Personnel in the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp
The staff in the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp worked in the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp at the time of National Socialism . The personnel distribution for the concentration camps was uniformly specified by the Inspection of the Concentration Camps (IKL). In the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp there were six departments that performed different camp-related tasks. The structure of the concentration camps in the structure of the departments, however, was based on the size of the concentration camp. Thus, not all concentration camps had this compilation of departments listed for the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp.
Scope and composition of the warehouse staff
In June 1944, the camp staff consisted of 1,000 people. After the Mittelbau concentration camp became an independent concentration camp in October 1944, around 3,300 SS men were employed there from the end of 1944 when the SS-Totenkopfsturmbann Mittelbau was founded. After the evacuation of the Auschwitz concentration camp , more SS men came to the Mittelbau concentration camp, which led to an increase in camp personnel. Over half of the guards were originally members of the Luftwaffe and were not transferred to the Waffen SS until September 1, 1944, a few weeks before the SS-Totenkopfsturmbann was founded . In addition, so-called ethnic Germans, mainly from Yugoslavia, were deployed in the guards. The personnel of the six site departments listed below comprised only about 15% of the total strength of the warehouse personnel.
Department I: Headquarters
The command office was the highest authority; the camp commandant was in command of all SS personnel. The adjutants acted to support the camp commanders .
Camp commanders
| Camp commandant | time |
|---|---|
| Otto Foerschner | September 1943 to February 1, 1945 |
| Richard Baer | February 1, 1945 to April 1945 |
Adjutants
| Adjutants | time |
|---|---|
| Hans Joachim Ritz | September 1943 to April 1944 |
| Heinrich Detmers | December 1943 to November 1944 |
| Kurt Heinrich | November 1944 to February 1945 |
| Karl Höcker | February 1945 to April 1945 |
Department II: Political Department (Camp Gestapo)
The tasks of the ( Political Department ) essentially comprised the fight against the camp resistance movement, the prevention of escapes and contact with the outside world, the preparation and administration of prisoner files as well as the correspondence with the Gestapo , the criminal police and the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA).
Head of the Political Department
| Surname | time |
|---|---|
| Chief Criminal Secretary Hans Huwe | July 1944 to January 1945 |
| Criminal Secretary Karl Herschelmann | January 1945 to February 1945 |
| Criminal Secretary Krese | February 1945 |
| Hans Schurz | March 1945 to April 1945 |
Other staff in the political department of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp: Wilhelm Boger , Pery Broad
Department III: Management of protective custody camps
The head of the protective custody camp management was also the commandant's deputy. As a rule, he conducted official correspondence with superordinate and subordinate departments. Report leaders, block leaders and command leaders were subordinate to him. They guarded the forced labor inside the camp and in the external detachments and camps. They had authority over functionaries and inmates.
| Surname | function | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Heinrich Forster | Protective custody camp leader | January 1944 to July 1944 |
| Hans Möser | Protective custody camp leader | July 1944 to January 1945 |
| Franz Hoessler | Protective custody camp leader | February 1945 to April 1945 |
| Erhard Brauny | Report leader | August 1943 to November 1944 |
| Otto Brinkmann | II. Report leader | October 1941 to mid-1943 |
| Kurt Brumm | II. Report leader | October 1944 to April 1945 |
| Josef Kestel | Report leader | ? |
Other personnel in the department of protective custody camp management in Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp: Xaver Starkfel , Wilhelm Dörr
Department III / E: Labor deployment
The labor deployment department was headed by the labor deployment leader. The Labor Service Leader, who reports directly to the SS Economic and Administrative Main Office, was responsible for dividing up the prisoner commands as well as assigning them to civil companies.
| Surname | time |
|---|---|
| Alois Kurz | August 1943 to December 1944 |
| Rehn | January 1945 |
| Wilhelm Simon | October 1943 to March 1945 |
| Max Sell | February 1945 to April 1945 |
Department IV: Administration (SS site administration)
At the head was the SS administrator . Department IV regulated the supply of clothing and food. The confiscated property of the inmates was administered here.
| Surname | Period |
|---|---|
| Westphal | ? - September 1944 |
| Otto Brenneis | September 1944 to April 1945 |
Department V: Medical Services (on-site doctor)
Department V ( medical services ) included the concentration camp doctors and SS medical ranks from the infirmary. After the murder of prisoners, the camp and SS on-site doctor issued death certificates with a natural cause of death.
Site doctor
| Surname | Period |
|---|---|
| Dr. Karl Kahr | January 1944 to January 1945 |
| Dr. Eduard Wirths | February 1945 to April 1945 |
Other staff in the medical service department in Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp:
- Camp doctors: Heinrich Plaza , Alfred Kurzke , Wilhelm Michaelsen, Heinrich Rindfleisch , Alois Gaberle
- Dentists: Alfred Kaiser, Palfner
Department VI: Culture Department
The cultural department was responsible for looking after the troops. Training evenings and film screenings should shape the worldview of the warehouse staff.
| Surname | Period |
|---|---|
| Kurt Knittel | February 1945 to April 1945 |
Guard company Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp
The troops formed the actual guards of the concentration camp. The guard company was responsible for the external security of the concentration camp, and was partly also deployed inside the concentration camp.
Commander of the SS-Totenkopfsturmbann Mittelbau
| Surname | Period |
|---|---|
| Sepp Kolmar | ? |
| Staupendahl | September 1944 to January 1945 |
| Small | ? |
literature
- Jens-Christian Wagner (ed.): Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp 1943–1945 . Accompanying volume for the permanent exhibition at the Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp Memorial. Wallstein, Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-8353-0118-4 .
- Jens Christian Wagner: Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp. In: Wolfgang Benz , Barbara Distel (eds.): The Place of Terror - History of the National Socialist Concentration Camps , Volume 7, Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-406-52967-2 .
- Jens-Christian Wagner: Production of death: The Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp , Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-89244-439-0 .
- Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich: Who was what before and after 1945. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 3-596-16048-0 .
- Andrè Sellier: Forced labor in the rocket tunnel - history of the Dora camp , zu Klampen, Lüneburg 2000, ISBN 3-924245-95-9 .