Sachsenburg concentration camp

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View of the Sachsenburg Concentration Camp (1933)
Spinning factory below the castle (2016)
Factory yard (2016)

The Sachsenburg concentration camp was one of the early National Socialist concentration camps . It existed from May 1933 to August 1937. From 1934 it was the only concentration camp in Saxony . The camp is regarded as the link between the early concentration camps and the later concentration camp system and as an experimental field and training facility for the camp SS .

Concentration camp history

Construction of the camp

Spinning factory (2016)

The former spinning mill in Sachsenburg in the Zschopautal was designated in April 1933 by the Saxon protective custody center as the location for a large concentration camp for around 2,000 prisoners . At the same time, hundreds of small detention and torture sites were built all over Saxony, which were closed in the course of 1933.

In May and June 1933 the Sachsenburg concentration camp was set up and established. An advance detachment of initially 50 prisoners, housed in Sachsenburg Castle, made beds and furnishings for the future camp. The prisoners were to the renovation work in the castle for the Gauführerinnenschule the National Socialist Women used.

At the end of May, all of the prisoners moved to the former spinning mill. The captured communists , social democrats and trade unionists were mostly transferred from the Plaue concentration camp and from various Chemnitz detention centers to the Sachsenburg concentration camp. The guards initially consisted of both SA and SS members.

The camp under the SA (1933/34)

The prisoners were housed inside the factory (2011)

The Sachsenburg concentration camp was initially headed by SA Standard Leader Max Hähnel , who also commanded the SA guards. Hähnel had been released from his work as senior tax secretary by the Zschopau tax office for this task . He pursued a concept of “ re-educating ” political prisoners, but prisoners were also mistreated during his time as camp director . In the referendum held in the camp on the withdrawal of the German Reich from the League of Nations on November 12, 1933, a majority of the prisoners refused to approve. As a result, inmates were harassed and ill-treated.

The prisoners had to work in various commandos under the SA: In addition to the workshops in the camp, there were other external commands, for example in the nearby quarry , regulating the Zschopau and building settlements in the city of Frankenberg .

In the early days of the camp, visits from relatives of the detainees were possible at set times. The inmates were also allowed to write postcards to the outside world, but these were censored .

The camp was initially under the Saxon protective custody center and was run by the Flöha authorities . From April 1934, the Colditz concentration camp was regarded as a satellite camp of the Sachsenburg concentration camp until it was dissolved in August 1934. Organizationally, the early Augustusburg concentration camp also belonged to Sachsenburg. The first known deaths among prisoners occurred during this period. Bruno Kießling and Kurt Herrmann Schubert died in the process.

The camp under the SS (1934-37)

Cells of the former Sachsenburg concentration camp (2017)

In August 1934, after the staged " Röhm Putsch ", the " SS-Sonderkommando Sachsen " took over the concentration camp which had previously been run by the SA. As a result, the concentration camp was reorganized according to the system introduced by Theodor Eicke in the Dachau concentration camp . From then on, the Sachsenburg concentration camp served as a military training facility for the SS guards. The takeover of the camp by the SS meant a significant deterioration in prison conditions. Violence and mistreatment, such as during questioning , increased. Corporal punishment was officially introduced in April 1935 .

Numerous prisoners died in the camp, and the days of abuse and eventual murder of Max Sachs caused horror in October 1935. Inmates had to do forced labor to build the shooting range in the back of the camp grounds. This was accompanied by the increasing isolation of the camp from the outside world.

From September 1934, after the closure of the Hohnstein concentration camp, the Sachsenburg concentration camp was the only concentration camp in Saxony. In 1935 the number of prisoners rose again: In several waves of arrests, political opponents and Jehovah's Witnesses who had refused to participate in military service were transferred to the camp. People who had served prison terms for political activism as well as opposition clergy came to Sachsenburg.

Political opponents continued to form the majority among the prisoners, but new groups of prisoners were added. In the late phase of the concentration camp, among other things, “criminal prisoners” were imprisoned. In February 1937 the authorities transferred more than 300 such " preventive prisoners " to Sachsenburg.

Dissolution of the camp

With the establishment of larger centralized concentration camps such as Sachsenhausen and Buchenwald , the Sachsenburg concentration camp was dissolved. In July 1937 prisoners were transported to Sachsenhausen and, in some cases, directly to Buchenwald. The last prisoner detachment left Sachsenburg on September 9, 1937.

Most of the members of the SS command staff and the guard troops also followed the prisoners to the newly established concentration camps. Organizational principles and torture methods developed and tested in Sachsenburg found their way into the concentration camp system.

From 1938 the factory site was used as a spinning mill and finishing company by the Bruno Tautenhahn company. The area was redesigned and the outdoor pool was built on the site of the shooting range .

The camp site

The building of the former concentration camp headquarters (2015)
The former commandant's villa of the Sachsenburg concentration camp (2015)

The site of the former concentration camp is located below Sachsenburg Castle on a small peninsula on the Zschopau , which is bordered by a mill moat. Sachsenburg is considered to be one of the best-preserved former concentration camps in its building stock.

Factory building

The factory building, which dates from the 19th century, was built as a spinning mill and was repeatedly changed through additions and renovations. The prisoners, who were divided into individual “ companies ”, were housed on the upper floors of the building . In the large halls there were hundreds of places to sleep in three-story beds.

On the upper two floors, under the command of the SS, there were the crew rooms and a dining room for the guards. The factory building is largely empty today. A built-in hydropower plant is in operation.

Command building with cells

Next to the entrance to the concentration camp of the building was located headquarters . The commandant's office (Department I) dealt primarily with the affairs of SS members. She was directly subordinate to the commandant or his "right hand", the adjutant .

There were four detention cells in the headquarters building , which to this day have inscriptions from prisoners on the walls and doors. A permanent exhibition on the history of the Sachsenburg concentration camp is to be set up in the building.

Guide villa

The building, also known as the “driver's house” or the “commanders 'villa”, was built as a factory owners' villa. The Führer's villa was separated from the actual camp site by a fence and was within sight of the roll call area. In the building there were living quarters for the concentration camp leaders, in particular for the camp leader and commanders, as well as a "Führer casino".

The listed villa is in a dilapidated condition. In 2015, the Frankenberg City Council decided to demolish the building, which has been criticized by historians . After a decision made in June 2018, the foundations are to be preserved.

Other preserved buildings

In addition, other buildings that were used during the time of the concentration camp have been preserved. This includes the former gymnasium, the political department, a garage complex and former workshop buildings as well as the forge . In addition, the former roll call square and the former quarry can still be visited today.

Prisoners

Number of prisoners

The exact number of prisoners cannot be determined due to the lack of records of prisoners. The research assumes a total of more than 10,000 prisoners. So far, the names of 7200 Sachsenburg prisoners have been identified.

The capacities of the camp allowed almost 2,000 prisoners to be taken in, but the number of prisoners fluctuated greatly. The documented number of prisoners was highest in autumn 1933, when 1,337 prisoners were imprisoned in Sachsenburg after the closure of smaller camps, and in autumn 1935, when 1,400 prisoners were held in Sachsenburg after a wave of arrests.

Inmate groups

As in other early concentration camps, mainly political opponents of the National Socialists were imprisoned in Sachsenburg. By far the largest group of inmates were members of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and its apron organizations. In addition, social democrats and members of socialist groups as well as non-partisan trade unionists were interned in Sachsenburg.

From autumn 1935 onwards, increasing numbers of Jews , Jehovah's Witnesses and pastors , especially those of the Confessing Church , were imprisoned in Sachsenburg. The number of “criminal” prisoners, most of whom were arrested for minor offenses, is difficult to estimate, as is the number of prisoners stigmatized as “ anti-social ”.

Deaths in the camp

The number of prisoners who were murdered, died or killed themselves in the Sachsenburg concentration camp cannot be precisely determined. According to the former inmate Hugo Gräf, a total of 20 inmates were tortured to death in the period between August 1934 and the end of 1935 alone. Research has identified the names of 19 people murdered and deceased in Sachsenburg concentration camp. The most famous death is the brutal murder of the Jewish former Social Democratic editor and Reichstag member Max Sachs in early October 1935.

Known inmates

Concentration camp perpetrator

Commanders and camp managers

The first camp manager of the Sachsenburg concentration camp was SA-Standartenführer Max Hähnel , who set up the concentration camp from May 1933 and managed it for almost a year until April 1934. After the camp was taken over by the SS in August 1934, Max Simon initially managed the concentration camp on a temporary basis.

The first concentration camp commandant was Karl Otto Koch in October and November 1934 , who later led the Buchenwald concentration camp. After Walter Gerlach (December 1934 to April 1935), Bernhard Schmidt took over the command. He was in charge of the camp for more than two years, until the concentration camp was dissolved in July 1937. Gerhard Weigel (September 1934 to September 1935) and Arthur Rödl (September 1935 to July 1937) served as security camp leaders .

SA and SS guards

The security staff of the SA consisted of men from the Chemnitz / Dresden region , who were on average 31 years old and had already belonged to the NSDAP and the SA before the Nazi takeover .

After the camp was taken over by the SS , the SS guards were stationed in Sachsenburg in autumn 1934, and from March 1936 as “III. SS-Totenkopfsturmbann Sachsen ”. In January 1936 the maximum number of 632 members of the guard was registered. The members of the SS guards went through mostly two years of military training in the Sachsenburg concentration camp . With an average of 23 years, they were significantly younger than the SA guards.

Legal prosecution of the concentration camp perpetrators

After the Second World War , there was no trial in which the crimes committed in the Sachsenburg concentration camp were the focus. None of the Sachsenburg concentration camp leaders were held legally responsible for their involvement in the concentration camp terror.

Trials against members of the concentration camp guards were carried out, with one exception, in connection with acts in other concentration camps. In 1949, in a court case by the Chemnitz regional court in Oederan, accused former security guards of the Sachsenburg concentration camp were sentenced to prison terms. Another former Sachsenburg security guard was convicted of his involvement in crimes in the Plaue concentration camp .

In later years there were no further proceedings against Sachsenburg concentration camp perpetrators. The West German investigations against Hans Haubold von Einsiedel and others in connection with the murder of Max Sachs did not lead to any convictions. Individual members of the security guards of the Sachsenburg concentration camp were sentenced after the Second World War .

Sachsenburg Memorial

Memorial in the GDR

The Sachsenburg Concentration Camp Memorial erected in 1968 (2016)

After the Second World War , memorials were erected on the former site of the Sachsenburg concentration camp. In Sachsenburg's coat of arms, a red triangle reminds of the political prisoners of the camp. In 1974 the SED set up a memorial room in the factory building used by a nationally owned twisting mill. In it, the state order of the GDR was presented as the " anti-fascist legacy" of the former political prisoners. Youth groups in particular visited the memorial and were looked after by the Sachsenburg teacher Gottfried Weber and his wife. After the end of the GDR, the exhibition in the former factory building in Sachsenburg was closed, and the memorial erected in 1968 was preserved.

Plans for future memorial

Since the 1990s, various local initiatives have been fighting against the forgetting of Sachsenburg's concentration camp history. The “Sachsenburg Camp Working Group” founded in 2009 and the “Geschichtswerkstatt Sachsenburg”, which emerged from the “Initiative Klick” in 2018, are committed to building a concentration camp memorial .

In June 2018, the Frankenberg City Council decided to set up a memorial. This is to be funded by the Saxon Memorials Foundation. The completion of an outdoor exhibition in the form of a “Path of Remembrance” is planned for 2019. A permanent exhibition is to be opened in the former headquarters building by 2021.

literature

Web links

Commons : Sachsenburg concentration camp  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Carina Baganz / Bert Pampel: The early concentration camps in Saxony . In: Bert Pampel; Mike Schmeitzner (Ed.): Sachsenburg Concentration Camp (1933-1937) , Series of publications by the Sächsische Gedenkstätten Foundation, Volume 16, Sandstein, Dresden 2018, ISBN 978-3-95498-382-7 , pp. 16–33, here p. 32 .
  2. ↑ Anna Schüller: The origin and development of the Sachsenburg concentration camp from 1933 to 1937 . In: Bert Pampel; Mike Schmeitzner (Ed.): Sachsenburg Concentration Camp (1933-1937) , Series of publications by the Sächsische Gedenkstätten Foundation, Volume 16, Sandstein, Dresden 2018, ISBN 978-3-95498-382-7 , pp. 49-73, here p. 50 .
  3. ↑ Schüller, Origin and Development , p. 51.
  4. ↑ Sachsenburg Memorial
  5. ↑ Volker Straehle: "Great practitioner in the treatment of prisoners". Max Hähnel, the first camp manager of the Sachsenburg concentration camp. In: Bert Pampel; Mike Schmeitzner (Ed.): Sachsenburg Concentration Camp (1933-1937) , Series of publications by the Sächsische Gedenkstätten Foundation, Volume 16, Sandstein, Dresden 2018, ISBN 978-3-95498-382-7 , pp. 96-113, here p. 102 .
  6. ↑ Schüller, Origin and Development , p. 57.
  7. ↑ Schüller, Origin and Development , p. 60.
  8. ↑ Schüller, Origin and Development , pp. 52 and 54.
  9. ↑ Baganz / Pampel, The early concentration camps , p. 31.
  10. ↑ Schüller, Origin and Development , p. 68.
  11. ↑ Swen Steinberg: Murder in the Sachsenburg camp. Prosecution and culture of remembrance in the Max Sachs case. In: Bert Pampel; Mike Schmeitzner (Ed.): Sachsenburg Concentration Camp (1933-1937) , Series of publications by the Sächsische Gedenkstätten Foundation, Volume 16, Sandstein, Dresden 2018, ISBN 978-3-95498-382-7 , pp. 405–430, here p. 416 .
  12. ↑ Schüller, Origin and Development , p. 67.
  13. ↑ Baganz / Pampel, The early concentration camps , p. 32.
  14. ↑ Schüller, Origin and Development , p. 71.
  15. ↑ Schüller, Origin and Development , p. 73.
  16. ^ Anna Schüller / Volker Straehle: The photographic view of the Sachsenburg concentration camp . In: Bert Pampel; Mike Schmeitzner (Ed.): Sachsenburg Concentration Camp (1933-1937) , Series of publications by the Sächsische Gedenkstätten Foundation, Volume 16, Sandstein, Dresden 2018, ISBN 978-3-95498-382-7 , pp. 178–203, here p. 197 .
  17. ^ Volker Straehle: The SS leadership personnel of the Sachsenburg concentration camp. Career paths of commanders and protective custody camp leaders. In: Bert Pampel; Mike Schmeitzner (Ed.): Sachsenburg Concentration Camp (1933-1937) , Series of publications by the Sächsische Gedenkstätten Foundation, Volume 16, Sandstein, Dresden 2018, ISBN 978-3-95498-382-7 , pp. 156–177, here p. 157 .
  18. ↑ Bert Pampel: From the “forgotten concentration camp” to a new memorial. Public memory of the Sachsenburg concentration camp since 1990. In: Bert Pampel; Mike Schmeitzner (Ed.): Sachsenburg Concentration Camp (1933-1937) , Series of publications by the Sächsische Gedenkstätten Foundation, Volume 16, Sandstein, Dresden 2018, ISBN 978-3-95498-382-7 , pp. 445–456, here p. 456 .
  19. ↑ Schüller / Strähle, The photographic view , p. 194.
  20. ↑ City of Frankenberg / Saxony: June 21 , 2018 - decision of the Sachsenburg concentration camp memorial .
  21. ^ Dietmar Wendler: The prisoner society of the Sachsenburg concentration camp 1933 to 1937. In: Bert Pampel; Mike Schmeitzner (Ed.): Sachsenburg Concentration Camp (1933-1937) , Series of publications by the Sächsische Gedenkstätten Foundation, Volume 16, Sandstein, Dresden 2018, ISBN 978-3-95498-382-7 , pp. 206–222, here p. 207 .
  22. ↑ Wendler, The Prisoner Society , p. 210.
  23. ^ Gerhard Lindemann : Evangelical pastor in the Sachsenburg concentration camp . In: ders., Mike Schmeitzner (Ed.): ... that's where we strike. Political violence in Saxony 1930–1935 (= Reports and Studies No. 78 of the Hannah Arendt Institute for Research on Totalitarianism). V & R unipress, Göttingen 2020, ISBN 978-3-8471-0934-1 , pp. 163–192.
  24. ↑ Schüller, Origin and Development , p. 69.
  25. ↑ Hans Brenner et al. (Ed.): Nazi terror and persecution in Saxony. From the early concentration camps to the death marches , series of publications by the Saxon State Center for Political Education, Dresden 2018, p. 311.
  26. ↑ Steinberg, Mord im Lager Sachsenburg , p. 417.
  27. ↑ Ebersdorf personalities (Chemnitz-Ebersdorf)
  28. ^ Strähle, Das SS-Führpersonal , p. 159.
  29. ↑ Ibid.
  30. ↑ Schüller, Die SA- und SS-Wachmannschaften , p. 87.
  31. ↑ Schüller, Die SA- und SS-Wachmannschaften , p. 81.
  32. ↑ Schüller, Die SA- und SS-Wachmannschaften , p. 89.
  33. ^ Strähle, Das SS-Führpersonal , p. 160.
  34. ↑ Schüller, Die SA- und SS-Wachmannschaften , p. 85.
  35. ↑ Ibid.
  36. ^ Eva Werner: Origin and function of the Sachsenburg concentration camp memorial in the GDR. In: Bert Pampel; Mike Schmeitzner (Ed.): Sachsenburg Concentration Camp (1933-1937) , Series of publications by the Sächsische Gedenkstätten Foundation, Volume 16, Sandstein, Dresden 2018, ISBN 978-3-95498-382-7 , pp. 431–444, here p. 437 .
  37. ↑ Anna Schüller: Sachsenburg Concentration Camp Memorial - Wrestling for an Appropriate Place of Remembrance, Memorial Circular No. 191, pp. 21-35 Retrieved on October 9, 2018.
  38. Jump up ↑ Pampel, Vom “forgotten KZ” , p. 456.

Coordinates: 50 ° 55 ′ 56.5 "  N , 13 ° 1 ′ 36.8"  E