Helmbrechts subcamp

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The concentration camp Helmbrechts was a satellite camp of the concentration camp (KZ) Flossenbürg . It existed during the time of National Socialism in the German Reich from July 19, 1944. On April 13, 1945 it was dissolved with the evacuation and the subsequent death march to Zwodau .

Founding of the Helmbrechts satellite camp

In July 1944, the Helmbrechts concentration camp was founded as a subcamp of the Ravensbrück women's concentration camp , but after a short time it was subordinated to the Flossenbürg concentration camp . The function of the subcamp was to provide cheap labor for the production facilities of the Nuremberg armaments factory, Kabel- und Metallwerke Neumayer , which were relocated to Helmbrechts . Together with some female guards and male guards , the first 179 women captured from the Ravensbrück concentration camp arrived at the Helmbrechts satellite camp on July 19, 1944. The first prisoners were initially housed in the disused factory halls of the Witt textile company , which also represented their workplace. When the barracks camp was completed , the prisoners were relocated there.

Construction of the camp

terrain

The concentration camp subcamp was located on what was then the outskirts of Helmbrechts, southwest of today's new housing estate on Kulmbacher Strasse. The prisoners themselves lived in three of a total of eleven wooden barracks completed in August 1944. In addition to the prisoner barracks, there was also a district barracks. It contained a laundry room, accommodation for a Russian doctor and her assistants, who were also detained, and a sickroom to which invalid prisoners were brought. Between the ground barracks and the barracks for the inmates of about 45 by 30 meters wide was parade ground . These four barracks were enclosed with the roll call area by a two meter high barbed wire fence. However, as is usual in other concentration camps , it was not electrically charged or illuminated. The remaining part of the camp was taken up by a kitchen barrack with an adjoining canteen for the guards and a sewing room, as well as several larger barracks for storing clothes and food. A laundry room and accommodations for the guards, strictly separated from men and women, were located in the laundry barracks. The entire facility was bordered by a simple fence with warning signs saying “Sperrzone” or “Sperrgebiet - We'll shoot without a call”.

organization

The then "command leader" and thus head of the camp was SS-Unterscharführer Alois Dörr . There are three names to be mentioned in the role of first overseer: MarthaT., Irmgard H. and Hertha H. The security team consisted of 14 to 21 male guards and 20 to 23 female SS guards. The task of the guards, armed with rifles and live ammunition, was to guard the prisoners on the way to the armaments factory and the camp from outside. The guards, who were armed with truncheons, sticks, or the like, were responsible for guarding the prisoners inside the factory and on the camp grounds.

The prisoners were initially supplied with food from the Witt factory kitchen. However, due to the generally problematic food situation towards the end of World War II and the small portioned gifts for the prisoners , the supply was poor.

Prisoners

Origin and reasons for imprisonment

Identification of the prisoners in the concentration camps

Of the 670 to 680 non-Jewish prisoners at the beginning, many came from Poland or Russia , some also from France and the Netherlands , and around 25 were Germans between the ages of 18 and 30. During the three-day transport from Ravensbrück to Helmbrechts, the women, most of whom were imprisoned without a court judgment, received no food. Reasons for imprisonment were “sabotage”, “favoring Jews”, “dealing with prisoners of war or foreign workers” or “insulting the leader”. Common markings in the concentration camp were red triangles for political prisoners, green triangles for “professional criminals” and black triangles for “anti-social”. There was also a label with the letters “P” for prisoners from Poland, “T” for Czech prisoners and “R” for inmates from Russia.

Life and work

Arrived prisoners were immediately assigned work in the camp area or in the armaments factory. In the camp, work such as clearing snow or cleaning the barracks and the grounds had to be carried out. The monotonous daily routine was regulated by a precise schedule. During the work, which was divided into two shifts of 12 hours each, inmates were strictly forbidden from having personal conversations. At first, even the slightest decline in work led to abuse by beatings. These were later banned because they distracted the other women too much from their work. Punishments, which often led to unconsciousness and death, included splashing acid in the face, standing still for hours without food on the roll call square in all weather conditions or hanging after trying to escape. With good work there was "payment", such as meal allowances or "bills" that could be redeemed in paper, pencils or the like. Before and after work, there was a ten-minute roll call of all inmates on the roll call square as well as a daily roll call at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. The little food that the prisoners received came from Münchberg and Helmbrechts and was prepared in the factory kitchen. Accommodation was in wooden barracks with beds on top of each other. Most of the more than 100 women per barracks slept in sacks filled with hay or straw. The barracks could be heated with coal stoves, but there was insufficient fuel available. The washrooms were often icy in the cold months and therefore unusable. Infectious diseases and lice infestation often occurred due to the narrow space and poor hygiene. A Russian doctor, who was also arrested, was responsible for sick prisoners, but medicine and medical equipment were largely missing. In the case of very serious illnesses, the heavily overworked private doctor Dr. Durst, who came from Helmbrechts, temporary help.

Jewish prisoners

On March 6, 1945, 621 captured Jewish women were taken to the Helmbrechts satellite camp. Most of them were Polish Jewish women who had to live in ghettos after the occupation of Poland in 1939 , but there were also some Hungarian Jewish women. The Polish women among them had already been deported to the Grünberg subcamp of the Groß-Rosen concentration camp in 1943 , the Hungarian women not until 1944. In 1945 the women were then driven on foot from the Grünberg subcamp in Silesia to Helmbrechts. Of the original 1000 prisoners, only 621 women survived the way to Helmbrechts, as many died of exhaustion or, as soon as they could no longer keep up, were killed by guards.

On arrival in Helmbrechts, the women who were still alive were in extremely poor health. They suffered from malnutrition, frostbite and / or intestinal and other diseases, especially dysentery and noma . In women suffering from noma, the tissues of the oral mucous membrane and the cheek disintegrated as a result of malnutrition, the visible cheekbones meant certain death.

In the camp itself there was a strict separation between Jews and non-Jews, and there was even a ban on speaking. Jewish prisoners were housed in the two rear barracks, where there was no place to sleep. The barracks were locked at night. The washing facilities froze over in winter, and metal buckets were provided to replace them. This resulted in the barracks being contaminated by diarrhea, stench and thus new infections. Sick Jewish women received no medication or medical care. Their food portions were also very rationed. For example, there was the “Judensuppe”, a soup diluted with water. In addition, Jewish prisoners were the most common victims of punishment due to minor mishaps, hunger, diarrhea, or other illnesses. They suffered beatings, standing naked, and abuse. Jewish women didn't have to work. Their only help was a delousing operation, during which their clothes were deloused, but they were not given any new clothes despite stocks. The lice plague reappeared very quickly due to poor sanitary conditions. Between March 6 and April 13, 1945 (evacuation of the concentration camp) around 40 to 50 Jewish prisoners died. The clothes of the dead women were stripped to make identification more difficult before they were placed in a wooden box. There were also Jewish women buried who gave faint signs of life. Since the civilian population was supposed to notice as little of this as possible, the burial sites were not marked. The death certificates that were sent to Flossenbürg were drawn up by first overseer Hertha H. with invented causes of death and were given by Dr. Thirst issued. The dead were later exhumed and dignified buried by the Americans .

Refugees from the camp

Search parties consisting of male and female security guards, police officers and members of the Hitler Youth and the Young People were sent out after escaped prisoners . The prisoners who remained in the concentration camp had to stand at attention. If the people who had fled were found, they were brought to the roll call square in the presence of the prisoners standing at attention as a deterrent and warning. There, as a usual harassment for re-captured prisoners, their hair was cut off before they were continuously mistreated and warned against further attempts to escape. In addition, they were showered with cold water and taken to the unheated laundry room in the district barracks, where they were left on the floor. If they survived, a red circle was sewn onto their clothing. This was seen as a target for the guards and meant "at risk of escape". An example of an attempt to escape is the escape of the Russian doctor. Although the one among the prisoners received the best treatment, she and two other women fled on February 5, 1945. The doctor and one other woman were recaptured, the former died during the night as a result of the abuse they had suffered. Heart failure was stated as the cause of death in the death certificate.

Dissolution of the camp

Evacuation and death march

The evacuation of the Helmbrechts satellite camp was initiated on April 13, 1945 by the order of the head of the Flossenbürg concentration camp to evacuate the camp as the US troops grew closer. The term “evacuation” is not to be understood here as rescue, but as forcing people to walk long distances. On the one hand, the evidence of the crimes committed in the concentration camps was to be destroyed; on the other hand, the prisoners were to be retained as workers for other concentration camps. The aim and task of Kommandofführer Alois Dörr was to march with the captured women to Zwodau to another subcamp for women of the Flossenbürg concentration camp. Those who could no longer walk were initially transported in an open vehicle. However, a woman was only considered sick when she was almost dead. Only 60 out of 1,173 prisoners were transported on a truck.

Even during the evacuation from the camp, the many people were guarded by armed SS entourage. The male guards were armed with rifles, the women with sticks. Anyone who could no longer walk during the long distance was killed or shot. The “healthy” prisoners were divided into running groups. Jewish women had to run in the back of the march. In addition, they had to pull some handcarts with them, on the one hand the luggage of the guards and on the other hand the files of the Helmbrechts concentration camp in order to hide the latter from the Americans. The disadvantages of Jewish women can also be clearly seen in the gifts given to women. Unlike their non-Jewish fellow prisoners, they did not receive any of the other blankets or shoes from the camp. The already small food rations that were distributed for the run were even lower among the Jewish inmates.

The train of people started moving around 10 a.m. on April 13, 1945. It led from Helmbrechts via Haide and Meierhof towards Ahornberg . From there it went on through Reuthlas to Modlitz . The SS retinue avoided larger villages or streets in order to avoid contact with civilians. Some civilians who tried to give the women bread or something similar were driven out by threats of violence. During the entire march, which continued through Wölbersbach and Seulbitz to Schwarzenbach an der Saale , several women were shot or beaten to death because they could no longer keep up. Some of their bodies were found by local residents and buried in nearby cemeteries. "Shot while trying to escape" was the name given to the murder of prisoners unable to walk. After the women in Schwarzenbach had to spend a night outdoors, which caused the number of diseases to rise again, the prisoners were driven on. They reached the villages of Quellenreuth , Rehau and finally Neuhausen . Once there, the women were again given neither food nor a covered place to sleep. In Neuhausen a courier from the Reichsführung-SS met the column. He gave the commandant the order not to carry out any more shootings, since negotiations with the Americans that had already begun should not be disrupted. Command leader Dörr, who “doubted” the authenticity of the courier, left it to the individual guards to continue executing shootings if necessary. In the middle of the night, as American troops were approaching, Dörr asked the group to continue walking immediately. This sudden departure created a great mess, which made it possible for some women to flee. The camp files were burned before Asch left for Neuenbrand .

The following stations were of great importance for the prisoners. After a break in Haslau, the prisoners in Franzensbad received food for the first time and in Höflas the women were housed in a barn. The next day, bread was distributed again in Bukwa , before the actual final destination of Zwodau was reached the next day . Non-Jewish women were largely left behind, but around 700 Jewish women, 20 Germans and a few other women had to march on. By continuing the Jewish women, the Americans were to be deprived of evidence of the mistreatment committed against them. The actual target, the Dachau concentration camp , was no longer attainable because it had already been taken by American troops. It went on through Lauterbach , Marienhof, Sangerberg and Kuttenplan . Hunger and frostbite were the leading causes of death. Shortly before Wilkenau , the train was surprised by a low-flying attack. Some of the surviving inmates began to eat on killed draft horses or rotten fodder beets.

On May 11, 1945, German civilians were forced by the US military to walk past victims of a death march in Volary

On April 25, 1945 the border to what was then the " Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia " was crossed. In the Protectorate area, larger towns were avoided even more, as the Czech population knew about the atrocities of the SS and the guards were therefore increasingly difficult. We continued through Mraken to Maxberg . Because of the great commotion among the starving women, they were refused food there. Behind Neumark and Plöß the marchers were back on the territory of the German Reich. We continued through Chudiwa , Neuern , Leschowitz, Olchowitz / Depoldowitz , Dorrstadt , Jenewelt and Seewiesen . The height differences in the Bohemian Forest demanded more and more performance from the prisoners who were still able to walk . After passing Althütten , Hartmanitz / Oberkörnsalz and Unterreichenstein , the train arrived in Aussergefild on May 1, 1945 , where the prisoners were housed in the barracks of a sawmill. The following morning, the survivors set out for Ferchenhaid and Filz , where they spent another night in barns. On May 3rd they finally reached Wallern after Elendbachl , Mitterberg , Obermoldau and Eleonorenhain . There Alois Dörr decided to release some of the prisoners due to the imminent capture by the American troops. About 100 sick women who were unable to walk were left behind, 20 of whom did not live to see the liberation by the Americans. The remainder were taken to the auxiliary hospital there by the liberators. They suffered from extreme malnutrition, pitting edema on bare feet, severe frostbite and boils, and other diseases, some of which led to death after the end of the forced march.

Dörr himself ran with about 170 women through ice and snow to Prachatitz in the southern Bohemian Forest, where he arrived on May 4th. There were better escape routes for him and the guards, and the freedmen did not immediately encounter US soldiers. On the way there, the remaining group was attacked by American low-flying planes. While all the prisoners were unharmed, one of the SS women was killed and two others were injured. As a result, three guards shot fourteen Jewish women in the forest near Bierbrücke. Some of the women who could still walk fled during the attack, the others had to continue walking towards Prachatitz, where they were finally released. They ran to nearby Czech villages, where they were received and cared for. However, seriously ill women who had to stay in the barn were shot by three SS men on May 5, 1945. They later fled, but were still captured by the Americans.

During the entire evacuation march (also known as the death march ) around 130 women died of malnutrition, exhaustion or illnesses. 50 women were murdered by guards.

Importance of the Americans in Helmbrechts

The Americans occupied Helmbrechts on April 15, 1945. Two days later they came across the concentration camp, whereupon they questioned the mayor at the time, who, like the people of Helmbrechts, did not want to know about the complex. However, the residents of the houses around the concentration camp had a view of the area, and the women who were driven to and from the factory hall every day were also observed. On October 6th and 7th, 1946, 55 citizens of Helmbrecht, mainly Nazi activists, had to dig up the dead of the former concentration camp on the orders of the Americans. These were brought to Münchberg and from there transferred to the Jewish cemetery in Hof . The American commission of inquiry was also present at the exhumation of the dead at the quarry site in Haide on April 18, 1945. The inquiries and interviews that Americans conducted through 1947 were discontinued without convictions. It was not until 1961 that the Hof public prosecutor began investigating the Alois Dörr case.

Alois Dörr

Command leader Alois Dörr, born on January 14, 1911, joined the NSDAP on December 1, 1932 - and thus before the " seizure of power " . Dörr, who comes from the Baden village of Höpfingen , volunteered for the SS at the age of 22 . In the autumn of 1940 he was assigned to the guards of the Flossenbürg concentration camp, four years later he set up the subcamp for female prisoners in Helmbrechts as a "commando leader".

The inmates of the camp work under sometimes unworthy conditions for the local branch of the Nuremberg arms company Neumayer. The married Dörr began a relationship in Helmbrechts with the SS superintendent Herta Haase, who was considered the most brutal in the guards; both led a cruel regime. When the war was over, Dörr threw away his SS uniform. The Americans thought he was a common soldier and released him after only one year of imprisonment. Dörr took over the parental farm and was considered a respected citizen and councilor .

A former prisoner recognized the former command leader of the Helmbrechts women's camp at the beginning of the 1960s on a photo in the local newspaper of his Swabian homeland, on which he could be seen during a parade as the fire department commander. After his arrest in 1962, citizens of Höpfingen started a signature campaign and collected more than 50,000 DM as bail. The mayor declared: "No one gets justice with a conviction". Dörr only did his duty "for the good of the fatherland".

Under the direction of Oskar Rauch, who opposed the public accusation that the post-war German judiciary was half-blind to the crimes of the Nazi henchmen, the investigators gathered evidence from 1962 to 1969, found witnesses abroad and finally brought charges against Dörr. From March 20, 1969, Dörr had to answer to the jury court in Hof for murder in 217 cases. The media interest was great; even Soviet television and New York newspapers sent reporters.

During the death march ordered by Dörr, 59 women captured were shot on his orders or by himself, and 157 others died of exhaustion. The indictment stated: “Dörr saw no full-fledged people in the prisoners. He saw in them not only enemies of the state, saboteurs, pests of the people, antisocial or criminals, but also regarded them as creatures to which hardly any human value could be attributed ”. He was sentenced to life imprisonment on July 31, 1969 for five murders committed jointly, but was released in 1979 following a pardon from Bavarian Prime Minister Alfons Goppel . Alois Dörr died on June 18, 1990 in Höpfingen in Baden-Württemberg as a free man.

memorial

Langer Gang Memorial

A memorial plaque and a stone from Volary (Czech Republic) in the Helmbrechts cemetery and the Langer Gang memorial in Schwarzenbach an der Saale remind of the victims of the Helmbrechts satellite camp and the associated death march .

literature

  • Peter Engelbrecht : The war is over. Spring 1945 in Upper Franconia . Späthling, Weißenstadt 2015, ISBN 978-3-942668-23-1 .
  • Klaus Rauh: Helmbrechts - Subcamp of the Flossenbürg Concentration Camp , Münchberg, 1994.
  • Daniel Goldhagen : Hitler's willing executors. Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust . Translation by Klaus Kochmann. Berlin: Siedler, 1996

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Helmbrechts satellite camp . Website of the Flossenbürg Concentration Camp Memorial; Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  2. ^ Witt-Gruppe company history at witt-gruppe.eu; accessed on June 11, 2015
  3. ↑ Klaus Rauh, op. Cit. , P. 4.
  4. ↑ mass shooting at Bierbrücke (PDF) at helmbrechtswalk.com, p. 197; Retrieved June 12, 2015
  5. ↑ a b The murderer from the women's camp in: Nordbayerischer Kurier from July 31, 2019, p. 4.
  6. ↑ Peter Engelbrecht: The war is over , p. 84.