KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps

by Nikolaus Wachsmann

  248. RSHA, Meldung staatspolizeilicher Ereignisse, September 17, 1941, in Boberach, Regimekritik, doc. rk584; Meldungen aus Frankreich, March 5, 1943, ibid., doc. rk 1059; Parteikanzlei, Auszüge aus Berichten der Gauleitungen et al., May 8, 1943, in Kulka and Jäckel, Juden, doc. 3594.

  249. NAL, FO 371/34523–005, Press Reading Bureau Stockholm to Political Intelligence Department London, July 22, 1943.

  250. Quotes in Höss to Glücks, July 12, 1940, cited in Steinbacher, “Musterstadt,” 200; S. Kłodziński to T. Lasocka-Estreicher, November 19, 1942, in Świebocki, Resistance, 334–35. See also ibid., 145–53, 171–90.

  251. Świebocki, Resistance, 272–92.

  252. For Polish underground reports on the extermination of Jews in Auschwitz and Majdanek, see Friedrich, “Judenmord,” 113–17.

  253. Breitman, Secrets, 88–89, 112–13.

  254. Quotes in NAL, HW 16/66, “II. Concentration Camps,” November 27, 1942. See also ibid., HW 16/6, Part 2, Bl. 534–35: report on German police, September 26, 1942. More generally, see ibid., HW 16/11; ibid., HW 16/17–19. Some decoded statistics of KL prisoner numbers have been compiled in an invaluable article; Schulte, “‘London.’”

  255. For the last point, see Breitmann, Secrets, 113.

  256. Breitman et al., U.S. Intelligence, 31–32.

  257. NAL, FO 371/34523–005, Press Reading Bureau Stockholm to Political Intelligence Department London, July 22, 1943; ibid., FO 371/34389–0008, Berne to Foreign Office, October 6, 1943.

  258. “German Brutality in Prison Camp,” The Times, June 11, 1941, 3; Świebocki, Resistance, 304–14; Breitman, Secrets, 116–21, 231; Gilbert, Auschwitz, 51–52, 92; Laqueur, Secret, 200. More generally, see Fleming, Auschwitz. For another early account of Auschwitz, published by the Polish underground in December 1942 (English translation 1944), see Kunert, Auschwitz.

  259. Hansard, December 17, 1942, vol. 385, cc2082–7; Breitman, Secrets, 229–31; Laqueur, Secret, 169, 196, 201–204; Van Pelt, Case, 131–34.

  260. Breitman et al., Intelligence, 33–37.

  261. Tyas, “Intelligence,” 12; Neitzel, Abgehört, 283.

  262. “Bericht von Czesław Mordowicz,” quote on 302–303; Gilbert, Auschwitz, 231–32.

  263. Świebocki, Resistance, 224–27, 298–99, 315–19; idem, London, 25–46, 57–67, 75–76; Vrba, Forgive. For the unabridged report, see “Bericht Vrba.” More generally on the U.S. media and the Holocaust, see Lipstadt, Beyond Belief.

  264. Wiesel, All Rivers, 74.

  265. Westermann, “Royal Air Force”; Gilbert, Auschwitz, 236–37, 245–48.

  266. Neufeld, “Introduction,” 8–9; Feingold, “Bombing”; Gilbert, Auschwitz, 301–306; Mahoney, “American.” For the role of the USSR, see Herf, “Nazi Extermination Camps”; Orbach and Solonin, “Indifference.”

  267. Neufeld, “Introduction.” See also Weinberg, “Allies”; Gilbert, Auschwitz, 307; Mahoney, “American,” 440–41; Overy, Bombing War, passim; Horwitz, Shadow, 115–16; APMO, Proces Höss, Hd 6, Bl. 51–62: O. Wolken, “Chronik des Lagers Auschwitz II,” n.d. (c. spring 1945), Bl. 58–59.

  268. Conway, “Augenzeugenberichte,” 279. For the debate as to whether Jewish leaders in Hungary, who knew of the Vrba-Wetzler report, should have done more to warn Hungarian Jews, see idem, “Vrba-Wetzler report”; Bauer, “Anmerkungen.”

  269. Gallup, Poll, 472.

  270. Dörner, Die Deutschen, 204, 209, 415; Kempowski, Haben, 123.

  271. For knowledge of Allied reports in the KL, DaA, 9438, A. Hübsch, “Insel des Standrechts” (1961), 246; Zámečník, “Aufzeichnungen,” 240.

  10. Impossible Choices

      1. Haulot, “Lagertagebuch,” 183.

      2. For example, see Lévy-Hass, Vielleicht, 54–57.

      3. Brzezicki et al., “Funktionshäftlinge,” 236; Adler, “Selbstverwaltung,” 228.

      4. Jureit and Orth, Überlebensgeschichten, 190–91, quote on 87; Cohen, Human, 281; Wagner, Produktion, 458; Adler, “Selbstverwaltung,” 229–30. For the wording, see the description of the state of nature in T. Hobbes, The Leviathan (London, 1651).

      5. Kupfer-Koberwitz, Häftling, 302–305, quote on 273; Langbein, Menschen, 160; Zámečník, Dachau, 147–48.

      6. For a discussion of the “moral life in the concentration camps,” see Todorov, Facing.

      7. J. Pogonowski to his family, September 25, 1942, in Piper, Briefe, quote on 23–24.

      8. Ibid., quote on 24.

      9. For the former view, see Sofsky, “Grenze,” 1159. For the latter view, see text below and Aharony, “Arendt.”

    10. Rózsa, “Solange,” 227.

    11. Świebocki, Resistance, quote on 14; Strebel, Ravensbrück, 530; Zámečník, Dachau, 320; Tuchel, “Möglichkeiten,” 224.

    12. For background, see Langbein, Widerstand, 57–58; Pingel, Häftlinge, 20; Tuchel, “Selbstbehauptung,” 939; Browning, Survival, 297; Van Pelt, “Resistance”; Świebocki, Resistance, 14–17; Peukert, Inside, 81–85; Kershaw, Nazi Dictatorship, 183–217.

    13. Pollak, Grenzen, quote on 47; Browning, Survival, 297.

    14. Antelme, Menschengeschlecht, 65; Fröbe, “Exkurs.”

    15. Levi, If, 46–47. More generally, drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, see Suderland, Territorien.

    16. Erpel, “Trauma,” 129–31.

    17. Delbo, Auschwitz, 187–88; Todorov, Facing, 97–103, 107–108; SMAB, Forbidden Art; Blatter and Milton, Art, 142, 187. By no means all intellectual prisoners found solace in the life of the mind; Améry, Jenseits, 15–36.

    18. Adler, Theresienstadt.

    19. “Bericht Tabeau,” 112.

    20. Levi, “Intellectual,” 117. For the term “selfhood,” see Brubaker and Cooper, “‘Identity,’” 7 (my thanks to Anna Hájková for drawing this article to my attention).

    21. Pingel, “Social life.” See also idem, “Destruction,” 172.

    22. Wiesel, Rivers, 80–81.

    23. For example, see Gerlach and Aly, Kapitel, 398.

    24. On parent-child relationships, see Shik, “Mother-Daughter,” 115, 122; Sonnino, Nacht, 86–87; Buser, Überleben, 273–75.

    25. Jureit and Orth, Überlebensgeschichten, 65; Luchterhand, “Prisoner.”

    26. Świebocki, Resistance, 44–45; Goldstein et al., Individuelles, 45; Pollak, Grenzen, 170.

    27. Buber-Neumann, Milena, 22, 273, 284, 289, quote on 20; Buber, Dictators, 213, 238–39, 277–78, 293–94, 309. See also Darowska, Widerstand.

    28. Rózsa, “Solange,” quotes on 212; Ellger, Zwangsarbeit, 279–89.

    29. For one example, see OdT, vol. 1, 246.

    30. Levi, If, 63, 144, 161, 393, quote on 144; Shik, “Weibliche Erfahrung,” 113–17.

    31. Kolb, Bergen-Belsen, quote on 258; Fröbe, “Arbeit,” quote on 243; Suderland, Extremfall, 308–15.

    32. Pollak, Grenzen, 50.

    33. Walter, “Kinder,” 190; Langbein, Menschen, 102.

    34. Todorov, Facing, 82; Shik, “Weibliche Erfahrung,” 115. For the term “groupness,” and its definition, see Brubaker and Cooper, “‘Identity,’” 19–21.

    35. Ryn and Kłodziński, “Grenze,” quote on 127.

    36. Wiesel, Nacht, quote on 153; idem, Rivers, 92–95.

    37. Buber, Dictators, 294.

    38. For pioneering scholarship on this aspect, see Pingel, Häftlinge; Pollak, Grenzen, esp. 54, 105.

    39. Apel, Frauen, 203, 213, 309; Strebel, Ravensbrück, 103–104, 543–44, 550; Rolnikaite, Tagebuch, 214–15; Gilbert, Music, 107–15; Morsch, Sachsenhausen-Liederbuch.

    40. Mankowitz, Life, 32–37.

    41. See also Pingel, Häftlinge.

    42. StAMü, StA Nr. 34588/1, Bl. 210–12: Vernehmung H. Stöhr, July 21, 1956; Langbein, Widerstand, 94.
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    43. Quote in Poller, Arztschreiber, 75.

    44. Hartewig, “Wolf,” quotes on 947; Langbein, Widerstand, 128–30.

    45. Niethammer, Antifaschismus, 51–55, 57, 284, 298–99, 519, quotes on 85 (Busse) and 426 (Bartel); Hackett, Buchenwald, quote (Žák) on 298; Wagner, Produktion, 401–402. For other camps, see Buggeln, Arbeit, 125; Heger, Männer, 146.

    46. Buber, Dictators, 195, quote on 257; Langbein, Widerstand, 117–23, 130–31, 146; Niethammer, Antifaschismus, 268, 288, 293, 305; Kaienburg, “‘Freundschaft?,’” 30–31; Röll, Sozialdemokraten, 231–44.

    47. Wiesel, Rivers, 82–83.

    48. Rahe, “Bedeutung,” 1009, 1014, 1016.

    49. Świebocki, Resistance, 339; Strebel, Ravensbrück, 549–50; Rahe, “Bedeutung,” 1018; Lanckorońska, Michelangelo, 238.

    50. Obenaus, “Kampf,” 860; Rahe, “Bedeutung,” 1010, 1015; Jaiser, “Sexualität,” 130–31; Waxman, Writing, 69–70.

    51. Améry, Jenseits, 27–28; Levi, “Intellectual,” 118. For the religious thought of orthodox Jews during World War II, see Greenberg, “Introduction.”

    52. Escher, “Geistliche,” 302–305, 309–10; Gruner, Verurteilt, 88; JVL, JAO, Review of Proceedings, United States v. Weiss, n.d. (1946), 63.

    53. Rahe, “Bedeutung,” 1011; Wagner, IG Auschwitz, 135–36; Gutterman, Bridge, 185–86.

    54. Lenard, “Flucht,” quote on 157; WL, P.III.h. No. 573, A. Lehmann, “Das Lager Vught,” n.d., p. 22.

    55. Levi, If, 135–36, quote in 136.

    56. OdT, vol. 6, 499; Greenberg et al., Wrestling, 58–60.

    57. Kautsky, Teufel, 153–59, quote on 194; Goldstein et al., Individuelles, 51; Raim, Dachauer, 262–63; Nomberg-Przytyk, Auschwitz, 19; Levi, If, 51, 55, 74; idem, “Communicating,” 78.

    58. Lenard, “Flucht,” quote on 158; Glicksman, “Social,” 948.

    59. Quote in LaB, B Rep 058, Nr. 3850, Bl. 71–72: Zeugenaussage Herbert F., May 10, 1947. See also Langbein, Menschen, 96–98; Vaisman, Auschwitz, 16–17; BoA, testimony of I. Rosenwasser, August 22, 1946; Kautsky, Teufel, 193–95.

    60. Buggeln, Arbeit, 371, quote on 267.

    61. Warmbold, Lagersprache, 275; Kautsky, Teufel, 195.

    62. Adler et al., Auschwitz, 102; Langbein, Widerstand, 195. For caring in the camps, see also Todorov, Facing, 84, 118.

    63. Strebel, Ravensbrück, 553–54.

    64. BoA, testimony of G. Kaldore, August 31, 1946.

    65. Levi, If, 44. The language of the largest prisoner group normally gained some dominance inside different barracks and camps; Langbein, Menschen, 96; Raim, Dachauer, 252. For the figures, see NMGB, Buchenwald, 707; BArchB, NS 4/Bu 143, Schutzhaftlager-Rapport, April 15, 1944.

    66. For social life in Nazi captivity more generally, see Hájková, “Prisoner Society.”

    67. Kosmala, “Häftlinge,” 101, 105; Daxelmüller, “Kulturelle,” 989–90.

    68. Rózsa, “Solange,” 113–14, 146, 176.

    69. Gilbert, Music, 151–58, quote on 152. For a collection of Jewish songs, see Kaczerginski, Lider.

    70. Kosmala, “Häftlinge,” 109–11.

    71. OdT, vol. 1, 95.

    72. Langbein, Widerstand, 167–69; Golczewski, “Kollaboration”; Zarusky, “‘Russen,’” 125, 128–29. The Camp SS generally referred to Soviet citizens as “Russians,” though Ukrainian prisoners occasionally wore a “U” on their triangle, not an “R” (Tillion, Ravensbrück, 218). POWs deported to the KL from 1941 were the exception, as they were often classified as “Soviet Prisoners of War.”

    73. Suderland, Extremfall, 316. See also Tillion, Ravensbrück, 218; Rovan, Geschichten, 85.

    74. Buggeln, Arbeit, 500; Wagner, Produktion, 399; AdsD, KE, E. Büge, Bericht, n.d. (1945–46), 136–37.

    75. Nansen, Day, 411, 449, 517, quotes on 430, 432.

    76. Siedlecki et al., Auschwitz, 4.

    77. See also Debski, Battlefield, 195–203.

    78. Nansen, Day, quote on 504; Langbein, Widerstand, 105–106, 109; Buber, Dictators, 308; Vermehren, Reise, 202–203.

    79. Michel, Dora, 76; Sellier, Dora, 110; Lanckorońska, Michelangelo, 243–44.

    80. Kielar, Anus Mundi, quote on 269; Langbein, Widerstand, 154.

    81. AdsD, KE, E. Büge, Bericht, n.d. (1945–46), 204; BArchB, NS 3/426, Bl. 16: WVHA to LK, January 20, 1943. In spring 1944, the RSHA ordered that female German prisoners should no longer be sent to the camp on account of its “high mortality rate”; USHMM, RG-11.001M.05, reel 75, folder 8, RSHA to WVHA, April 12, 1944.

    82. Broszat, Kommandant, 156. See also Wagner, Produktion, 398; BArchB, NS 3/426, Bl. 107: WVHA to LK, July 14, 1943 (referring to female prisoners).

    83. Buber, Dictators, 297.

    84. Hájková, “Prisoner Society,” chapter 2; Pingel, Häftlinge, 180; OdT, vol. 3, 320 (with a slightly erroneous calculation); Freund, Toten, 403.

    85. Quotes in Warmbold, Lagersprache, 287; Vrba, “Warnung,” 14. See also Levi, “Grey Zone,” 24–25; idem, If, 34; Obenaus, “Kampf,” 850–51; Klüger, weiter, 113; Sofsky, Ordnung, 171.

    86. Langbein, Menschen, 90–91; Levi, If, 126.

    87. On the historiography, see Hansen and Nowak, “Über Leben.”

    88. Wesołowska, Wörter, 85, 155–91, quotes on 164, 233, 235, 236; Warmbold, Lagersprache, 122–32.

    89. Levi, “Communicating,” 75.

    90. Maršálek, Mauthausen, 349.

    91. Warmbold, Lagersprache, 318.

    92. Quotes in Warmbold, Lagersprache, 132, 135; Maršálek, Mauthausen, 350; Wesołowska, Wörter, 234; Bárta, “Tagebuch,” 64.

    93. Rousset, Kingdom, quote on 172; Warmbold, Lagersprache, 317.

    94. Warmbold, Lagersprache, 257, 262–71, quote on 264; Zámečník, “Aufzeichnungen,” quote on 204; Kogon, Theory, 239, quote on 72; Frankl, Ja, 54, 76–78; Unger, “Encounter,” 280.

    95. Kielar, Anus Mundi, 154–60, 225–27, 233–34, 244, 264, 278, 351, 366–73.

    96. Langbein, Menschen, 151.

    97. OdT, vol. 4, 495.

    98. Maršálek, Mauthausen, 47; Wagner, Produktion, 460; Langbein, Menschen, 155–56; Hájková, “Prisoner Society,” 232.

    99. Gilbert, Music, 130–32, 159–60, 175–76; Fackler, “‘Lagers Stimme,’” 485–87, 499.

  100. Rost, Goethe, 25, 223, 244, quote on 44; the diary was edited before publication. See also Laqueur, Schreiben, 134–39; Seela, Bücher, 79–91.

  101. Kielar, Anus Mundi, 352–54; Kogon, Theory, 133–34; Wagner, Produktion, 461; text above, chapter 3.

  102. Sommer, KZ-Bordell, 134; Langbein, Menschen, 328; BArchB, NS 3/426, Bl. 69: WVHA to LK, May 22, 1943.

  103. Nansen, Day, 477; Borowski, This Way, 83–84; Pingel, Häftlinge, 180.

  104. Bárta, “Tagebuch,” 63.

  105. BoA, testimony (in German) of I. Rosenwasser, August 22, 1946.

  106. Figures in Hördler, “Ordnung,” 161; chapter 3, above.

  107. OdT, vol. 5, 185, 213, 287; Freund, “Mauthausen,” 271; Langbein, Widerstand, 101; Strzelecka and Setkiewicz, “Construction,” 65; Langbein, Menschen, 174, 181.

  108. Freund, Toten, 406–407; Brzezicki et al., “Funktionshäftlinge,” 234.

  109. Quote in Renouard, Hölle, 46.

  110. Strebel, Ravensbrück, 235; Selbmann, Alternative, 326; Wagner, IG Auschwitz, 114.

  111. Kogon, Theory, 55; Hackett, Buchenwald, 117–20; Piper, “Exploitation,” 78–79; Sofsky, Ordnung, 155–56.

  112. Wagner, Produktion, 348; StANü, EE by K. Roeder, February 20, 1947, ND: NO-2122.

  113. Quote in K. Keim, “Bericht,” spring 1945, in Niethammer, Antifaschismus, 220. See also Kogon, Theory, 58–59; Wagner, Produktion, 434; Strebel, “Arm,” 37, 46.

>   114. JVL, JAO, Review of Proceedings, United States v. Weiss, n.d. (1946), quote on 72; Ambach and Köhler, Lublin-Majdanek, 150, 155, 178–79, 190, 204; LK Gross-Rosen, Exekution der Transportjüdin Scheer, November 13, 1944, in Tuchel, Inspektion, 111.

  115. JVL, DJAO, United States v. Becker, RaR, n.d. (1947), 30–31.

  116. For Kapos replaced by SS men, see BArchB, NS 4/Na 9, Bl. 113: Kommandanturbefehl, June 13, 1942.

  117. Rousset, Kingdom, quote on 134; WL, P.III.h. No. 198, F. Pagel, “Eines der Vielen Tausende[n] von Schicksalen,” autumn 1955, p. 9; BoA, interview A. Kimmelmann, August 27, 1946; Kautsky, Teufel, 258–60; Maršálek, Mauthausen, 69; DaA, Nr. 7566, K. Schecher, “Rückblick auf Dachau,” n.d., 232; Buggeln, Arbeit, 27, 490, 532; Kupfer-Koberwitz, Tagebücher, 466, 468, 472–73; Wagner, IG Auschwitz, 113.

  118. Paserman, “Bericht,” 149.

  119. OdT, vol. 1, 222; Rousset, Kingdom, 133; Sellier, Dora, 152; Wagner, IG Auschwitz, 127; Kielar, Anus Mundi, 195.

  120. Wolf, “Judgement,” quote on 630; Jansen, “Zwangsarbeit,” 91; LaB, B Rep 058, Nr. 3850, Bl. 153–60: Schwurgericht Berlin, Urteil, March 1, 1948, Bl. 155; NARA, M-1079, roll 5, Bl. 454–65: testimony Willi Z., June 17, 1947.

  121. Quote in APMO, Proces Maurer, 10a, Bl. 132: KL Auschwitz, Vernehmungsniederschrift, November 26, 1943. On Kalvo (also spelled Calvo), see also Czech, Kalendarium, 496; ITS, doc. 496950#1, KL Auschwitz, Häftlingspersonalbogen, n.d. (1943); Recanati, Memorial Book, 104. It is possible that the incident refers to another prisoner, called Juda Kalvo (or Calvo), who had arrived on the same transport; ITS, doc. 505749#1, KL Auschwitz, Vernehmungsniederschrift, November 26, 1943.

  122. Shik, “Sexual Abuse”; Heger, Männer, 58, 63–64, 66, 79; Jaiser, “Sexualität,” 128; Buser, Überleben, 193–94. More generally, see Sommer, KZ-Bordell, 201; Wagner, Produktion, 412; Zinn, “Homophobie,” 89–90; Hájková, “Barter.”

  123. Frister, Mütze, 295–300; APMO, Proces Höss, Hd 6, Bl. 129–312: Vernehmung O. Wolken, April 17–20, 1945, Bl. 215–16; Buser, Überleben, 194–95.

  124. Levi, If, 113–14; Sofsky, Ordnung, 173–74; Maršálek, Mauthausen, 53.

  125. LG Frankfurt, Urteil, June 14, 1968, JNV, vol. 29, 448–49, 484; Wagner, IG Auschwitz, 121–22.