The Theory and Practice of Hell (18 page)

H

AND DURATION OF IMPRISONMENT

Only an infinitesimal number of prisoners had any idea of what awaited them when they were admitted to a con centration camp for the first time, though most of them were filled with grave forebodings. Many had heard about the atrocities in the camps and had already been mistreated by the Gestapo. They were prepared for the worst. But their ex pectations were at best vague and were invariably exceeded by reality.

Prisoners were usually arrested at home, preferably at night, and placed in a police jail. There they might be kept for days, weeks and sometimes months, in an isolation cell or with as many as twenty or thirty fellow sufferers. Treatment at the hands of the police was indifferent, depending on the whim of the officers, traditionally sworn to fealty to any regime that happened to be in power. Few prisoners had the good fortune to deal with amiable or even helpful guards. From the concentration-camp viewpoint, police treatment was quite tolerable. From a broadly humanitarian viewpoint, the behavior of many German policemen toward political prisoners, especially in the early years of the Nazi regime, was beyond belief.

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After a certain time, at any hour of the day or night, whenever the Gestapo official in question pleased, the prisoner was brought up for interrogation. Those who were lucky were not beaten at all, or not immediately. As a rule there was at least mental torment. Jews never got off without mistreatment.

On another day the cell door opened. The constable offered a slip of red paper for signature. This was the Protective Custody Warrant, listing vital statistics and a vague general reason for detention: “ Placed in protective custody for suspicion of treasonable activities” ; or simply, “ Because of the danger that he may exploit his liberty against the interests of the National Socialist State and its institutions.” There were a number of other variations.

There followed more days of waiting—sometimes weeks— until off went the prisoner to the concentration camp. Ship ment was always in convoys—dozens, hundreds, even thousands, including many who had never even seen a red slip!

The trip might take twelve hours or twelve days and longer. It might lead through half a dozen jails with stop-overs of several days. It was always an ordeal, even when the police escort did not happen to consist of bullies. Hunger and thirst, overcrowding, lack of sleep, heat and cold—these were the minimum hazards. Most larger shipments were nothing but a series of brutalities. As many as 150 prisoners were herded into a single cattle or freight car. When the doors were opened again, as many as thirty bodies might topple out, crushed or suffocated en route. When passenger cars were used, the prisoners had to sit for any length of time up to thirty-six hours staring into the lights—the windows were screened—six to eight men to a compartment, continuously covered by guns. When streets or squares had to be traversed to and from jails, the prisoners were shackled like felons and marched under armed guard. The final railhead was reached in a state of exhaustion.

From the railroad station the prisoners might be taken to the concentration camps in the familiar “ Black Marias,” or herded into trucks. Or they could be marched on foot, in long straggling columns. This latter method was especially bad, since many of the arrivals had bags which they had to lug

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along in double time, with blows raining down on them. If they fell, they were beaten into insensibility or simply shot down. Those who carried no luggage had to march the final distance to the camp with hands raised above their heads. Millions of men made this march, often over roads built by their fellow sufferers.

The arrival in camp was followed by “ welcoming ceremonies.” A horde of loitering SS noncoms would greedily hurl itself at the fresh game. There was another barrage of blows and kicks, reinforced by stones and cold-water hoses. Men were thrown to the ground by hair or beard. Those who wore ties were choked. Next, hours had to be spent waiting outside the Political Department, arms laced behind the head in the so-called “ Saxon Salute,” often in a deep knee-bend. This took place regardless of heat or cold or rain, without food or water, without a chance to go to the toilet. All the while any SS man might vent his spleen on the exhausted men. On one occasion a prisoner named Heribert Froboess was admitted to the Sachsenburg concentration camp. Froboess was arrested as a supposed member of the Franciscan Order and treated as such throughout his camp sojourn, though he did not happen to be a monk at all. He was standing in the “ Saxon Salute” after his arrival, when a certain SS Sergeant Kampe, to the great glee of the assembled SS, urinated over him from head to foot. SS Major Rodl, wearer of the Order of the Blood, nearly split his sides with laughter. Kampe later advanced to the rank of captain and came to be a much-feared

man in more camps than one.

When larger shipments arrived late at night, or when the waiting period extended beyond the end of the working day, the arrivals were placed in the camp prison overnight. Groups of ten to twelve men were herded into cells four by six feet in size, kicks and blows serving to get the doors closed. The win dows were tightly closed and screened. The radiators, which could not be shut off inside the cells, were turned on full blast. Within half an hour the oxygen in the cells had become all but used up, and within an hour or two most of the men had fainted—it was physically impossible for them to fall to the floor of course. The doors were opened only after morning roll call was over, and the admission formalities were resumed, with the prisoners in worse condition than ever.

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6 E U G E N KO G O N

The first step, accompanied by the usual quota of blows and kicks, was the recording of personal data by the Political Department. This department had to keep careful records of every camp inmate, every death, every discharge, every trans fer. An accurate record on admission was therefore essential. A personal record form was filled out for each prisoner, listing his physical description, military and police record, classification and the agency that admitted him. The prisoner had to certify the accuracy of his statements with his sig nature. False statements were subject to severe penalties.

Essential data from the personal record form were trans ferred to a file card, and a photograph of the prisoner was at tached to both documents. Other documents were attached to the personal record form—Protective Custody Warrant, a transcript of the Gestapo interrogation,
etc.
Together these formed the prisoner’s personnel file. Later, copies of birth and marriage certificates were obtained from the prisoners’ home communities, as a check on the accuracy of their statements. In this way the camp administration got a clear picture of the background of each prisoner. The assembled personnel file was submitted to the Commandant and then filed alphabetically in safes in the Political Department, where it was available at any time. The prisoner himself never saw his file. For all he knew, it might be completely forged.

The file cards were included in a separate file, from which each prisoner’s name, number and other data could be in stantly established.

In the early years especially, the SS noncoms took ad vantage of this first examination to indulge in the wildest ex cesses. A favorite method was to ask the prisoner the reason for his admission to the camp—something many did not know—and to deal out penalties for the reply. Many prisoners were simply put down for twenty-five lashes to be ad ministered the following day as a matter of principle. Jews scarcely ever got off with less than five or ten lashes, simply for being Jews.

The tone that prevailed at these ceremonies is almost beyond description. Here is one typical example. The scene was a crowded room, with six SS clerks shouting at the same time and pecking away at their typewriters. A prisoner stood smartly at attention before one of the clerks, who had reached