The Theory and Practice of Hell (16 page)

The initial phase of construction ended with the completion of the electrically charged wire enclosure. At Buchenwald the barbed-wire fence was something over two miles long, en closing about one hundred acres, of which the roll-call area accounted for not quite four acres. The entire area within the guard line, including the work areas outside the fence, amounted to about three-quarters of a square mile.

Chapter Five

THE ORGANIZATION OF THE CAMPS

The SS station complement at each camp was broken down into three sections—Section I: Headquarters; Section II: Headquarters Staff; Section III: Camp Administration. In ad dition there were the actual SS troops that furnished the guard details.

At the head of the camp was the Commandant with his im mediate staff. He did not necessarily hold high rank. Smaller camps were even corrffnanded by SS noncoms. In the larger ones the Commandant was at least a captain, generally a major or lieutenant-colonel in the SS. He had complete authority over the camp, within the limits of the directives issued by the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office, to which he was responsible. His adjutant put his orders into effect and took care of all communication with higher and lower echelons.

The Administrative Officer was subordinate to the Com mandant and was responsible for all matters of camp ad ministration. His was an office of great importance, and much depended on his favor. In the larger camps he had a large noncommissioned staff.

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Direct command power over the prisoners as such was wielded by the Officer-in-Charge (
Lagerfuhrer
), of whom up to three were authorized. They rotated in duty every twenty-four hours. It was they who instituted all measures deemed necessary by the SS. Nominally they were responsible to the Commandant. Actually they were absolute overlords of the prisoners.

The most important connecting links between the Officers-in-Charge and the camp itself were the Roll Call Officers, through whose offices all prisoner affairs passed. There were generally two of them, likewise rotating in duty day by day.

Subordinate to the Roll Call Officers were the Block Leaders. Aside from a few exceptions, soon removed as un suitable, these men were hardened bullies and brutes and they were in charge of the individual prisoner barracks. In rank they ranged from SS corporal to technical sergeant. The fact that they were responsible to their superiors did not mean that they were under any restraint. On the contrary, they were con stantly encouraged to proceed against the prisoners as severely as possible. They lived outside the compound but were likely to show up in a barracks at any hour of the day or night, often remaining among the prisoners, alone or in groups, for hours at a time. In their presence the prisoners scarcely dared breathe.

No camp but had fiends among these Block Leaders, the memory of whom is forever graven in the minds of thousands of inmates. Almost invariably they became better known by some nickname than by their real names. It was from the ranks of the Block Leaders that Master Sergeant Sommer, the “ Hangman of Buchenwald,” who for years was in charge of the camp prison, rose to heights of infamy. He was fond of wearing black gloves. Whenever he entered the camp a wave of fear preceded him.

On an equal footing with the Block Leaders were the Detail Leaders, who were in charge of the labor details. They too had the power of life and death over the prisoners.

Organization and direction of all camp labor was in the hands of the Labor Service Officer, over whom was placed, later in the war, a Manpower Utilization Officer. Any prisoner reported by Block or Detail Leaders, or attracting at tention for the most trifling reasons, could be transferred by

T H E T H E O R Y A N D P R A C T IC E O F H E L L
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the Labor Service Officer to working conditions that might well cost the prisoner his health, if not his life. The Labor Ser vice and Manpower Utilization Officers also made up the shipments scheduled for the construction of new camps or other outside labor details. These shipments were the object of particular dread.

The Gestapo was represented in camp by a Political Depart

ment, which was to some extent independent of camp headquarters. In fact, there was frequent friction between the two, growing mainly from the desire of the camp authorities for complete autonomy. They were loath to tolerate the slightest interference with their prerogatives, lest the huge profits arising from the ever-present corruption were un covered, endangered, or shared. All admissions and discharges, as well as all communications with the Gestapo, were channeled through the Political Department.

Interrogations by the Political Department constituted an extreme form of mental torment, for everything having to do with the Gestapo was shrouded in terror deepened by mystery. Prisoners often disappeared without a trace after having been summoned to the Political Department. Such a summons was quite likely to induce a heart attack in a prisoner, when sud denly announced over the public-address system.

Before the war the SS Death-Head Units stationed at a given camp frequently provided Block and Detail Leaders as well as guard details. The latter were organized in special guard battalions. After 1939 Block and Detail Leaders became part of the permanent station complement. The troops, now called
Waffen
SS, were entirely independent, merely furnishing guards for the towers and labor details. At times, especially during the war, these troops increased in number to two regiments per camp, some six thousand men. Barracks for them were built by the prisoners. Originally the guard battalions consisted only of Germans, but in the course of time many foreign nationals were recruited, especially Croats and Ukrainians. Generally speaking, these foreigners fired their weapons only when ordered to do so. Their attitude toward the prisoners was not outspokenly hostile. As the SS grew more and more demoralized, its foreign hirelings began to commit many infractions on behalf of the prisoners, and grew to be frequent subjects of SS courts-martial.

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Many of the guard battalions had special dog platoons, consisting of bloodhounds and police dogs trained to attack men in striped clothing. They were used outside the guard line—on railroad-building details and the like—and did a great deal of mischief. They were also used for tracking prisoners attempting to escape and as a means of “ punish ment.”

The attitude of the guards was largely determined by the character of the Commander of Troops. SS First Lieutenant Reimer, for example, became battalion commander at Buchenwald in 1943. He was a teacher’s son from the Sudetenland, the German-speaking part of Czechoslovakia. Even as a sergeant he had attracted attention by his brutality toward prisoners, and his servility had brought him rapid promotion. One of his first acts at Buchenwald was to instruct the guards to shoot when prisoners approached within five paces of the guardline. Heretofore the prisoner actually had to cross the line. In the ensuing inquest he had to be found shot in the back, his head in the direction of flight.

Among the prisoners there was an official and extensive system of self-government with the Senior Camp Inmate, ap pointed by the SS, at its head. At first there was only one of these in each camp, but as the camps grew larger there were up to three. In the course of time the prisoners in many camps succeeded in placing their own nominees in these offices. The Senior Camp Inmate was the responsible representative of the prisoners before the SS. It was to him that the SS turned whenever it had any general directives to issue. His job was crucial and dangerous, and to take it on required courage and character. The wrong man in this spot meant untold harm to the camp. In the beginning, especially, the SS was anxious to appoint as Senior Camp Inmates men who were its creatures and could be used against the prisoners. The first one of this type in Buchenwald was Hubert Richter, once a member of a notorious Berlin Nazi Storm-Troop Unit. He was the un scrupulous instrument of the SS and himself a man of in credible brutality. He was relieved in 1937 for covering up an escape attempt by two convicts, and was sentenced to be whipped. He went to the camp prison, and about half a year after his release again became Senior Camp Inmate, this time for the blacks (“ asocials” ) who had meanwhile arrived. These