Nazi concentration camp commandant
The commandant (German: KZ-Kommandant, Lagerkommandant) was the chief commanding position within the SS service of a Nazi concentration camp. He held the highest rank and was the most important member of the camp unit. The commandant directed the camp headquarters and was responsible for all issues of the nazi concentration camp. The regulations of his duties and responsibilities came from the Concentration Camps Inspectorate (CCI).[1]
Of utmost importance was his duty to ensure the safety of the camp. Therefore, all SS personnel were obliged to report to him any important incident about the camp. The commandant had to constantly stay in the camp; his absence for more than 24 hours required the consent of the Concentration Camps Inspectorate. In the event of an alarm caused by rebellion or escape, all personnel were subject to his command, and he had complete control of the issuance of orders and commands.
Another duty was to instruct subordinates about their tasks, camp security issues and the treatment of prisoners. He also watched over the affairs of the employment of prisoners, determining, among other things, working hours. The commandant was assigned an adjutant, or deputy commandant, who was responsible for the immediate, complete and accurate execution of the commandant's orders. Other SS personnel were subordinate to the deputy commandant. In the largest concentration camps, ranks of commandants ranged mostly from SS-Hauptsturmführer to SS-Obersturmbannführer.
The commandant had authority over all disciplinary matters affecting the SS personnel of the concentration camp. The individual departments within the concentration camp were under their respective parts of the Concentration Camps Inspectorate, but there were exceptions.[2] The CCI directly supervised the Wachtruppe (guard unit), the adjutants and the Schutzhaftlagerführers.
Nazi concentration camp locations and commandants
| Camp | Commandant | Beginning | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ardeitsdorf | Martin Gottfried Weiss | April 1942 | July 1942 |
| Wilhelm Schitli | July 1942 | October 1942 | |
| Auschwitz I (Stammlager) | Rudolf Höss | 4 May 1940 | 10 November 1943 |
| Arthur Liebehenschel | 11 November 1943 | 8 May 1944 | |
| Richard Baer | 11 May 1944 | 27 January 1945 | |
| Auschwitz II (Birkenau) | Fritz Hartjenstein | 22 November 1943 | 8 May 1944 |
| Josef Kramer | 8 May 1944 | 25 November 1944 | |
| Auschwitz III (Monowitz) | Heinrich Schwarz | 11 November 1943 | 17 January 1945 |
| Bełżec | Christian Wirth | December 1941 | August 1942 |
| Gottlieb Hering | August 1942 | June 1943 | |
| Bergen-Belsen | Adolf Haas | April 1943 | 2 December 1944 |
| Josef Kramer | 2 December 1944 | 15 April 1945 | |
| Buchenwald | Karl-Otto Koch | July 1937 | December 1941 |
| Hermann Pister | December 1941 | 13 April 1945 | |
| Dachau | Hilmar Wäckerle | 19 April 1933 | 25 June 1933 |
| Theodor Eicke | 28 June 1933 | 10 December 1934 | |
| Heinrich Deubel | 10 December 1934 | 1 April 1936 | |
| Hans Loritz | 1 April 1936 | 19 February 1940 | |
| Alexander Piorkowski | 19 February 1940 | 1 September 1942 | |
| Martin Gottfried Weiss | 1 September 1942 | 31 October 1943 | |
| Eduard Weiter | 1 October 1943 | 26 April 1945 | |
| Flossenbürg | Jakob Weiseborn | May 1938 | 20 January 1939 |
| Karl Künstler | 20 January 1939 | 10 August 1942 | |
| Karl Fritzsch | 10 August 1942 | September 1942 | |
| Egon Zill | September 1942 | 29 April 1943 | |
| Max Koegel | 29 April 1943 | 23 April 1945 | |
| Gross-Rosen | Arthur Rödl | 1 May 1941 | 15 September 1942 |
| Wilhelm Gideon | 15 September 1942 | 10 October 1943 | |
| Johannes Hassebroek | 11 October 1943 | February 1945 | |
| Herzogenbusch | Karl Chmielewski | 5 January 1943 | October 1943 |
| Adam Grünewald | October 1943 | January 1944 | |
| Hans Hüttig | February 1944 | September 1944 | |
| Kovno | Wilhelm Göcke | September 1943 | July 1944 (probably) |
| Majdanek | Karl-Otto Koch | September 1941 | August 1942 |
| Max Koegel | August 1942 | November 1942 | |
| Hermann Florstedt | November 1942 | October 1943 | |
| Martin Gottfried Weiss | November 1943 | May 1944 | |
| Arthur Liebehenschel | May 1944 | 22 July 1944 | |
| Mauthausen-Gusen | Albert Sauer | 8 August 1938 | 17 February 1939 |
| Franz Ziereis | 17 February 1939 | 5 May 1945 | |
| Mittelbau-Dora | Otto Förschner | October 1944 | January 1945 |
| Richard Baer | February 1945 | April 1945 | |
| Natzweiler-Struthof | Hans Hüttig | April 1941 | March 1942 |
| Egon Zill | May 1942 | 25 October 1942 | |
| Josef Kramer | 25 October 1942 | 4 May 1944 | |
| Fritz Hartjenstein | 9 May 1944 | January 1945 | |
| Heinrich Schwarz | February 1945 | April 1945 | |
| Neuengamme | Walter Eisfeld | February 1940 | March 1940 |
| Martin Gottfried Weiss | April 1940 | August 1942 | |
| Max Pauly | September 1942 | 4 May 1945 | |
| Plaszow | Amon Goeth | February 1943 | 13 September 1944 |
| Arnold Büscher | September 1944 | January 1945 (probably) | |
| Ravensbrück | Günther Tamaschke | May 1939 | August 1939 |
| Max Koegel | January 1940 | August 1942 | |
| Fritz Suhren | 1 September 1942 | 30 April 1945 | |
| Riga-Kaiserwald | Eduard Roschmann | April 1943 | September 1944 |
| Sachsenhausen | Michael Lippert | July 1936 | October 1936 |
| Karl-Otto Koch | October 1936 | July 1937 | |
| Hans Helwig | 1 August 1937 | April 1938 | |
| Hermann Baranowski | 1 May 1938 | September 1939 | |
| Walter Eisfeld | September 1939 | January 1940 | |
| Hans Loritz | 1 April 1940 | September 1942 | |
| Anton Kaindl | September 1942 | 22 April 1945 | |
| Sobibór | Franz Stangl | 28 April 1942 | 30 August 1942 |
| Franz Reichleitner | 1 September 1942 | 17 October 1943 | |
| Stutthof | Max Pauly | October 1939 | August 1942 |
| Paul-Werner Hoppe | August 1942 | April 1945 | |
| Treblinka | Irmfried Eberl | 11 July 1942 | 26 August 1942 |
| Franz Stangl | 1 September 1942 | August 1943 | |
| Kurt Franz | August 1943 | November 1943 | |
| Vaivara | Hans Aumeier | September 1943 | June 1944 |
| Warsaw | Wilhelm Göcke | June 1943 | September 1943 |
| Nikolaus Herbet | September 1943 | July 1944 (probably) |
See also
Notes
- Ian Baxter (2014). Nazi Concentration Camp Commandants 1933-1945 (Google Books). Appendix I. Pen and Sword. pp. 37, 137. ISBN 978-1473846890. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
- Die doppelte Struktur der Befehlslinien der Unterstellung des SS-Personals im KZ nennt Wolfgang Sofsky Mehrliniensystem.
Bibliography
- Friedrich Karl Kaul, Joachim Noak (ed.): Angeklagter Nr. 6: Eine Auschwitzdokumentation. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1966.
- Martin Weinmann (ed.): Das nationalsozialistische Lagersystem (CCP). Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt am Main 1990.
- Wolfgang Sofsky: Die Ordnung des Terrors. Das Konzentrationslager. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1993 ISBN 3-10-072704-5.
- Karin Orth: Die Konzentrationslager-SS. Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, München 2004, ISBN 3-423-34085-1.
- Karin Orth: Das System der nationalsozialistischen Konzentrationslager. Pendo-Verlag, Zürich 202, ISBN 3-85842-450-1
- Peter Neitzke (ed.): Konzentrationslager Dokument F 321 für den Internationalen Militärgerichtshof Nürnberg. Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt am Main 2005, p. 334
- Tom Segev: Die Soldaten des Bösen. Zur Geschichte der KZ-Kommandanten. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1995, ISBN 3-499-18826-0.
- Ernst Klee: Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich: Wer war was vor und nach 1945. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 3-596-16048-0.
- Eugen Kogon: Der SS-Staat. Das System der deutschen Konzentrationslager, Alber, München 1946, zuletzt: Heyne, München 1995, ISBN 3-453-02978-X