Canada (Auschwitz concentration camp)

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Suitcases of the people murdered in Auschwitz. Exhibition material evidence of the atrocities in Auschwitz , main camp

In effect camps Canada of Auschwitz valuables and were possessions of the delivered registered inmates stored or reused those of the victims. The stockpiles were subordinate to the location administration department in the concentration camp . In the camp jargon of the Auschwitz concentration camp, the property stores were referred to as “ Canada ” because the prisoners associated the valuable looted property with the country of Canada as a “symbol of wealth”. The designation "Canada" for the stockpiles was later adopted by a number of members of the SS camp personnel .

overview

In the course of registration, the deported concentration camp inmate had to hand over all of his belongings, which were kept in the securities warehouse for the time of his imprisonment. From 1941 regulations existed that the belongings of prisoners who died in the camp should not be handed over to the bereaved, but should be transferred to the German Reich .

The unregistered prisoners had to hand over their luggage to the train ramp after arriving at Auschwitz concentration camp. After they were murdered in the gas chamber , prisoners of the Sonderkommando examined the discarded clothing for valuables and the orifices of the murdered persons for valuables. Dental gold was broken out and the hair of the murdered was later used by German companies to make felt and thread. The ashes and remains of bones from the dead were partly used for road construction or as fertilizer. The belongings of the murdered were recorded, sorted and temporarily stored in the magazine barracks by the work detail "Canada" . Then the valuables and clothing were transported to the Reich territory for further use. Precious metals and money went directly to the Reichsbank . Food was stored in the food stacks or used to feed the inmates. High-quality luxury goods such as cocoa and alcohol etc. were requisitioned for the camp SS. Medicines and hygiene articles were z. B. kept in the attic of the prisoner infirmary in the main camp, which functions as a magazine.

Cleanup Squad "Canada"

The prisoners of the clearing-up squad deployed in the securities camps worked in shifts. The use in this detachment was coveted among the prisoners, as objects that had not yet been sorted and registered could be "organized" there. The objects illegally “organized” under threat of punishment were smuggled out of the camp section and could be exchanged for items necessary for everyday life from other prisoners or corrupt civilian employees or members of the SS camp personnel.

“Many valuable things were hidden in the clothes and shoes that were left behind from the destroyed Jewish transports. The Canada prisoners who sorted the items secretly and at great risk brought large valuables into the camp. There they received food, clothing, shoes, alcohol and cigarettes that were smuggled into the camp by civilian employees and SS men. An inmate who organized was recognized at first glance. He was better dressed and better fed. However, the SS men and the inmate superiors took advantage of this. They persecuted, controlled and blackmailed such organizers. So a real system of bribery developed based on the law of the thumb. In their work detachments, the capos kept whole groups of prisoners who had to organize for them. If the prisoner was caught organizing, the capo never defended him; on the contrary, he denied having had any connection with him. "

- The remarks by the Auschwitz survivors Ota Kraus and Erich Kulka about Canada after the end of the war

The camp personnel were forbidden to personally enrich themselves with the victims' valuables, with the death penalty . Nevertheless, many members of the camp staff stole and exchanged valuables from the Holocaust victims . A special commission under SS lawyer Konrad Morgen was set up to prevent and investigate such thefts . However, there are no known convictions in the case of embezzlement.

Canada I.

The effects warehouse I (Canada I), consisting of several barracks, was located northwest of the main camp of Auschwitz . There were z. B. 1942 to 1943 deployed up to 1,600 concentration camp prisoners in two shifts. In July 1944, after Canada II went into operation in Canada I, only 210 prisoners were still working.

Canada II

Remains of the Canada stockpile in Auschwitz-Birkenau

Since the capacity of Canada I soon no longer sufficient in was Auschwitz concentration camp in the bearing section BIIg ( 50 ° 2 '20.8 "  N , 19 ° 10' 8.6"  O ) a new complex with 30 barracks magazine in the gas chambers and crematoria and put into operation in December 1943. For the most part, these barracks were used to store and sort the belongings of victims of the Holocaust that had been confiscated from them after they were brought to the concentration camp. The property of the non-Jewish registered prisoners was also deposited there. In addition, the prisoners of the Canada Command were housed there and the camp SS offices were located on the premises. The so-called central sauna was also located in this section of the camp ; In this larger, one-storey reception building, the prisoners who were supposed to stay in the camp were registered, deloused, bathed and given their concentration camp inmate clothing . In July 1944, the "Canada" clearing squad in Birkenau comprised almost 600 prisoners. After thousands of Jews deported from Hungary arrived in Auschwitz, this work detail was increased by 1,000 prisoners. As of October 1944, 815 female prisoners and several hundred male prisoners were employed there. The Holocaust survivors Kitty Hart-Moxon and Krystyna Żywulska belonged to the “Canada” clean-up team.

When the magazines in Canada I and II were no longer sufficient to hold all the looted items, the belongings of the Holocaust victims were also temporarily stored in other camp sections or even in the open air.

After the camp liquidation

In the course of the " evacuation " of Auschwitz concentration camp on January 23, 1945, SS men set fire to thirty magazine barracks filled with the personal belongings of murdered prisoners, which burned down completely after days. The things stored there could probably no longer be brought into the interior of the Reich. In addition, the traces of the crime should be covered and the things should not fall into the hands of the advancing Red Army . After the liberation of the camp, two of the six barracks from Canada I that had not been burned out still contained tens of thousands of items of clothing and everyday objects. In addition, there were seven wagons filled with clothing and bed linen at the train ramp of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

literature

  • Wolfgang Benz , Barbara Distel (ed.): The place of terror. History of the National Socialist Concentration Camps . Vol. 5: Hinzert, Auschwitz, Neuengamme. CH Beck Verlag, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-52965-8 .
  • Wacław Długoborski , Franciszek Piper (eds.): Auschwitz 1940-1945. Studies on the history of the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp. Verlag Staatliches Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau, Oswiecim 1999, ISBN 83-85047-76-X . Five volumes:
    • I. Construction and structure of the camp.
    • II. The prisoners - living conditions, work and death.
    • III. Destruction.
    • IV. Resistance.
    • V. Epilog.
  • Andrzej Strzelecki: Final phase of KL Auschwitz - evacuation, liquidation and liberation of the camp , State Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau 1995, ISBN 83-85047-48-4 .
  • Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum (ed.): Auschwitz in the eyes of the SS. Oswiecim 1998, ISBN 83-85047-35-2 .
  • Hermann Langbein : People in Auschwitz. Frankfurt am Main, Berlin Vienna, Ullstein-Verlag, 1980, ISBN 3-54833014-2 .
  • Krystyna Żywulska : Where there were birch trees before: Survival report of a young woman from Auschwitz-Birkenau . Darmstadt: Darmstädter Blätter, 1979, first Przezylam Oswiecim , Warsaw 1946.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Verena Walter: Robbery . In: Wolfgang Benz, Barbara Distel (eds.): The place of terror. History of the National Socialist Concentration Camps . Vol. 5: Hinzert, Auschwitz, Neuengamme. CH Beck Verlag, Munich 2007, p. 129.
  2. ↑ Andrzej Strzelecki: The storage of stolen property and its preparation for further use , in: Wacław Długoborski, Franciszek Piper (ed.): Auschwitz 1940-1945. Studies on the history of the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp. , Oswiecim 1999, Volume II: The Prisoners. Conditions of existence, work and death , p. 184.
  3. ↑ a b c d Verena Walter: Robbery . In: Wolfgang Benz, Barbara Distel (eds.): The place of terror. History of the National Socialist Concentration Camps . Vol. 5: Hinzert, Auschwitz, Neuengamme. CH Beck Verlag, Munich 2007, p. 128f.
  4. ^ Andrzej Strzelecki: The storage of stolen property and its preparation for further use. In: Wacław Długoborski, Franciszek Piper (eds.): Auschwitz 1940-1945. Studies on the history of the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp. , Oswiecim 1999, Volume II: The Prisoners. Conditions of existence, work and death , p. 188.
  5. ↑ Quoted from: Hermann Langbein: People in Auschwitz. Frankfurt am Main, 1980, p. 163.
  6. ↑ State Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau (ed.): Auschwitz in the eyes of the SS. Oswiecim 1998, pp. 88f, 137 ff.
  7. ↑ a b Verena Walter: Robbery . In: Wolfgang Benz, Barbara Distel (eds.): The place of terror. History of the National Socialist Concentration Camps . Vol. 5: Hinzert, Auschwitz, Neuengamme. CH Beck Verlag, Munich 2007, p. 130.
  8. ^ A b Andrzej Strzelecki: The storage of stolen property and its preparation for further use. In: Wacław Długoborski, Franciszek Piper (eds.): Auschwitz 1940-1945. Studies on the history of the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp. , Oswiecim 1999, Volume II: The Prisoners. Conditions of existence, work and death , p. 186.
  9. ↑ a b Irena Strzelecka, Piotr Setkiewicz: The camp section BIIg ("Canada II") . In: Aleksander Lasik: The organizational structure of KL Auschwitz , in: Wacław Długoborski, Franciszek Piper (ed.): Auschwitz 1940-1945. Studies on the history of the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp. , Oswiecim 1999, Volume 1: Structure and Structure of the Camp , pp. 114f.
  10. ^ A b Andrzej Strzelecki: Final phase of KL Auschwitz - evacuation, liquidation and liberation of the camp , State Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau 1995, p. 244f.
  11. ↑ Brigitte Mihok: The Hungarian Jews . In: Wolfgang Benz, Barbara Distel (eds.): The place of terror. History of the National Socialist Concentration Camps . Vol. 5: Hinzert, Auschwitz, Neuengamme. CH Beck Verlag, Munich 2007, p. 145.
  12. ^ Andrzej Strzelecki: The storage of stolen property and its preparation for further use. In: Wacław Długoborski, Franciszek Piper (eds.): Auschwitz 1940-1945. Studies on the history of the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp. , Oswiecim 1999, Volume II: The Prisoners. Conditions of existence, work and death , p. 187ff.