Internment camp Recklinghausen-Hillerheide
The internment camp Recklinghausen- Hillerheide (English under American management Civilian Internment Enclosure 91 (CIE 91) , under British management No 4 Civilian Internment Camp, CIC 4 ; in the files also: Camp Recklinghausen, Camp Hillerheide, Camp 4, Recklinghausen CIC ) was 1945–1948 one of several prisoner camps of the occupying powers for Germans. The protective provisions of the Geneva Conventions did not apply to the internees , as it was not a prisoner of war camp .
construction
Immediately after Recklinghausen was captured by American associations on April 1, 1945, the occupying power ordered the establishment of a prison camp for German civilians in the Hillerheide district. Including a disbanded forced labor camp with around 400-600 forced laborers, and an immediately adjacent sawmill, a good 18 soccer field (approx. 470 m long and 300 m wide) was hermetically sealed off from the outside with a double 4 m high barbed wire fence and six watch towers . To the east of this camp fence was the Hellbach receiving waterway, to the west was the railway line, to the north was Kärntner Strasse, to the south was Braunauer Strasse (now Bozener), where the only camp gate was located. Inside, the area was divided into several sub-camps (English. Compounds ) for the various groups of internees. Each of these sub-camps was strictly separated from the other sub-camps by high barbed wire fences, all of which had only one access to the interior of the entire camp. In addition to the sub-camps, there was an infirmary, two barracks for Catholic and Protestant worship , a British and a German camp kitchen, and an office for the British and German camp administration.
To accommodate 3,000–4,000 internees, around 30 wooden barracks and 170 corrugated iron barracks ( Nissen huts ) were built on the camp grounds , which were located close together in some sub-camps. The wooden barracks, 30 m long and 6 m wide, stood on piles because of the muddy ground, were built in one layer of raw boards and had no thermal insulation whatsoever ; there were six windows on the long side and the roof was covered with simple tar paper , which was often leaky. The Nissen huts stood on a layer of bricks on which a layer of boards was placed.
Inmates
Long before the end of the war, the Western Allies had decided to intern all persons who could be regarded as leading representatives of National Socialist ideas while they were advancing into Germany . These should be traced by special units, and on the basis of a legal " automatic arrest " (eng. Automatic arrest be) in special bearings from the outside world isolation. On the one hand, they wanted to take away the top personnel from the brown ideas and, on the other hand, to remove the ground from the seriously feared guerrilla warfare of National Socialist werewolves .
In Hillerheide there were " Wehrmacht members and SS men, uniformed men and civilians , men and women, fifteen year olds and (over) seventy year olds, desk offenders for the fine and concentration camp personnel for the rough, criminals involved in the murder of Jews and other war crimes and harmless cogs running along with them of the Nazi enterprise , tough careerists and deluded idealists , Hitler Youth and BDM leaders, members of almost all professions, especially senior administrative officials, business bosses, teachers, professors , the higher (sometimes also militant) management levels of the party's branches ( National Socialist Motor Vehicle Corps , Nazi women etc.) or affiliated associations such as the German Labor Front - and of course, as exponents of the party itself, many members of district and district leaderships as well as hundreds of local group leaders . Whole rope teams must have found each other in the camp . "
When they were admitted to the camp, the detainees were divided into different categories, to which certain sub-camps corresponded:
- " automatic arrest and security suspects " (sub-camps 1, 2 and 6)
- SS (part warehouse 3)
- Gestapo , SD (part camp 4)
- Celebrities , war criminals (part camp 5)
- " internal held in custody for special investigation " (part warehouse 8)
Youth from the Hitler Youth were housed in subcamp 8 until their release in December 1945 ; the women, initially imprisoned in subcamp 7, were transferred to the Staumühle internment camp near Paderborn in December 1945 . There were also people in the camp who had never belonged to the SS or the NSDAP .
organization
The US Army Military Government Spearhead Detachment H3 with the camp commandant Major Little was initially exclusively responsible for the camp ; after the official handover to the British on July 14, 1945, the military administration of the 1st Corps District (Westphalia / Rhineland) under General Thomas in Iserlohn . From May 1946, all British internment camps were subordinate to the Control Commission for Germany / British Element (CCG) based in Lübbecke . The first British camp commandant was Lieutenant Colonel Wells, who was followed by Lieutenant Colonel Waight at the end of 1945.
The British camp management was not responsible for interrogations, assignments to the sub-camps (categorization), transfers to other camps, dismissals and investigation procedures for criminal offenses , but members ( CI staff ) of the British counter-espionage , the Counter Intelligence Corps ( CIC , in the Files also Counter Intelligence CIC ), which was subordinate to a counter-espionage department (English CI branch ) at the British 1st Corps in Iserlohn .
As part of their strategy of " indirect rule ", the British set up a German camp administration that primarily had to ensure strict compliance with the camp rules and was able to enforce punishments for minor violations. Simple organizational tasks were also carried out independently. The British elected older, former Wehrmacht officers with recognizable good leadership qualities (until February 1947 Heinz Potts, then N. Stegemann) as German camp managers . Since the contact between the German and British camp management was exclusively in English, the German camp management was supported by interpreters from among the internees. In each sub-camp there was a German compound leader , as well as in each barrack and in each room of these barracks.
The occupancy density of the barracks varied greatly over time. The situation was particularly problematic in the winter of 1945/46, when the camp was completely overcrowded with almost 9,000 people. 130–150 men were housed in the wooden barracks, their beds made of raw wooden boards with a wooden wedge as a "pillow" covered with a straw sack, which was empty in every second case due to a lack of straw. Each intern had only 35–40 cm of space to sleep here . Measured against the area of the accommodation, “an internee initially had around 2 m² , in summer 1946 4 m². However, the numbers are put into perspective by double and triple occupancy. ”In three barracks with a total of 63 showers, the internees were demonstrably able to wash themselves warm from February 1946 onwards. Otherwise, in 1945 they only had a tin can as a bowl and "wash bowl".
Since most of the detainees were arrested in the summer and brought only light summer clothes with them, clothing was completely inadequate in the winter time, so that serious lung diseases were inevitable. Every fourth prisoner suffered from hunger edema in early 1946 . Under pressure from the British public, fundamental organizational changes were therefore made in the spring of 1946. The immediate discharge of the young people was followed by that of the seriously ill, as well as the approval of parcels by the relatives. The worst physical distress has been alleviated by sending clothes and food.
In view of these circumstances, it is astonishing how few of the internees dared to flee. It was probably due to the closely guarded border fences and the order to shoot for the guards, even if the inmates "made contact" with the outside world in an apparently completely harmless manner, such as waving at a passing train. Nevertheless, more than 25 internees managed to escape, and in only three cases could the refugees be caught again.
Camp life
Camp life in 1945 (the so-called “wild time”) and in the winter of 1945/46 was characterized by extreme hunger, fear of interrogation and despair over being completely separated from relatives. In the spring of 1946, on British instructions, the German camp management set up a camp garden with vegetable cultivation, several craft (carpentry, tailoring and blacksmithing), sporting ( boxing , handball , football ) and cultural working groups ( theater , music, literature ) had a remarkable level because of the high level of education of many inmates. Classical theater performances and orchestral performances took place regularly under the simplest of conditions, with the light muse being particularly well received.
Since May 1946, the activities of charities such as the Catholic Caritas and the Protestant Inner Mission , especially the YMCA , which took care of the procurement of small materials for the handicraft activities of seeds for the camp garden as well as book donations, were also permitted. Permitting correspondence with relatives was essential for overcoming the internees, who were falling into lethargy and resignation . From February 1946, two postcards with a maximum of 25 words were allowed to be sent per month, which repealed the strict anonymity requirement . Since March 1947 at the latest, two letters per month have been admitted with no limit on the number of words.
Arbitration chamber proceedings and liquidation of the camp
After the verdicts of the Nuremberg Trials (September 30th / October 1st, 1946), special German courts for criminal proceedings against interned persons, the ruling chambers , started their work in the British occupation zone . A ruling chamber in Recklinghausen was responsible for the Hillerheide internment camp , which began with the first interrogations in early May 1947. The first decisions were made on June 25, 1947. Most of the convicted received fines, many also imprisonment, but the time of internment was counted, so that almost all prisoners could leave the camp after the verdict.
In December 1947 there were still 1,300 prisoners in the camp, almost all of whom were released in the following months after completing their trial chamber proceedings or on their word of honor to appear voluntarily at the court at any time. When the camp was officially closed on April 15, 1948, the 35 remaining prisoners were taken to the Staumühle internment camp to await their trial. On April 30, 1948, the camp site was handed over to the Coal Board in Essen , which left it to the city of Recklinghausen . Some wooden barracks were dismantled and rebuilt elsewhere as shelters for miners; Miners from the General Blumenthal colliery moved into the other wooden and corrugated iron barracks of the disbanded camp .
literature
- Adolf Vogt: "Werewolves" behind barbed wire. The Recklinghausen-Hiller-Heide internment camp (1945–1948 ). In: Vestische Zeitschrift Vol. 94-96 (1997), pp. 395-472. This extensive and scientifically careful presentation is largely based on English sources (today in The National Archives ), in addition to files in the Recklinghausen Spruchkammer (today in the Federal Archives in Koblenz) and on conversations with former internees, whose statements are marked as such.
- (Ed.): CK: "Recklinghausen and Paderborn were behind me, and I never wanted to see them again, but I would never forget them either!" . In: ibid. Pp. 473–503.
- Heiner Wember: re-education in the camp. Internment and punishment of National Socialists in the British zone of occupation in Germany, Essen 1991.
Web links
- Detention Center Staumühle (No 5 CIC)
- Internment camp Eselheide (No 7 CIC)
- Dorsten Nazis behind barbed wire - the Hillerheide internment camp in Recklinghausen was surrounded by a mysterious silence
Individual evidence
- ↑ Civilian Internment Enclosures (CIE) and Hospitals ( Memento of the original from October 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Revision based on English plans and the drawing by Dopl.-Ing. Sibylle dog enclosure. In: Vestische Zeitschrift ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Vol. 94-96, p. 399.
- ↑ Vogt, p. 399/400 u. 404. The apartments of the crew members were in the houses on the neighboring Grazer, Linzer and Innsbrucker Strasse, the residents of which had been evacuated.
- ↑ SHAED Handbook for Military Government (PDF; 16.3MB) and US Directive 1064 of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
- ↑ Vogt, p. 399 (on the werewolf fear of the Allies), 416 (quote)
- ↑ Vogt, pp. 406-407.
- ↑ See the report by the BDM leader CK (literature).
- ↑ So u. a. Friedrich Topp (1904-1978), the 1940-1945 as Sonderführer interpreter Feldkommandantur Lille informant of the local defense -Nebenstelle and 1944/45 as Sergeant agent of the Abwehr office in Arras was; LA NRW, Dept. Rhineland, denazification file.
- ↑ Vogt, pp. 401-404.
- ↑ This abbreviation is not to be confused with CIC for Civilian Internment Camp .
- ↑ Vogt, pp. 410-414.
- ↑ Violations of comradely behavior were regulated by the "Camp Feme " among the internees themselves, although in individual cases (multiple theft of food rations from a fellow inmate at the end of the "starvation winter" 1945/46) this could take place with extreme brutality; Vogt, p. 449.
- ↑ This included, among other things, the setting up of work details for chopping wood and cleaning the latrines, passing on complaints from prisoners to the British camp management and from 1946 also organizing cultural and sporting events.
- ↑ Vogt, pp. 418-420.
- ^ Vogt, p. 421 and 423
- ↑ Vogt, pp. 424-425 with details on nutrition.
- ↑ Desperate family members who were in the vicinity of the camp also faced gunshot wounds or fines and prison sentences; Vogt, pp. 441-445; on suicides pp. 448–449.
- ^ Instruction of the CCG in Lübbecke from April 1946: "… no unemployment be permitted in CICs." Vogt, p. 434.
- ↑ For details on this, Vogt, pp. 436–438. To coordinate these and other measures, a welfare committee ( Camp Welfare Committee ) was set up, which consists of a representative of the British camp management, the German camp manager, the two camp chaplains, the representatives of the welfare organizations working in the camp, the "camp culture warden", the Culture waiting for the individual sub-camps and a German doctor existed.
- ^ Vogt, p. 433
- ↑ The legal basis was Ordinance No. 69 issued by the British Military Government on December 31, 1946.
- ↑ Vogt, S. 459-464: there also detail details on the penalties.
- ^ An institution established by the British in 1945 to reorganize and control the mining industry.
- ^ Vogt, p. 467.
Coordinates: 51 ° 35 ′ 15.5 ″ N , 7 ° 12 ′ 8.2 ″ E