The Theory and Practice of Hell (17 page)

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he tyrannized in unspeakable ways. In the spring of 1939 he was once more sent to the camp prison, in connection with a case of SS graft. There he died a dreadful death at the hands of the SS. His successor was a convict, Paul Henning, in no essential way distinguished from Richter.

The first political prisoner to become Senior Camp Inmate was Paul Mohr of Wiesbaden. He tried to stem the criminal tide, but he himself was too closely linked to the criminal elements to be able to proceed with sufficient vigor. He too was killed by the SS in the course of a graft scandal. With a single unfortunate exception, the office of Senior Camp In mate from that time on remained a prerogative of the political prisoners at Buchenwald, much in contrast to many other camps.

Corresponding on the prisoner side to the Roll Call Office

was the Orderly Room. In some camps it was at times super vised by an SS man, in other camps never. Its entire personnel was made up of prisoners. It took care of all internal camp ad ministration—files, assignment to barracks, preparation for roll call, ration distribution,
etc.
It was an institution of great importance to a camp, and for the most part its achievements were constructive. It is no exaggeration to say that in the course of the years the Orderly Room preserved the health and lives of literally thousands of inmates, maneuvering many into positions where they could do effective work on behalf of their fellows.

All contact between prisoners and Labor Service or Man power Utilization Officers passed through the Labor Records Office, which maintained classified card indexes for the entire camp and did the necessary bookkeeping for work done. Its importance grew enormously in the course of time, when the Manpower Utilization Office was no longer capable of making up lists for outside labor details. Here was another citadel of prisoner power in the camp, exerted both for good and evil. Hundreds of valuable inmates were saved only by the intervention of the Labor Records Office, either by being secretly scratched from death shipments, or by being smuggled into outside labor details when their life was in danger in camp. Sordid intrigue, on the other hand, resulted in many others being transferred to details, inside the camp and out, where they were inevitably exposed to grave danger

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or death. It was a thankless and difficult job that faced this office. On occasion it had but two hours’ time to make up prisoner shipments running into the thousands. Many a prisoner clerk performed prodigies on behalf of his fellows.

Each barracks had its own Senior Block Inmate, nominated by the Senior Camp Inmate and confirmed by camp headquarters. He was responsible to the Block Leader for everything that happened within his domain. For each barracks wing the Senior Block Inmate picked as his assistants two or three Barracks Orderlies, who had to be confirmed by the Senior Camp Inmate. They were responsible for main taining order and distributing rations. Under the prevailing circumstances this was a necessary and, on the whole, a useful institution.

There were certain prisoners of low character, of course, who shamefully misused this authority. It is true that they were often under considerable pressure from the SS. Many of them, regardless of the color they wore and even in the Jewish barracks, were unable to withstand the temptation to brutality and corruption. Those who know human nature will readily appreciate the effects of herding hundreds of terrorized men of every description together for many years. But in some camps the constructive forces among the prisoners did in time succeed in ameliorating a few of the worst abuses.

The situation was similar with respect to the so-called Capos or Prisoner Foremen, placed in charge of labor details and responsible to the Detail Leader, who had them appointed by the Labor Service Officer. The Prisoner Foremen organized the work of their details, without actually working themselves. They were aided by Assistant Prisoner Foremen. Only when absolutely necessary did the SS appoint skilled workers to these posts. What they were after, especially in the early years, were burly fellows, chiefly convicts, former Storm Troopers or Foreign Legionaries—men who knew how to wield a club, though the SS often enough let them feel the end of it themselves.

In sharp contrast to the horde of brutes who functioned as Prisoner Foremen, a few old-time inmates stand out as shining examples of integrity, humanity and personal courage. I regard it as my duty to mention at this point the Buchenwald prisoners Robert Siewert of Chemnitz and Bap

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tist Feilen of Aachen. Both were Communists. (Siewert became Deputy Minister President of Saxony in 1946, Feilen Chief of Property Control in Thuringia.)

Feilen, a leading member of the camp underground, was foreman of the laundry. He was equally popular among Ger man and foreign inmates on account of his imperturbable fairness. Siewert was foreman of several details through the years and had the courage to come to grips with SS Detail Leaders, something he did each time at the risk of his life.

Sometime in 1939 Siewert happened on SS Sergeant Abraham, who was fond of bullying the prisoners in the latrine and had hundreds of lives on his conscience. Abraham had driven four Jews into a deep waterhole and was pre venting them with his club from climbing out. Siewert ran up with several other inmates and was able to rescue three of the Jews, the SS man, curiously enough, beating a retreat— probably because he had had his fill.

Siewert had the audacity to report the sergeant to the Roll Call Officer, barely escaping a beating himself. In time the Roll Call Officers seem to have grown accustomed to the reports of this singular Prisoner Foreman. They received them, at any rate, even though they took no further notice.

Siewert would not give in. In 1943 the Gustloff Works, an armament plant, was built at Buchenwald. During its con struction Detail Leader Schmidt was particularly fond of maltreating Russians, Poles and Jews. Early in the morning he was in the habit of assaulting them like a maniac with club, spade, or^ pick. One of his chief victims was a certain Schreiber. Schmidt severely abused Schreiber almost every day, making him strip to the skin, climb a tree and call down: “ I am a filthy Jewish swine!” Often the man was too weak to scramble up the tree fast enough, whereupon Schmidt beat him until he got up.

Siewert, Prisoner Foreman of the detail, asked to see the Commandant—something that was occasionally possible in the case of SS Colonel Pister—and made a full report of the circumstances. The Commandant questioned the accuracy of the report, but promised to put an end to Sergeant Schmidt’s mistreatments. This intervention did no immediate good, for the Detail Leader went right on with his savagery. Siewert’s courage, however, succeeded in gaining him a certain respect

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among the SS men. They grew vaguely apprehensive of his “ tattle-taling,” which usually involved a good deal of bother for them. Late in October 1944 the Gestapo removed Siewert from the camp. He was kept in solitary confinement and severely mistreated. He was not returned to Buchenwald until April 4, 1945. The next morning he was to be executed, together with forty-five others, including the author—all of them men considered politically dangerous to a special degree. For reasons to be set forth further on, the execution never took place.

It must not be thought that it was possible to oppose the SS as a general thing. Such opposition would have been in terpreted as mutiny, and would have resulted in a general blood bath. Siewert was an exceptional case. The fact that the SS failed to eliminate him as a “ troublemaker” borders on a psychological miracle. To a more limited degree, however, every concentration camp had its examples of upright prisoner functionaries.

Senior Camp and Block Inmates and Prisoner Foremen wore a distinguishing black armband with white lettering on their left arms.

In the course of the years, the political prisoners, especially at Buchenwald, contrived to restrict the SS more and more to purely disciplinary powers, whereas matters of actual camp administration began to slip into the hands of the prisoners. This development made necessary some kind of prisoner police force, nominally an organ of the SS, though actually serving the prisoners* own purposes. By the time this Camp Police was actually organized (June 1942), the danger of its being exploited by the SS against the prisoners had grown relatively small. Authority to organize the Camp Police was literally “ put over” on the SS, although it was obtained only after considerable maneuvering. To some extent the Camp Police had had a forerunner in the institution of so-called Overseers, who in some camps had become mere hoodlums for the SS. They were now absorbed into the Camp Police and effectively held in check.

For a long time—until 1944 when they were in ternationalized—the Camp Police remained the prerogative of the German inmates. It was only with them that the SS could readily communicate. The SS, of course, wanted to use

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the Camp Police to run the camps as it saw fit, and when there were enough unscrupulous characters available, it succeeded to some degree.

The jobs of the Camp Police were to maintain order and

discipline, to guard food depots and other supplies coveted by the prisoners—ultimately this ended the roving SS patrols at night—and to take over newcomers. These were thankless and difficult assignments. They were rarely accomplished without strong-arm methods—in some camps more so than in others. The difference may by gauged by the fact that prisoners transferred to Buchenwald always went through an initial stage of terror when they found themselves received by prisoner police, until they learned to appreciate their treat ment. There were members of the Camp Police, of course, who can only be described as frustrated SS men. But the ad vantages of the institution were obvious. Thousands of prisoners would have fared infinitely worse—on admission, during shipments and disciplinary actions, and finally in the liberation phase—had not this prisoner cadre provided an im peccable camouflage of discipline toward the SS. In Buchen wald at least the assets of the Camp Police were far greater than its initial liabilities.