Schutzhaftlagerführer

Schutzhaftlagerführer (head of the "preventive detention camp") was a paramilitary title of the SS, specific to the concentration and extermination camps Totenkopfverbande ("Death's-Head units"). A Schutzhaftlagerführer was in charge of the economic function of the camp. Usually, there was more than one SS man performing that function at each location due to their enormous size. Schutzhaftlagerführers received orders from the central offices in Berlin, such as DEST run directly by the SS. Prisoners' lives were entirely in their hands. Their orders, which usually involved routine maltreatment of condemned victims, were carried out through "assignments" so they would not have to deal with the dead resulting from them.[1]

Franz Hößler served as Schutzhaftlagerführer at Mittelbau-Dora. Posing after capture by the Allies in 1945

The Schutzhaftlagerführer and his adjutant were responsible for the operation of the camp. The Schutzhaftlagerführer had to maintain order, take care of daily routines, roll calls and so on. Under him were the Rapportführer, the Arbeitseinsatzführer and the Oberaufseherin (if there was a women's camp). They were directly responsible for order in the camp and they assigned prisoners to the outside work details. The Blockführer, each of whom was responsible for one or more barracks, were subordinate to them.

Notable people
Name Highest SS rank attained US/UK equivalent rank Concentration camp
Hans Aumeier SS-Sturmbannführer Major Auschwitz I
Georg Bachmayer SS-Hauptsturmführer Captain Mauthausen
Hermann Baranowski SS-Oberführer Senior colonel Dachau
Hermann Campe SS-Obersturmführer Natzweiler-Struthof, Bergen-Belsen
Karl Fritzsch SS-Hauptsturmführer Captain Auschwitz, Flossenbürg
Otto Harder SS-Untersturmführer Second lieutenant Ahlem
Franz Hössler SS-Obersturmführer First lieutenant Auschwitz, Mittelbau-Dora, Bergen-Belsen
Karl-Otto Koch SS-Standartenführer Colonel Lichtenburg
Josef Kramer SS-Hauptsturmführer Captain Natzweiler-Struthof
Paul Heinrich Theodor Müller SS-Obersturmführer First lieutenant Auschwitz
Alexander Piorkowski SS-Sturmbannführer Major Dachau
Wilhelm Ruppert Dachau, Majdanek
Albert Sauer Sachsenhausen
Wilhelm Schitli SS-Hauptsturmführer Captain Neuengamme
Wolfgang Seuß SS-Hauptscharführer Natzweiler-Struthof
Günther Tamaschke SS-Standartenführer Colonel Dachau
Anton Thumann SS-Obersturmführer First lieutenant Gross-Rosen, Majdanek, Neuengamme
Jakob Weiseborn SS-Sturmbannführer Major Dachau, Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald
Egon Zill SS-Sturmbannführer Major Lichtenburg, Dachau, Buchenwald

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ Paul B. Jaskot (January 4, 2002). The Architecture of Oppression (Google Books). Routledge (reprint). p. 38. ISBN 0203007670. Retrieved May 26, 2013. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  • Zentner, Christian & Bedürftig, Friedemann, The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich, (Macmillan), New York (1991)

Additional sources

edit