Auschwitz: The Beginnings

Throughout the narrative of his 2005 book on Auschwitz, Laurence Rees traces the development and implementation of Nazi policies related to various populations as conditions arose. Like Dachau and Sachsenhausen the new camp at Auschwitz was intended as a concentration rather than a death camp. Though places of great brutality where many died, these camps were primarily holding and punishment prisons housing designated “enemies of the State:”communists, liberal politicians, people who spoke out against the regime, as well as  intellectuals and priests advocating human rights. Jews were among those imprisoned by inclusion in the above groups, but at least until Kristallnacht in 1938, not primarily because of their “racial” origin. Until the outbreak of war, policies toward the roughly 300,000 Jews of Germany mainly involved progressively stripping them of their rights as citizens, gradually stepping up abuse and terror to motivate their “voluntarily” leaving Germany. 

However, by the beginning of war in the fall of 1939 the options for Jews living in any part of Europe were profoundly constrained. Emigration was no longer a possibility for most, especially those with neither means nor permissions. Having absorbed western Poland into their orb, Nazi authorities had now to formulate new policies to deal with not just the Polish people themselves, but with a radically increased population of Jews (about two million in their portion of that country). These were not primarily urban, integrated Jews like those in Germany, but ones living in rural settings, often in their own villages or small towns, following the centuries-old traditions of their people. Hatred of Jews and a determination to rid the body politic of people characterized as not just enemies but as vermin, as well as the contingencies of war, moved policies toward ever more brutal conclusions.

Germans, who for generations had lived in various countries of Eastern Europe, were by agreement with Stalin, to be repatriated into Germany. The western part of German-occupied Poland was incorporated into the expanding Reich and was designated for this massive resettlement. Poles were summarily removed from homes, businesses, and most importantly, farms, to accommodate the newcomers. During this chaotic period, ghettos for the Jews of Poland as well as from other areas of German control became the prime instrument of ever-evolving Nazi policy. Still not overtly viewed as a preliminary to the annihilation of the Jews, these designated areas nonetheless were organized in such a manner as to provide the fewest possible resources to their residents. At the early stages of the war ghettos were viewed as way-stations. With hostilities quickly concluded, it was assumed that the sequestered Jews could then be forwarded to locations further afield, some even fantasized, to Africa. But the war was not quickly concluded. The British did not collapse and seek a peace settlement even after the French had surrendered. Ghettos became a fait accompli across Poland. Over the several years of their existence, hundreds of thousands died of starvation and disease within their cramped confines.

Lebensaum, living space for ethnic Germans was a central tenant of Nazi ideology. The establishment or simple bestowal of existing farms to incoming German families was not a practical option in Upper Silesia. The soil was poor and the area was primarily industrial. Because the maintenance of these industries and their work forces was essential for the war effort, the existing Polish population and workers had to be retained in place. However, they would remain and work under quite stringent conditions imposed upon them by their conquerors. Those who resisted were imprisoned. Overcrowding of existing prison facilities in the area soon demanded a “protective custody” or concentration camp like those existing in Germany since 1933. A ramshackle former Polish military barracks in the town of Oswiecim (Germanized to Auschwitz) was chosen as its site.The barracks consisted of eight two-story and fourteen single-story brick buildings set about a large exercise yard which had been used by the Polish cavalry. A number of other out-lying buildings were arrayed along a road close to the town railway station. The immediate tasks confronting Hoess when he arrived with five SS guards in early May, 1940 were: to delineate the area of the camp with barbed wire; to adapt the twenty brick buildings for the inmates, including an infirmary and a camp prison; to turn two barracks outside the perimeter into offices and an infirmary for the garrison; to clean and equip barracks to be used for the guard; to build guard towers, garages, and to transform the former powder magazine into a crematorium. To orchestrate this endeavour Hoess required a work force and materials. The first was easily supplied by the men about to be bequeathed to him from nearby prisons; the second was much harder to come by. His requests for construction tools and materials from Berlin were basically ignored, undoubtedly viewed as a low priority during that period of war and constant upheaval. Hoess learned to improvise by simply taking what he needed from other local sites.

The first prisoners to arrive in June, 1940 were 30 German criminals, forwarded from Sachenhausen to become Hoess’ team of Kapos. The Kapo system, devised in Dachau, inserted a level of control between the SS guards and the prisoners. Each housing block or work unit was led by a Kapo, a prisoner chosen for his capacity for brutally keeping others in line. The Kapo was allowed considerable scope in his treatment of his prisoners. He could beat them, deprive them of food or rest, or even murder them. His special perks were a space of his own within the block, special furnishings and food, and discretion in distributing favours as he wished to those whom he chose as favourites. It was a brilliantly diabolical arrangement, freeing the SS from much “hands on” discipline by  inserting the Kapos as their instruments of force and terror in sub-groupings of the camp. However, this did not mean that the SS guards were inactive in maintaining a punitive and terrorizing climate. They asserted their own authority in a myriad of ways, ready to beat, torture, or murder prisoners at whim or for examples. The Kapos themselves were tightly controlled by the guards, each knowing clearly that if he was not in absolute control of his group or if he showed unwonted leniency, he would lose his position, joining the regular prisoners who would not hesitate to gain revenge by murdering him.

The first Polish prisoners to arrive at Auschwitz that summer were immediately put to work refurbishing the existing facilities. Stones and other construction necessities were obtained by dismantling houses in the surrounding area. The work was labour intensive and gruelling, performed regardless of weather in insufficient clothing, on insufficient rations, and in a general climate of brutality that entirely disregarded the humanity of its inmates. In the first one and a half years of the Auschwitz camp’s existence, 10 of the 20 thousand prisoners sent there died. Changing conditions and needs of the Nazi regime affected the structure and purpose of the camp almost from its origin. More about its evolution in my next post.