Revelations of what happened in the Nazi concentration camp brothels

20th November 2009: SS-Chief Heinrich Heimler ordered the construction of brothels in ten of the big concentration camps like Mauthausen, Gusen, Flossenbürg, Buchenwald, Auschwitz-Stammlager, Auschwitz-Monowitz, Dachau, Neuengamme, Sachsenhausen and Mittelbau-Dora. The first of these special constructions within the concentration camps, began in 1942 and existed right up to 1945.

The purpose of these brothels was to reward, and encourage prisoners to higher efforts in the production and administration of the camps. Many of the camps were run by prisoners with the SS as overseers. Only a “select” group of “Aryan” prisoners were so rewarded. This was not restricted to Germans only. Others who could claim qualification for this “service” were inmates of Polish, Czech and French origin. The criteria was blonde hair and blue eyes. Most definitely forbidden were Russian and Jewish prisoners. The SS itself was prohibited from cohabitating with the imprisoned women. But rules are there to be broken, and the SS did precisely that.

Most of the German SS guards were housed with their families on the outskirts of the camps. The situation was different for the foreign guards who served the various branches of the Nazi armed forces including the KZ (Konzentrationslager =Concentration Camps) and special brothels were set up for them. These foreigners were recruited mainly from the Baltic States of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania; from Ukraine, Hungary, and some of the Balkan countries.

The existence of brothels in the camps was exposed by detainees who survived; and the victims of the brothels. One prisoner, Eugen Kogon, went so far as publishing a book titled Der SS-Staat (The SS-State – state within a state in 1946). Other survivors and victims made similar revelations. Apart from a few noises here and there, the subject matter was swept under the mat. One of the contributors to this situation was the beginning of the cold war.

A few years ago German  historian, Robert Sommer, decided to take a closer look into the allegations that was stifled so many years ago. He was encouraged to use the forced prostitution in the camps as his doctoral theses.
The camps were built mainly in Germany, and some in Poland, Austria and Czechoslovakia. Millions of people, men, women and children were arrested in Germany and the countries occupied by the Nazis and incarcerated in these hells on earth. Many of the inmates were used as guinea-pigs for all kinds of “medical research”. More often than not, these experiments were carried out without the use of anaesthetics. The brutalities of a man called Dr. Robert Mengele (Dr Death) sends shivers down the spine even today. There were many Mengeles experimenting in almost every camp.

Dr Sommer was faced with a daunting task. The subject matter was a taboo – both in the east and west. That is why it has taken 64 years after the end of the war for a book with such a theme to make it to the bookshelves. This was only possible due to the determination of the author and his painstaking researches in libraries and archives spread throughout Germany and neighbouring countries. Added to this was the difficult interviews with survivors involved in the matter under investigation.

The result is that we are presented in greater details of an otherwise vague aspect of the terror regime for the first time in its naked reality. Dr. Robert Sommer throws light on the darkness of the activities of Hitler and his cohorts in these murderous camps. Few who entered them, ever came out alive. Unfortunately, it is not possible to shove all the information within the confined space of this review.

I would also make bold to say that the publishers should seriously think of printing this very important work into other major languages.

Just to give the reader an example of what is at stake, here are some figures of the death toll in these murder factories. The inmates, mainly Jews, communists, anti-fascists, Roma & Sinti, Gays and Lesbians, dragged from all over Europe, were either gassed, hanged, shot or died under the brutal conditions in which they were kept. In the female camp Ravensbrück, 60 000 of the 92 000 who died there were victims of starvation and epidemics.
Buchenwald - 56 000, Ravensbrück (female KZ) - 92 000,
Sachsenhausen - 100 167, Dora – 15 000, Bergen-Belsen – 48 000,
Chelmno – 36 000 (Poland), Dachau – 31 951, Flossenbürg – 73 296,
Auschwitz (Oświęcim) - 4 000 000 Poland) , Belzec – 600 000 (Poland),
Maidanek-Lublin – 138 000 (Poland), Treblinka – 800 000 (Poland),
Theresienstadt (Terezín) – 58 000 (Czech Republic), Neuengamme – 82 000
Groß-Rosen – 20 000 (Poland), Stutthof – 80 000 (Poland), Natzweiler-Struthof – 25 000 (France), Sobibor – 250 000 (Poland), Mauthausen – 122 766 (Austria). The rest were situated in Germany. These are the main centres. The Nazis created hundreds of such camps throughout Europe which they occupied.

This list is endless because death reigned in Paris, Amsterdam, in Oradour and in Lidice as well as the streets, meadows, fields and in the forests. Not taken into account here are the many millions killed in air raids, and the invasion of large tracts of Europe by the fascist army. In the Soviet Union (Russia) alone, over 20 million lost their lives.

Over the years much material and information have been dug up about the happenings within the walls of these camps. Whoever went in there was a victim and had to suffer the whims and brutality of the SS-guards. These were houses of violence rigorously controlled by the SS. The camp was strictly divided, so that working sites, accommodation, torture and murder sections were separated from each other.

A serious look at the concentrations camps presents a picture of contradiction. In the first place the camps were set up to destroy the enemies of the Dritte Reich. Therefore huge signs were posted at the entrance of the biggest camps “Arbeit macht frei” (work liberates). The inmates had to work hard on the building site, with little food, to extend these camps. Although this slogan was confusing for a while, later it became clear what was behind it. It was a cynical way of saying “work yourself to death”.

The camps were a huge and lucrative reservoir of cheap skilled labour which was gratefully and gladly accepted by Germany’s industrial moguls who moved part of their production sites close to these camps. The majority of these productions were involved in supporting Hitler’s war efforts which earned the industrialists astronomical profits. So did the SS, which made them economically absolutely independent. Resources, extorted from the misery of helpless people, came in very handy for the SS who took cover all over the world when the war came to an end. With this loot, many of them opened lucrative businesses and lived in luxury, under false names, even in Germany although they were wanted people.

Many of these industrialists were charged by the allies after the war and found to be guilty for crimes against mankind and sentenced to longs terms of imprisonment. They were released after serving a few years when the cold war made its appearance and thereafter it was business as usual. Firms like Krupp, Philips, Siemens, and other well known names today went on to earn billions of Marks and wield tremendous influence on West German political and economy policies. Then and now.

In May 1939, Ravensbrück was established as the central concentration camp for women. It is about 120kms north of Berlin although women were also housed in other camps as well. It became the main “supply” centre for the brothels spread all over Nazi-occupied territory.

Robert Sommer went about his job with a determination and discretion regarding the living condition, misery and the survival tactics employed by the women.

In Buchenwald, the women were quarantined for about a week. The doors to the camp brothel were opened on 11 July 1943.

The timetable for the day was very strictly regulated. The women were awoken at 07:00 hours and had to clean their rooms. Between 08:00 – 09:00 they were engaged in physical exercises conducted by a fellow prisoner who herself worked as a prostitute in the camp. From 09:00 – 12:00 hours, they were allowed to attend to personal matters such as washing their clothes, ironing etc. Breakfast was eaten in their rooms before 08.00 hours. Lunch was at 11:30 in the canteen.

Afternoon rest was from noon until 14:00, and they were forced to remain in their room. Thereafter, there was needlework repairing clothes for the clothing closet. Nevertheless, there was enough time for the women to pursue other activities like ball games or plain sun-bathing in summer.

Perhaps the experiences of Magdalena Walter would suffice to give the reader a picture of the daily routine in all the brothels. She remembers the first prisoner who came to her. She was petrified and threatened to shred the man with a pair of scissors if he touched her. Off course she had no chance. The register for that day indicates that Magdalene Walter had to “entertain” six men.

Walter describes the daily routine as boring and waiting for the “invasion” in the evening when the male inmates were herded in for their “fun”. She said: “Every evening we had to allow the men to entertain themselves with our bodies for a period of two hours. That means they could come in, go to the doctor, be injected and then go to the room number allotted to them. Then it was in, on the job, down, out, back to the doctor – another injection out of the building. We had one bath with many toilets (the women had to clean themselves after each visit before taking on the next visitor). I must admit there was no shortage in cleanliness. Immediately thereafter came the next ‘customer’. Like a conveyor belt. They were not allowed more than 15 minutes”.

Each woman had to accommodate at least six “visitors” each evening although this varied from camp to camp.

There were thousands of women like Magdalene Walter who were forced to “employ” their bodies to stay alive. But at what cost? What happened to Magdalene and the others? Were they ever compensated for the sacrifice, humiliation and suffering that they endured at the hands of the beast that was the German SS? This is the next phase of the battle although it can be taken for granted that very few of these heroines are alive today. Maybe the state should very seriously consider erecting a monument to these victims of Hitler’s barbarity. After all, the German state is very fond of erecting monuments (some, for very dubious reasons). Why not for these women?

I think it is appropriate to conclude this review with a poem composed by Fritz Löhner-Beda, an Austrian who was a prisoner in Buchenwald and Auschwitz Concentration Camps. He died in Auschwitz.

A Bedtime Story
Once there was a dragon,
Its mouth was wide and large
Its jaws were like a tiger’s
Its hooves were made to charge.
It was always hungry
It ate the whole town up,
Ate countries and ate nations
And looked for more to sup.
From morn to noon it gobbled
At night it quenched its thirst.
It bit off more than it could chew
And so at last it burst.
It is sad that Nazism is regrouping and not only in Germany.
The lessons of the past are being thrown to the winds and
the horrors of the Holocaust are being denied.
Das KZ-Bordell (Concentration Camp Brothels)
Author: Dr Robert Sommer
Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh – Paderborn - publishers
445 pages - €38.00

By Eric Singh

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