluctuation, this group numbered about 207 men and a few women. Orth showed numerous similarities within this group, including social background, path of life, year of birth (around 1902), the date they joined the SS and their political development. She describes it as a real network of concentration camp SS.
, that a proper procedure was in place for the punishment of violations at concentration camps. Adherence to the guidelines was rare, however. Dachau was the first systematically organized concentration camp of the National Socialists. The regimentation of concentration camp order and resulting penalties were later extended to all SS concentration camps. Since Dachau was set up as the model camp, other camps' procedure for punishing violations followed the example of Dachau.
The punishment of a violation began with the "violations report". A prisoner could be punished for violations related to camp order, such as missing a button on his jacket, for a dish that wasn't washed well enough. The SS man noted the prisoner number on the violations report. Under Egon Zill
, for example, prisoner functionaries, such as the Lagerälteste, were instructed to deliver some 30-40 violations daily to the SS. If a group of prisoners collectively violated a camp regulation, the entire group would have to kneel and then be beaten, for example. If they didn't call the name of any individual prisoner, then all the names would be noted on the violations report. Work crews were searched before and after work for contraband, such as a cigarette butt. The penalty for smaller things was corporal punishment
or excessive exercise. A more serious violation, such as sabotage or theft could be merit a "special treatment
". After a violation report, the prisoner had to wait in limbo while the report was processed before finding out what his punishment would be, sometimes resulting in weeks or months of uncertainty.
If a citation came back, the prisoner had to report for roll call and wait. The hearing took place in the Jourhaus
. If the prisoner denied his guilt, he was often accused of lying, which meant additional flogging. In severe cases, prisoners were interrogated in the "Bunker" until they confessed. At the end, came the verdict and the punishment, for example "tree", or "twenty-five
" (see photo, above).
The camp commandant had to sign off on the sentence worked out by the interrogation officer. In cases such as corporal punishment, the Inspector in Oranienburg had to approve the punishment. An SS camp doctor had to assess the health of the prisoner, but medical objections were rare. The prisoner had to go to before the infirmary and undress. The SS doctor walked through the rows of prisoners and the infirmary clerk recorded the opinion, "fit".
A few days later, the sentence was carried out. The particular prisoners had to report for punishment and a functionary prisoner had to carry out the punishment. An SS guard unit attended the procedure.
The rules stipulated that the following people were involved in carrying out punishment:
" was unconstrained. Prisoners were often beaten without any violations procedure or they were killed by the punishment itself. Compliance with the penal procedure was not a given. For example, Lagerführer
Egon Zill
once ordered two men to implement the number of blows in a particular punishment. Although this doubled the number of blows given to the prisoner, the total was counted just once.
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
administrative and managerial authority for the concentration camps of the Third Reich. Created by Theodor Eicke
Theodor Eicke
Theodor Eicke was a SS Obergruppenführer , commander of the SS-Division Totenkopf of the Waffen-SS and one of the key figures in the establishment of concentration camps in Nazi Germany. His Nazi Party number was 114,901 and his SS number was 2,921...
, it was originally known as the "General Inspection of the Enhanced SS-Totenkopfstandarten
SS-Totenkopfverbände
SS-Totenkopfverbände , meaning "Death's-Head Units", was the SS organization responsible for administering the Nazi concentration camps for the Third Reich....
, after Eicke's position in the SS. It was later integrated into the SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt
SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt
The SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt was responsible for managing the finances, supply systems and business projects for the Allgemeine-SS...
as "Amt D".
Inspector of all concentration camps
Oberführer
Oberführer was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party dating back to 1921. Translated as “Senior Leader”, an Oberführer was typically a Nazi Party member in charge of a group of paramilitary units in a particular geographical region...
Theodor Eicke, became commandant
Commandant
Commandant is a senior title often given to the officer in charge of a large training establishment or academy. This usage is common in anglophone nations...
of Dachau concentration camp on 26 June 1933. His form of organization at Dachau stood as the model for all later concentration camps. Eicke claimed the title of Concentration Camps Inspector for himself after May 1934. As part of the disempowerment of the SA
Sturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...
through murder during the "Night of the Long Knives
Night of the Long Knives
The Night of the Long Knives , sometimes called "Operation Hummingbird " or in Germany the "Röhm-Putsch," was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany between June 30 and July 2, 1934, when the Nazi regime carried out a series of political murders...
" he had personally shot Ernst Röhm
Ernst Röhm
Ernst Julius Röhm, was a German officer in the Bavarian Army and later an early Nazi leader. He was a co-founder of the Sturmabteilung , the Nazi Party militia, and later was its commander...
on July 1, 1934.
The factional police functions of the SS was dissolved on July 20, 1934 with the subordination of the SA
Sturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...
. Shortly thereafter, Reichsführer-SS
Reichsführer-SS
was a special SS rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945. Reichsführer-SS was a title from 1925 to 1933 and, after 1934, the highest rank of the German Schutzstaffel .-Definition:...
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
officially named Eicke "Concentration Camps Inspector" and promoted him to the rank of Gruppenführer
Gruppenführer
Gruppenführer was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party, first created in 1925 as a senior rank of the SA.-SS rank:...
in command of the SS-Wachverbände. Additionally, the Concentration Camps Inspectorate (CCI) was established as a department for Eicke. These had had a de facto existence beginning May 1934. On 10 December 1934, the CCI moved into premises at the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
headquarters on Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse 8 in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
This site is today the location of Topography of Terror
Topography of Terror
The Topography of Terror is an outdoor museum in Berlin, the capital of Germany. It is located in Niederkirchnerstrasse, formerly Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse, on the site of buildings which during the Nazi regime from 1933 to 1945 were the headquarters of the Gestapo and the SS, the principal...
, a Holocaust memorial and museum.. The CCI was subordinate to the SD
Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst , full title Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS, or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. The organization was the first Nazi Party intelligence organization to be established and was often considered a "sister organization" with the...
and Gestapo only in regards to who was admitted to the camps and who was released. However, what happened inside the camps was under the command of the CCI.
The head of the CCI (first Eicke) was subordinate both to the SS-Amt as an SS member and directly to the Chief of the German Police, (Reichsführer-SS) Heinrich Himmler. This form of dual subordination was characteristic of many SS posts and created free room for interpretation for their members. Eicke especially knew how to use this system for his own ends and contributed significantly to the CCI having sole control of all concentration camp prisoners.
Inspectorate from 1935 to 1945
The CCI remained a small agency till the beginning of the Second World War. At the end of 1934, there were 11 employees. By the end of 1936, the number had increased to 32 and by the end of 1938, there were 45 people working there. In 1944, the CCI became "Amt D" of the SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt (WVHA) and employed 20 SS chiefs and some 80 SS men. Eicke let his subordinates have broad discretion in routine matters. Beginning in 1934, there were several departments of the CCI, the political department (headed by Arthur LiebehenschelArthur Liebehenschel
Arthur Liebehenschel was a commandant at the Auschwitz and Majdanek death camps during World War II. He was convicted of war crimes after the war and executed.-Biography:...
as of 1937), the administrative department (led by Anton Kaindl
Anton Kaindl
Anton Kaindl was an SS-Standartenführer and commandant of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp from 1942-1945....
as of 1936), and a medical department, headed by a chief doctor (initially Friedrich Dermietzel, then in 1937, by Karl Genzken
Karl Genzken
Karl August Genzken , a physician, he conducted human experiments on prisoners of several concentration camps. He was a Major General of the Waffen-SS and the Chief of the Medical Office of the Waffen-SS...
). Eicke's most important subordinate, beginning in 1936, was Richard Glücks
Richard Glücks
Richard Glücks was a high-ranking Nazi official. He attained the rank of a SS-Gruppenführer and a Generalleutnant of the Waffen-SS and from 1939 until the end of World War II was the head of Amt D: Konzentrationslagerwesen of the WVHA; the highest-ranking Concentration Camps Inspector in Nazi...
, head of the military staff. On April 1, 1936, Glücks was named by Eicke military chief of staff of the Inspector of the Wachverbände and later became Eicke's deputy.
In August 1938, the CCI moved to Oranienburg
Oranienburg
Oranienburg is a town in Brandenburg, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Oberhavel.- Geography :Oranienburg is a town located on the banks of the Havel river, 35 km north of the centre of Berlin.- Division of the town :...
, to a large staff building on the southern edge of Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May, 1945. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used as an NKVD...
.
At the beginning of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Eicke was reassigned to the front, to be the commander of the SS-Totenkopf-Standarten and in November 1939, Glücks was promoted to Concentration Camps Inspector. Glücks made few changes, leaving the organizational structure intact as Eicke had set it up. This is another example of the SS practice of dual subordination.
Oswald Pohl
Oswald Pohl was a Nazi official and member of the SS , involved in the mass murders of Jews in concentration camps, the so-called Final Solution.-Early years:...
, head of the WVHA, had been trying to influence the administration of them.
He succeeded, in part, because while camp commandants handled the discipline of SS members under them, they were not actually their superiors. The SS camp employees received their instructions from the CCI (later Amt D), through their SS camp department heads. This is another example of the SS practice of dual subordination.
Except for the admittance and release of concentration camp prisoners, which the SD
Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst , full title Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS, or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. The organization was the first Nazi Party intelligence organization to be established and was often considered a "sister organization" with the...
and Gestapo handled (later as departments of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt or RSHA), the CCI had sole control over the prisoners. Eicke's agency made all decisions regarding internal camp matters. The CCI also coordinated the operations for systematic murder in other SS divisions, for example, the murder of Soviet commissar
Commissar
Commissar is the English transliteration of an official title used in Russia from the time of Peter the Great.The title was used during the Provisional Government for regional heads of administration, but it is mostly associated with a number of Cheka and military functions in Bolshevik and Soviet...
s, Action 14f13
Action 14f13
Action 14f13, also called "Sonderbehandlung 14f13", was a campaign of the Third Reich to murder Nazi concentration camp prisoners. Also called "invalid" or "prisoner euthanasia", the campaign culled the sick, elderly and those deemed no longer fit for work from the rest of the prisoners in a...
, keeping informed about them as well. Auschwitz-Birkenau and Majdanek concentration camps were under the CCI, having been especially built for use as extermination camps in the "Final Solution
Final Solution
The Final Solution was Nazi Germany's plan and execution of the systematic genocide of European Jews during World War II, resulting in the most deadly phase of the Holocaust...
".
Divisions and duties
The Politische AbteilungPolitische Abteilung
The Politische Abteilung , also called the "concentration camp Gestapo", was one of the five departments of a Nazi concentration camp set up by the Concentration Camps Inspectorate to operate the camps...
("political department"), which controlled the lives of prisoners at each camp, became the most important subdivision within the CCI.
Under Eicke's direction, all new concentration camps were organized along the "Dachau model". Principally, this meant the segregation of SS members from among the guards or those working in the commandant's department. Within the commandant's department, the same sections were formed, building a core command structure that was replicated at each camp.
- Commandant / Adjutant (the commandant was also the supervisor of the guards)
- Schutzhaftlagerführer ("head of protective detention camp"; in many camps, also the adjutant)
- Verwaltungsführer ("head of administration")
- Officers of the SicherheitspolizeiSicherheitspolizeiThe Sicherheitspolizei , often abbreviated as SiPo, was a term used in Nazi Germany to describe the state political and criminal investigation security agencies. It was made up by the combined forces of the Gestapo and the Kripo between 1936 and 1939...
(SiPo) made up of (GestapoGestapoThe Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
or Kripo) in the Politische AbteilungPolitische AbteilungThe Politische Abteilung , also called the "concentration camp Gestapo", was one of the five departments of a Nazi concentration camp set up by the Concentration Camps Inspectorate to operate the camps... - Standortarzt (chief physician of the SanitätswesenSanitätswesenThe Sanitätswesen was one of the five divisions of a Nazi concentration and extermination camp organization during the Third Reich...
) - TotenkopfwachsturmbannSS-TotenkopfverbändeSS-Totenkopfverbände , meaning "Death's-Head Units", was the SS organization responsible for administering the Nazi concentration camps for the Third Reich....
("Death's head" guard storm troops, in some cases, backed up by troops from elsewhere, such as Trawniki concentration campTrawniki concentration campTrawniki concentration camp, in the village of Trawniki about 40 km southeast of Lublin in Poland, was an SS labour camp which provided forced labourers for a nearby industrial plant to work in appalling conditions with little food...
Because of the CCI Inspector's personnel policy, which was based largely on personal relationships, there was only a small elite of concentration camp commandants during the entire Nazi era. Unlike the guards, these "experts" were generally not dispatched to the front.
Duties of the schutzhaftlagerführer
The schutzhaftlagerführer (head of the "preventive detention camp") and his adjutant were responsible for the operation of the camp. The schutzhaftlagerführer had to maintain order, take care of daily routines, roll calls and so on. Under him were the rapportführer, the arbeitseinsatzführer and the oberaufseherin (if there was a women's camp). They were directly responsible for order in the camp and they assigned prisoners to the outside work details. The blockführer, each of whom were responsible for one or more barracks, were subordinate to them.The arbeitseinsatzführer (head of "work details") was responsible for prisoner work details, both at the camp and outside and making use of professional skills and abilities. The arbeitseinsatzführer had every prisoner in the camp listed in a card file by profession and skill.
Subordinate to him, was the arbeitsdienstführer (an SS unterführer) who was responsible for assembling and superivsing the "internal command", the prisoner functionaries. The blockführer ("block" or "barracks" leader) identified candidates from the ranks of prisoners to become the blockälteste" ("barracks elder") and the stubenälteste" ("room elder"). Prisoner functionaries were used by the SS as auxiliary police in a "divide-and-conquer strategy".
Duties of the political department
The Politische AbteilungPolitische Abteilung
The Politische Abteilung , also called the "concentration camp Gestapo", was one of the five departments of a Nazi concentration camp set up by the Concentration Camps Inspectorate to operate the camps...
was responsible for records about prisoners, their initial registration, release, transfer, police comments about the death or escape of a prisoner, investigations (which most often involved torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
or threats, and keeping prisoner card files up to date. The head of the political department was always an officer from the Gestapo, generally an officer from the Kriminalpolizei
Kriminalpolizei
is the standard term for the criminal investigation agency within the police forces of Germany, Austria and the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland. In Nazi Germany during 1936, the Kripo became the Criminal Police Department for the entire Reich...
("criminal police"). He was subordinate to the local Gestapo headquarters, but often received instructions and orders from the RSHA
RSHA
The RSHA, or Reichssicherheitshauptamt was an organization subordinate to Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacities as Chef der Deutschen Polizei and Reichsführer-SS...
, generally the office involved with matters related to "protective custody". For example, execution orders went directly from the RSHA office to the Politische Abteilung and the RSHA decreed individual admissions and release of protective custody prisoners.
As a Gestapo officer, the head of the political department reported to the RSHA or the local Gestapo headquarters. He was subordinate to them, as was his deputy. The other members of the department, however, as members of the Waffen-SS
Waffen-SS
The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...
, were subordinate to the Gestapo regarding technical and functional matters, but otherwise belonged to the stabskompanie (staff troops) so that in terms of discipline, they were subject to the camp commandant.
Duties of the maintenance department
The maintenance department was responsible for housing, food, clothing and remuneration of the command staff and guards, as well as for housing, feeding and clothing the prisoners. It was the chief accounting clerk in a commercial enterprise, responsible for the verification of all material goods and their current status and the management and upkeep of its real property. Internal accounts were prepared as requested by Amt D IVSS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt
The SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt was responsible for managing the finances, supply systems and business projects for the Allgemeine-SS...
, first under Glücks, then Gerhard Mauer. An important office of this department was the Gefangeneneigentumsverwaltung, the "prisoners' property management", which was responsible for holding all the personal property brought to the camps by the prisoners, for sorting, bundling and storing the prisoners' money, valuables, "civilian" clothing and so on. This department was held responsible for the assets; embezzlement or misappropriation was disciplined and could be held criminally liable.
Duties of the chief physician
The head of the SanitätswesenSanitätswesen
The Sanitätswesen was one of the five divisions of a Nazi concentration and extermination camp organization during the Third Reich...
was in charge of several camp doctors, including dentists, who were subordinate to him. They had several areas of responsibility. The "troops doctor" was responsible for the medical care of the SS guards. The rest of the camp doctors divided up the remaining areas of the camp (men's camp, women's camp, etc.), according to the duty roster. The medical care of prisoners was secondary to their main tasks. Of primary importance were camp hygiene to prevent disease and maintaining prisoners' capacity to work. To this end, they availed themselves of prisoners who were doctors and nurses to serve as auxiliary staff in the infirmary. Direct contact with prisoners as patients was rare.
In addition, camp doctors had different non-medical or pseudo-medical tasks, such as selektions at arriving transports with new prisoners and in the infirmary, supervision of gassing procedures
Gas chamber
A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. The most commonly used poisonous agent is hydrogen cyanide; carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide have also been used...
, supervision of the removal of dental gold from dead prisoners' mouths, certification of death after executions, especially murders committed by the camp Gestapo, performing abortions and sterilizations on prisoners, as well as taking part in pseudo-scientific human experiments
Nazi human experimentation
Nazi human experimentation was a series of medical experiments on large numbers of prisoners by the Nazi German regime in its concentration camps mainly in the early 1940s, during World War II and the Holocaust. Prisoners were coerced into participating: they did not willingly volunteer and there...
.
Management
In a study, historian Karin Orth established that the management level at the concentration camps (commandants and division heads) repeatedly were recruited from a small group of SS members who also, during the course of the war, were never ordered to the front.Excluding the approximately 110 camp doctors, who were subject to a bit more fluctuation, this group numbered about 207 men and a few women. Orth showed numerous similarities within this group, including social background, path of life, year of birth (around 1902), the date they joined the SS and their political development. She describes it as a real network of concentration camp SS.
Size of the force
In January 1945, there were 37,674 men and 3,508 women working as concentration camp guards.Rotation
Job rotation between concentration camps and the military units of the SS is estimated to have involved at least 10,000 SS men and some historians estimate the number to have been 60,000. This exchange of staff refutes the claim that the Waffen-SS had no connections with the SS guards of the concentration camps.Procedures for punishing violations
The CCI set uniform guidelines for the punishment of violations, enabling Himmler to insist, for purposes of Nazi propagandaNazi propaganda
Propaganda, the coordinated attempt to influence public opinion through the use of media, was skillfully used by the NSDAP in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's leadership of Germany...
, that a proper procedure was in place for the punishment of violations at concentration camps. Adherence to the guidelines was rare, however. Dachau was the first systematically organized concentration camp of the National Socialists. The regimentation of concentration camp order and resulting penalties were later extended to all SS concentration camps. Since Dachau was set up as the model camp, other camps' procedure for punishing violations followed the example of Dachau.
The punishment of a violation began with the "violations report". A prisoner could be punished for violations related to camp order, such as missing a button on his jacket, for a dish that wasn't washed well enough. The SS man noted the prisoner number on the violations report. Under Egon Zill
Egon Zill
Egon Zill was a German Schutzstaffel Sturmbannführer and concentration camp commandant....
, for example, prisoner functionaries, such as the Lagerälteste, were instructed to deliver some 30-40 violations daily to the SS. If a group of prisoners collectively violated a camp regulation, the entire group would have to kneel and then be beaten, for example. If they didn't call the name of any individual prisoner, then all the names would be noted on the violations report. Work crews were searched before and after work for contraband, such as a cigarette butt. The penalty for smaller things was corporal punishment
Corporal punishment
Corporal punishment is a form of physical punishment that involves the deliberate infliction of pain as retribution for an offence, or for the purpose of disciplining or reforming a wrongdoer, or to deter attitudes or behaviour deemed unacceptable...
or excessive exercise. A more serious violation, such as sabotage or theft could be merit a "special treatment
Sonderbehandlung
Sonderbehandlung is a German noun meaning special treatment in English, also existing as a verb: sonderbehandeln . While it can refer to any sort of preferential treatment, it is known primarily as a euphemism used by Nazi functionaries and the SS for murder...
". After a violation report, the prisoner had to wait in limbo while the report was processed before finding out what his punishment would be, sometimes resulting in weeks or months of uncertainty.
If a citation came back, the prisoner had to report for roll call and wait. The hearing took place in the Jourhaus
Jourhaus
Jourhaus was the name of the entrance building to the prisoners' camp at Dachau and Gusen concentration camps. It housed administrative and command offices and was the location for disciplinary hearings of prisoners.- The Dachau Jourhaus :...
. If the prisoner denied his guilt, he was often accused of lying, which meant additional flogging. In severe cases, prisoners were interrogated in the "Bunker" until they confessed. At the end, came the verdict and the punishment, for example "tree", or "twenty-five
Corporal punishment
Corporal punishment is a form of physical punishment that involves the deliberate infliction of pain as retribution for an offence, or for the purpose of disciplining or reforming a wrongdoer, or to deter attitudes or behaviour deemed unacceptable...
" (see photo, above).
The camp commandant had to sign off on the sentence worked out by the interrogation officer. In cases such as corporal punishment, the Inspector in Oranienburg had to approve the punishment. An SS camp doctor had to assess the health of the prisoner, but medical objections were rare. The prisoner had to go to before the infirmary and undress. The SS doctor walked through the rows of prisoners and the infirmary clerk recorded the opinion, "fit".
A few days later, the sentence was carried out. The particular prisoners had to report for punishment and a functionary prisoner had to carry out the punishment. An SS guard unit attended the procedure.
The rules stipulated that the following people were involved in carrying out punishment:
- the SS man or prisoner functionary who had filed the punishment report,
- the interrogation officer,
- the commandant,
- an SS doctor,
- an infirmary clerk,
- a unit of SS guards,
- prisoner functionaries, who had to carry out the sentence,
- the Inspector of the CCI,
- in some cases, Himmler himself.
Nazi propaganda
Himmler cited the protracted procedure as alleged proof that SS concentration camps were absolutely run as orderly prisons that safeguarded against abuse.Cruelty, sadistic things, as are often stated in the foreign press, are impossible there. First, only the Inspector of the entire [SS] camp [system] can impose punishment, not even the camp commandant; second, the punishment is carried out by a company of guards so that there is always a platoon, 20-24 people are there; finally there is a doctor at the punishment, and a secretary. And so, you can not have more rigor.
—Speech by Himmler WehrmachtWehrmachtThe Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
officers, 1937.
Breach of their own rules
The cumbersome, bureaucratic procedure obscured the trail of accountability. The complexity of the penal procedure did not lead to a reduction of violations. The "Penalty CatalogLagerordnung
The Lagerordnung was the "Disciplinary and Penal Code", first written for Dachau concentration camp, which became the uniform code at all SS concentration camps in the Third Reich on January 1, 1934. Also known as the Strafkatalog , it detailed the regulations for prisoners...
" was unconstrained. Prisoners were often beaten without any violations procedure or they were killed by the punishment itself. Compliance with the penal procedure was not a given. For example, Lagerführer
Lagerführer
Lagerführer was a paramilitary title of the SS, specific to the Totenkopfverbande . A Lagerführer was the head SS officer assigned to a particular Concentration Camp, serving as the commander of the said camp.The term Lagerführer was distinct and separate from the position of Kommondant...
Egon Zill
Egon Zill
Egon Zill was a German Schutzstaffel Sturmbannführer and concentration camp commandant....
once ordered two men to implement the number of blows in a particular punishment. Although this doubled the number of blows given to the prisoner, the total was counted just once.
See also
- Kapo (concentration camp)Kapo (concentration camp)A kapo was a prisoner who worked inside German Nazi concentration camps during World War II in any of certain lower administrative positions. The official Nazi word was Funktionshäftling, or "prisoner functionary", but the Nazis commonly referred to them as kapos.- Etymology :The origin of "kapo"...
- Nazi concentration camp badgesNazi concentration camp badgesNazi concentration camp badges, primarily triangles, were part of the system of identification in Nazi camps. They were used in the concentration camps in the Nazi-occupied countries to identify the reason the prisoners had been placed there. The triangles were made of fabric and were sewn on...
about the hierarchy and stigma of groups of prisoners, vis-à-vis guards - Extermination camp
- Extermination through labor
- Glossary of Nazi Germany
- List of Nazi Party leaders and officials
- List of SS personnel
Sources
- Karin Orth, Das System der nationalsozialistischen Konzentrationslager. Eine politische Organisationsgeschichte. Hamburg Edition, Hamburg, (1999) ISBN 3930908522
- Karin Orth, Die Konzentrationslager-SS, dtv, Munich, (2004) ISBN 3423340851
- Johannes Tuchel, Konzentrationslager. Organisationsgeschichte und Funktion der „Inspektion der Konzentrationslager“ 1934-1938, Oldenbourg, (1991) ISBN 3764619023 and Die Inspektion der Konzentrationslager 1938-1945. Das System des Terrors. Edition Hentrich, Berlin, (1994) ISBN 3894681586
- Eugen KogonEugen KogonEugen Kogon was a historian and a survivor of the Holocaust. A well-known Christian opponent of the Nazi Party, he was arrested more than once and spent six years at Buchenwald concentration camp. Kogon was known in Germany as a journalist, sociologist, political scientist, author and politician...
, Der SS-Staat. Das System der deutschen Konzentrationslager, Alber, Munich (1946), republished by Heyne, Munich, (1995) ISBN 3-453-02978-X - Max Williams, Reinhard Heydrich: The Biography: Volumes 1, Ulric Publishing, (2003) ISBN 0-9537577-5-7.
- Stanislav Zámečník, Das war Dachau, Comité International de DachauInternational concentration camp committeesInternational concentration camp committees are organizations composed of former inmates of the various Nazi concentration camps, formed at various times, primarily after the Second World War...
, Luxemburg, (2002) ISBN 2-87996-948-4