The Theory and Practice of Hell

“ The best o f the many books on Nazi con centration camps and the society behind them .”

— C. Wright Mills

“ Kogon om its nothing and spares no one. His ac count, magnificently controlled and dispassionate . . . achieves a devastating im pact.”

— The Nation

“ Here is a book so chilling in its catalogue o f bar barism as to shock even the m ost calloused . . . ”

— John Barkham

Book o f the M onth Club News

“ Urgently recommended for public and college libraries!”

—Library Journal

The German Concentration Camps and the System Behind Them

Translated from the German by Heinz Norden

BERKLEY BOOKS, NEW YORK

Translated by Heinz Norden from the German,
Der SS Staat.

This Berkley book contains the complete text of the original hardcover edition.

It has been completely reset in a typeface designed for easy reading, and was printed from new film.

THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF HELL

A Berkley Book / published by arrangement with Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc.

PRINTING HISTORY

Farrar. Straus and Cudahy, Inc. edition published 1950 First Windhover edition / March 1958

First Berkley edition
February 1980 Second printing
April 1981

Third printing / July 1982

All rights reserved.

This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by mimeograph or any other means, without permission. For information address: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc., 19 Union Square West, New York, New York 10003.

ISBN: 0 -425 -05946 -4

A BERKLEY BOOK ® TM 757,375

Berkley Books are published by Berkley Publishing Corporation,

200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016. The name “ BERKLEY” and the stylized “ B" with design are trademarks belonging to Berkley Publishing Corporation.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

CONTENTS

Publishers’ Introduction to the American Edition . . . ix

1. The Aims and Organization of the SS Super State . .
. 1

2. The Purpose, Character and Number of the German Concentration Camps 19

3. The Categories of Prisoners 29

4. The Physical Set-Up of the Camps 41

5. The Organization of the Cam ps 53

6. Admission to the Camps and

Duration of Imprisonment 63

7. Daily R ou tin e 77

8. Working C onditions....................................................... 85

9. Discipline 105

10. F o o d 113

11. Money and Mail 123

12. “ Recreation” 133

13. Sanitation and H ealth 141

14. Scientific Experiments 153

15. Reprisals against the J e w s 175

16. Reprisals against Other “ Inferior Races” 199

17. Liquidation of Other “ Undesirables” 223

18. Special Places of Execution and

Disposal of the Dead 231

19. Statistics of M ortality 247

20. The Underground Struggle 255

21. The End of the Cam ps 275

22. The Psychology of the SS 289

23. The Psychology of the Prisoners 305

24. The German People and the Concentration Camps— After 1945 325