Hermann Baranowski

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Hermann Baranowski (born June 11, 1884 in Schwerin ; † February 5, 1940 in Aue ) was first protective custody camp leader, then camp commandant of two German concentration camps during the Nazi era .

Life

His father was a brewery worker . After eight years of elementary and secondary school, Baranowski signed up for the Imperial Navy in 1900 . Initially a cabin boy, he was promoted to deck officer in 1912 and upper deck officer in 1916. During the First World War Baranowski was with the staff of the 1st Squadron; he was awarded the Iron Cross of both classes. After the war he served with the IX. Minesweeping semi-flotilla. On September 30, 1920 he was appointed lieutenant to the sea. D. adopted; The background to this was the reduction in the number of troops in the German Reich due to the Treaty of Versailles .

After a long time in the military, Baranowski apparently found it difficult in civil life: first he found a job in the office of a metalworking company in Kiel , and later in a grocery store in Hamburg .

Baranowski's SS ranks appointment
SS Sturmführer January 30, 1933
SS-Sturmhauptführer June 12, 1933
SS-Sturmbannführer September 3, 1933
SS-Obersturmbannführer April 20, 1934
SS standard leader January 30, 1935
SS-Oberführer November 9, 1938

In 1930 Baranowski saw Hitler at an event in Hamburg and joined the NSDAP on October 1, 1930 ( membership no. 345.321) and in December 1931 also the SS (member no. 24.009). He was promoted several times in the SS, and an assessment dated August 12, 1933 certified: “A bit cross-headed, but absolutely reliable and loyal. The father of his storm warrior! Suitable for transport ” . Most recently he was leader of the 4th SS Standard in Altona . In this capacity he was replaced on March 1, 1936, possibly because of a personal dispute.

Baranowski was assigned to the SS-Totenkopfverband and took over the Lichtenburg concentration camp in April 1936 as commandant . Apparently there were arguments between Baranowski and members of the guards there. Theodor Eicke , the inspector of the concentration camps , judged Baranowski: “His exaggerated ambition continues to give rise to friction and arguments with the SS troops. [...] Instructions had to prove to be pointless because the behavior of SS Standartenführer Baranowski can be traced back to a pathological ambition. The good will cannot be denied to B., but he does not have the necessary instinct [...]. ”On November 1, 1936, he was transferred to the Dachau concentration camp as a“ protective custody camp leader ” . In this position there were no longer any points of contact with the guards; Baranowski was responsible for the "running" of the camp, its internal order and the daily routine with roll calls and thus for the prison conditions. Baranowski also transferred to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp on March 1, 1938 as a "protective custody camp leader" ; on May 1, 1938, he became the camp commandant there. In September 1939 he was first replaced by Walter Eisfeld , who was followed on April 1, 1940 by Hans Loritz . Baranowski died in February 1940 after a long illness.

His adjutant in Sachsenhausen, who later became the Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höß , said the following about Baranowski after the end of the war:

“As an ancient SS leader and National Socialist, he became a role model for me. [...] He, too, had moments when his good-naturedness and his soft heart were clearly evident, and yet he was tough and relentlessly strict in all matters of service. So he always kept in mind how the hard 'must' required by the SS had to silence all soft impulses. "

- Rudolf Höss : Commandant in Auschwitz

literature

  • Johannes Tuchel : Concentration Camp. Organizational history and function of the “Inspection of the Concentration Camps” 1934–1938. (= Writings of the Federal Archives. Volume 39) Harald Boldt Verlag, Boppard am Rhein 1991, ISBN 3-7646-1902-3 .
  • Hans Grundig : Between Carnival and Ash Wednesday. Memories of a painter Dietz Verlag Berlin 1964 (1957 1st edition), pp. 334–336

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tuchel, Concentration Camp , p. 371. The ranks given by Tuchel have been changed to the designations in use at the time of appointment.
  2. ↑ Personnel documents on Baranowski in the Berlin Document Center , quoted from Tuchel, Concentration Camp , p. 371
  3. ↑ The reason for the detachment does not emerge from the Baranowski personnel records, see Tuchel, Concentration Camp , p. 371
  4. ^ Letter from Eickes of September 26, 1936, quoted in Tuchel, Concentration Camp , pp. 171f.
  5. ↑ Times according to Tuchel, Concentration Camp , pp. 371, 383. Eisfeld's appointment with Ernst Klee: Personal Lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 3-596-16048-0 , p. 132. According to the information in Le camp de concentration de Oranienbourg - Sachsenhausen (French), Baranowski was from January 1938 to December 1939 Camp commandant in Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
  6. ^ Rudolf Höss: Commandant in Auschwitz . Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1958, p. 69.
personal data
SURNAME Baranowski, Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German concentration camp commander
DATE OF BIRTH June 11, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Schwerin
DATE OF DEATH 5th February 1940
Place of death Aue (Saxony)