Commandant of Auschwitz

APPENDIX 2 My meetings with Himmler

I already knew the Reichsführer SS, Heinrich Himmler, slightly during the years 1921 and 1922, when, as courier of my Freikorps I had a great deal to do with Ludendorff. General Ludendorff was the protector and secret head of all the nationalist movements with their disguised military or semi-military organizations, which were forbidden by the peace treaty. Himmler was also a member of a Freikorps in Bavaria and it was in LudendorfPs house that I got to know him.

Later on, in 1930, at an assembly of the Artamanen in Saxony (Himmler belonged to the association as Gauführer of Bavaria), I became more closely acquainted with him….

In 1940 Himmler suddenly arrived in Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Shortly before he reached the guard, he met a detachment of prisoners who passed him leisurely pulling a trolley. Neither the sentry nor the prisoners recognized the Reichsführer SS sitting in his car, and therefore did not take off their caps. Himmler drove past the guard and went straight to the protective custody camp. As I was just on the point of going into the camp (I was commander of the protective custody camp at the time), I was able to report to him at once on behalf of the camp. He was very irritated and his first question, after giving a curt greeting, was, “Where is the commandant?” After some time, the commandant, Sturmbannführer Eisfeld, appeared on the scene, but meanwhile Himmler had already entered the protective custody camp, snapping angrily that he, Himmler, had up to then been accustomed to another kind of discipline in the concentration camps, and that apparently prisoners were no longer required to salute.

He refused to listen to the commandant’s explanation and exchanged no further words with him. He made a brief inspection of the detention block, where some special prisoners had been placed, and then immediately drove off again. Two days later Eisfeld was dismissed from his position as commandant of Sachsenhausen and Oberführer Loritz (formerly commandant of Dachau and then section leader of the General SS in Klagenfurt) was recalled to concentration camp service to replace him. Himmler had previously removed Loritz from Dachau because he was too severe with the prisoners, and also because he had not concerned himself sufficiently with the affairs of the camp.

In 1942 Loritz was once again, on the same grounds, removed from Sachsenhausen on Pohl’s suggestion….

My personal meetings with Himmler during my membership in the SS were as follows:

In June 1934, during an inspection of the Pomeranian SS, Himmler asked me whether I would like to join the active SS in a concentration camp. It was only after much deliberation with my wife (for we wanted to settle on the land) that I agreed to do this, because I wanted to be on active service once more. On December 1, 1934, I was summoned to Dachau by the Inspector of Concentration Camps, Eicke.

In 1936 Himmler held a grand inspection of the whole SS organization, including that of the concentration camp in Dachau, at which all Gauleiters, Reichsleiters, and all SS and SA Gruppenführer were present. I was Rapportführer at that time and deputized for the commander of the protective custody camp, who was absent. Himmler is in the best of spirits because the whole inspection has gone off without a hitch. The Dachau concentration camp is also going well at that moment. The prisoners are well fed, clean, and well clothed and housed. Most of them are busy in the workshops and the number of sick is hardly worth mentioning. The total strength of about 2,500 is accommodated in ten brick-built huts. The sanitary arrangements are ample. There is a plentiful supply of water. Underwear is changed once a week and bed linen once a month. One-third of the complement consists of political prisoners and two-thirds of professional criminals, asocials and forced labor prisoners, homosexuals and about 200 Jews.

During the inspection, Himmler and Bormann address me and both ask me if I am satisfied with my job and inquire after my family. In a short time I am promoted to Untersturmführer.

During this inspection, Himmler, following his usual practice, chose a few prisoners and in front of the assembled guests asked them the reasons for their arrest. There were some Communist leaders who admitted quite honestly that they were, and would continue to remain, Communists. Some professional criminals, however, considerably minimized their catalogue of punishments, and their memory had to be jogged by a rapid inspection of the prison record cards. These proceedings were typical of Himmler’s visits and I had repeated experience of them. Himmler punished those who had lied by giving them extra work for a few Sundays….

My next meeting with Himmler was in the summer of 1938 in Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

The Minister of the Interior, Dr. Frick, was inspecting a concentration camp for the first time. He was accompanied by various senior administrative officials and the chief constables of the larger cities. Himmler attended and gave a commentary on the organization.

At that time I was adjutant to the commandant, and during the whole inspection stood near to Himmler and was able to observe him closely. He was in the best of humor and obviously pleased that he was at last able to show the Minister of the Interior and his officials one of the secret and notorious concentration camps. He was overwhelmed with questions, all of which he answered calmly and amiably although often sarcastically. He gave evasive, but even more genial, answers to inconvenient questions such as those relating to the numbers of prisoners and so on (the total number of those held in concentration camps was kept secret in accordance with orders of the Reichsführer SS).

Sachsenhausen concentration camp then held, I believe, 4,000 prisoners, most of them professional criminals, who were accommodated in well-constructed wooden huts, divided into dormitories and living rooms. The food was acknowledged to be good and plentiful. The clothing was sufficient and always clean, for an up-to-date laundry had been installed in the camp.

The hospital building with its surgeries was exemplary. The number of sick was small.

Apart from the cell building, which in all camps was forbidden to be shown to unauthorized visitors, since it was mostly occupied by special prisoners of the Reich Security Head Office, all the buildings and the whole camp organization were thrown open to inspection. It is certain that nothing remained hidden from the critical eyes of those experienced officials of the government and the police. Frick showed great interest, and declared at dinner that it made him ashamed to think that he was then, in 1938, seeing a concentration camp for the first time. The Inspector of Concentration Camps, Eicke, gave a description of the other camps and their special characteristics.

Although there was little time to spare, and he was perpetually surrounded by questioners, Himmler still found an opportunity to speak to me personally and to inquire especially after my family. He never omitted to do this and one was given the feeling that it was not done merely out of politeness.

I have already described the next meeting, in January 1940. This was when the incident took place concerning the prisoners who failed to salute.

In November 1940 I made my first verbal report to Himmler about Auschwitz in the presence of Sturmbannführer Vogel from Department WV of the Economic Administration Head Office. I gave a detailed account and bluntly referred to all those grievances which were causing irritation at that time, but which were insignificant compared with the catastrophic conditions of the years to come. He scarcely referred to this, but only said that it was primarily up to me as commandant to arrange for assistance, but how I was to set about it was my own affair. Besides, there was a war on and a lot of things had to be improvised; and even in the concentration camp one must not expect to live under peacetime conditions. The front-line soldier also had to give up a great deal, so why not the prisoners as well?

My constantly expressed fears over the danger of disease arising from the inadequate sanitary arrangements, were curtly dismissed with the remark: “You look too much on the dark side of things.”

His interest was only aroused when I discussed the camp area as a whole and produced maps to illustrate what I was saying. His attitude changed at once. He talked with animation about future plans, and gave one directive after another or made notes about everything that was to be done with the land in question.

Auschwitz was to become the agricultural research station for the eastern territories. Opportunities were opened up to us, which we had never before had in Germany. Sufficient labor was available. All essential agricultural research must be carried out there. Huge laboratories and plant nurseries were to be set out. All kinds of stockbreeding was to be pursued there. Vogel was to take immediate steps to gather a force of specialists; to build fisheries and to drain the lands, and to construct a dam on the Vistula would present difficulties compared to which the grievances in the camp previously described would become insignificant. On his next visit to Auschwitz he wanted to see everything for himself.

He remained absorbed in his agricultural planning, down to the smallest details, until the adjutant on duty drew his attention to the fact that an important official had been waiting for a long time to see him.

Himmler’s interest in Auschwitz was indeed stimulated, but it was not directed toward remedying the evil conditions or preventing them from occurring in the future, but rather toward increasing them because of his refusal to acknowledge their existence.

My friend Vogel was thrilled by the bold design for constructing the agricultural research stations. I was too—as a farmer. But as camp commandant I saw all my plans for making Auschwitz a clean and healthy place begin to dwindle. Only his announced intention of making a further visit left me with a vague hope. I felt that a personal inspection would induce him to remedy the obvious deficiencies and grievances.

In the meantime I continued to construct and “improvise” in an attempt to avert the worst of the evils.

My efforts met with little success, for I could not keep step with the rapid expansion of the camp or the constant increase in the numbers of the prisoners. No sooner was a building erected that could normally accommodate over 200 people than a further transport consisting of a thousand or more prisoners would be drawn up at the platform. Protests to the Inspector of Concentration Camps or the Reich Security Head Office or to the Chief of Police in Cracow were of no avail. “The actions ordered by the Reichsführer SS must be carried out” was the reply that was always given.

At last, on March 1, 1941, Himmler arrived in Auschwitz. He was accompanied by the Gauleiter Bracht, the administrative presidents, the SS and police officers of Silesia, high executives of IG Farben Industrie, and the Inspector of Concentration Camps, Glücks. The latter had arrived beforehand and constantly warned me against reporting anything disagreeable to the Reichsführer SS! And I had nothing to say that was not disagreeable. With the help of plans and maps I explained to Himmler the layout of the land that was being taken over and the extensions that had been made, and gave him an account of the present position. I could not, of course, describe to him, in the presence of all those strangers, the shortcomings which weighed so heavily on my mind. Nevertheless, during the tour which we afterward made of the district, when I was alone in the car with Himmler and Schmauser, I made up for this by telling him about them candidly and in detail. But it did not have the effect for which I had hoped. Even when we went through the camp and I drew his attention, in an indirect manner, to the worst of the grievances, such as the overcrowding and lack of water and so on, he hardly listened to me. When I repeatedly begged him to stop sending any more drafts, he snubbed me abruptly. I could not expect any kind of help from him. On the contrary, when we were in the canteen in the SS hospital block, he started to discuss in earnest the new tasks that he had for Auschwitz.

This was the construction of the prisoner-of-war camp for 100,000 prisoners. Himmler had already talked about this during our tour and had given a rough indication of the site. The Gauleiter raised objections and the administrative president tried to put a stop to it on account of the lack of water and drainage difficulties. Himmler dismissed these objections with a smile: “Gentlemen, it will be built. My reasons for constructing it are far more important than your objections. Ten thousand prisoners are to be provided for the IG Farben Industrie according to their requirements and to the progress made in the construction work. Auschwitz concentration camp is to be expanded to hold a peacetime establishment of 30,000 prisoners. I intend to transfer here afterward important branches of the armaments industry. The space for this is to be kept clear. In addition there will be the agricultural research stations and farms!” And all this was to be accomplished, when there was already an acute shortage of building materials in Upper Silesia. The Gauleiter drew Himmler’s attention to this and received the reply: “What have the SS requisitioned the brickworks for, and the cement factory, too? They will have to be made more productive, or the concentration camp will be forced to start some undertakings on its own account!

“Problems of water supply and drainage are purely technical matters, which the specialists have to work out, but they cannot be raised as objections. Every means will have to be taken to accelerate the construction work. You must improvise as much as possible, and any outbreak of disease will have to be checked and ruthlessly stamped out!

“The delivery of drafts to the camp, however, cannot, on principle, be halted. The actions, which I have ordered my security police to undertake, must go on. I do not appreciate the difficulties in Auschwitz.” Then turning to me, he said: “It is up to you to manage somehow.”

Shortly before his departure Himmler found time to pay a visit to my family and gave me instructions to enlarge the house in view of its use as an official residence. He was once more genial and talkative, in spite of his abruptness and irritation during our conversations a little earlier.

Glücks had been shocked by the way I had repeatedly raised objections to the pronouncements of the Reichsführer SS. He, too, could not help me. Nor was he able to arrange for any assistance by transferring personnel and so on. He had no better officers or junior officers available and he could not expect other camp commandants to exchange good material for bad.

“You won’t find it so hard and you’ll manage all right,” were the words with which my interview with my superior officer ended….

In the summer of 1941, Himmler summoned me to Berlin to inform me of the fateful order that envisaged the mass extermination of Jews from almost every part of Europe, and which resulted in Auschwitz becoming the largest human slaughterhouse that history had ever known….

My next meeting with Himmler was in the summer of 1942 when he visited Auschwitz for the second and last time. The inspection lasted for two days and Himmler examined everything in great detail. There were present, among others, Gauleiter Bracht, Obergruppenführer Schmauser, and Dr. Kammler.

After his arrival in the camp we went to the SS officers’ mess where I had to explain the layout of the camp with the aid of maps. Then we went to the architects’ office where Kammler produced designs and models with which to explain the construction work which had been proposed or which was already under way, but he did not pass in silence over the difficulties which stood in the way of these plans or which might even prevent their realization. Himmler listened with interest, inquired about some technical details, and expressed agreement with the scheme as a whole, but he showed no concern over the difficulties which Kammler had repeatedly brought to his notice. Afterward a tour was made of the whole of the camp’s sphere of interest. First an inspection was made of the agricultural areas and the work of reclamation, the building of the dam, the laboratories and plant-breeding establishments in Raisko, the stockbreeding centers and the tree nurseries. Then Birkenau was visited, including the Russian camp, the gypsy sector, and also a Jewish sector. He then climbed the gate tower and had the different parts of the camp pointed out to him and also the water drainage systems which were being built, and he was shown the extent of the proposed expansion. He saw the prisoners at work and inspected their living quarters and the kitchens and the hospital accommodation. I constantly drew his attention to the defects in the camp, and he saw them as well. He saw the emaciated victims of disease (the causes of which were bluntly explained by the doctors), he saw the crowded hospital block, he learned of the mortality among the children in the gypsy camp, and he saw children there suffering from the terrible disease called noma. He also saw the overcrowded huts and the primitive and insufficient latrines and washhouses. The doctors told him about the high rate of sickness and death and, above all, the reasons for it. He had everything explained to him in the most exact manner and saw it all precisely as it really was, and he remained silent. He took me back to Birkenau furious at my perpetual complaints of the miserable conditions in the camp and said: “I want to hear no more about difficulties! An SS officer does not recognize difficulties; when they arise, his task is to remove them at once by his own efforts! How this is to be done is your worry and not mine!” Kammler and Bischoff were told much the same sort of thing.

After the inspection in Birkenau, he watched the whole process of destruction of a transport of Jews, which had just arrived. He also spent a short time watching the selection of the able-bodied Jews, without making any objection. He made no remark regarding the process of extermination, but remained quite silent. While it was going on he unobtrusively observed the officers and junior officers engaged in the proceedings, including myself.

He then went on to look at the synthetic rubber factory. He inspected the buildings just as carefully as he did the prisoners and the work they were doing. He made inquiries concerning the health of these prisoners. Kammler then heard him say: “You complain about difficulties, but look at what IG Farben Industrie have done in one year, and under similar difficulties!” He never mentioned the quotas, or the more favorable opportunities, or the thousands of skilled workers (about 30,000 at that time) which IG Farben Industrie had at their disposal. Himmler made inquiries concerning the working capabilities of the prisoners, and received evasive replies on the part of the IG Farben Industrie. Whereupon he told me that I must by all means increase their efficiency! How this was to be done was, once more, to be my affair, in spite of the fact that earlier he had heard from the Gauleiter and the IG Farben Industrie that in a short time they would have to reckon with a serious cut in rations issued for prisoners, and that he had also seen for himself the general condition of the prisoners.

From the synthetic rubber factory we went to the sewer gas installation, where progress had stopped owing to the impossibility of overcoming the shortage of materials.

It was one of the worst spots in Auschwitz, and it affected everyone. The drainage water from the base camp was discharged, without any purification worth mentioning, directly into the Sola. The population was constantly exposed to the danger of infection, because of the diseases which were always rampant in the camp. The Gauleiter described the position with great clarity, and asked in unmistakable terms for assistance. “Kammler will apply all his energies to the problem” was Himmler’s reply.

The Kok-Saghyz (natural rubber) plantation, which he visited next, was of far greater interest to him.

Himmler always found it more interesting and more pleasant to hear positives rather than negatives. The SS officer counted himself lucky and enviable who had only positives to report, or who was skillful enough to represent negatives as positives!

In the evening on the first day of the inspection a dinner was given which was attended by the visitors and by all the officers of the Auschwitz command.

Before dinner, Himmler had everyone introduced to him. If a man interested him, he would talk with him about his family and work. During dinner he questioned me about different officers whom he had noticed.

I seized the opportunity to tell him about the troubles I had with my staff and how many of the officers were completely unfit to serve in a concentration camp or to command troops. I begged him to give me some replacements and to increase the strength of the guards.

“You will be amazed,” he replied, “at the impossible officer material with which you will have to be satisfied in the end! I need every officer, junior officer, and man who is capable of serving in the front line. For the same reasons it is impossible to increase the strength of the guard. You will have to think up some technical ways of economizing in guards. You must use some more dogs for this purpose. I will get my expert in dog handling to call on you in a few days and explain the new method of using dogs as a substitute for guards. The numbers of escapes from Auschwitz is unusually high, and is unprecedented in a concentration camp. I approve of every means, I repeat every means, being used to prevent these escapes. This escape disease, which has become rampant in Auschwitz, must be eradicated!”

After this dinner party the Gauleiter invited the Reichsführer SS, Schmauser, Kammler, Caesar, and myself to his house near Kattowitz. Himmler was to” stay there overnight, since he had some important matters concerning population registers and resettlement to discuss with the Gauleiter on the following morning.

Himmler expressed a wish that my wife, too, should come to the Gauleiter’s house.

Although during the day Himmler was occasionally very ill-humored and angry and even downright unfriendly, yet this evening, and among this small company, he was a changed person.

He was in the best of spirits, took a leading part in the conversation and was extremely amiable, especially toward the ladies, the Gauleiter’s wife and my own wife. He talked on every possible subject which came up in the conversation. He discussed the education of children and new buildings and books and pictures. He spoke about his experiences with the front-line divisions of the SS, and about his visits to the front with the Führer.

He deliberately avoided saying one word about day-to-day events or about service matters, and ignored the attempts of the Gauleiter to get him to do so.

It was fairly late before the guests departed. Very little was drunk during the evening. Himmler, who scarcely ever touched alcohol, drank a few glasses of red wine, and smoked, which was also something he did not usually do. Everyone was under the spell of his good humor and lively conversation. I had never known him like that before.

On the second day I called for him and Schmauser at the Gauleiter’s house, and the inspection was continued. He inspected the base camp, the kitchens, the women’s camp (which then included the first row of the block from the headquarters building up to block 11), the workshops, the stables, Canada and DAW, the butcher’s shop and the bakery, the lumberyard, and the troops’ supply depot. He inspected everything with care, observed the prisoners closely and made precise inquiries concerning the different types of confinement and the numbers involved.

He refused to be guided, but on that morning requested to be shown first one thing and then another. In the women’s camp he saw the cramped quarters, the insufficient latrine accommodation, and the; deficient water supply, and he got the administrative officer to show him the stocks of clothing. Everywhere he saw the deficiencies. He had every detail of the rationing system and the extra allowances for the heavy workers explained to hirn.

In the women’s camp he attended the whipping of a female criminal (a prostitue, who was continually breaking in and stealing whatever she could lay her hands on) in order to observe its effect. Before any woman was whipped, permission had to be obtained from Himmler personally. Some women were produced to him, who had been imprisoned for insignificant offenses, and he set them free. He talked with some female Jehovah’s Witnesses and discussed with them their fanatical beliefs.

After the inspection, he held a final conference in my office and, in Schmauser’s presence, addressed me, more or less, in the following words:

“I have now made a thorough inspection of Auschwitz. I have seen everything and I have seen enough of the deficiencies and difficulties and I have heard enough of them from you. I can, however, do nothing to alter them. You will have to manage as best you can. We are now in the middle of a war and we must learn to think in terms of war. The actions, which I have ordered the security police to carry out, will not be stopped under any circumstances, least of all because of the lack of accommodation and so on, which I have been shown. Eichmann’s program will continue to be carried out and will be intensified month by month. You must see to it that swift progress is made with the building of Birkenau. The gypsies are to be destroyed. The Jews who are unfit for work are to be destroyed with the same ruthlessness. Soon the labor camps at the armaments factories will absorb the first large contingents of able-bodied Jews, and that will give you some breathing space again. Armaments factories will also be built in Auschwitz camp, so prepare yourselves for that. Kammler will give you far-reaching support in matters connected with their construction.

“The agricultural experiments will be intensively pursued, for the results are urgently required.

“I have seen your work and the results you have achieved, and I am satisfied and thank you for your services. I promote you to Obersturmbannführer!”

So ended Himmler’s great inspection of Auschwitz. He saw everything and knew what the ultimate results would be. Was his remark, “Even I cannot help,” intentional?

After the conference in my office, I took him around my house and showed him my furniture, in which he took a great interest, and he spent some time in animated conversation with my wife and children.

I drove him to the airport where he bade me a brief farewell and flew back to Berlin….

On May 3, 1945, I met Himmler for the last time. What remained of the Inspectorate of Concentration Camps had been ordered to follow Himmler to Flensburg. Glücks, Maurer, and I duly reported to him there. He had just come from a conference with the surviving members of the government. He was hale and hearty, and in the best of humor. He greeted me and at once gave the following orders: “Glücks and Hoess are to disguise themselves as noncommissioned officers of the army and make their way across the green frontier to Denmark as stragglers, and hide themselves in the army. Maurer and what is left of the Inspectorate of Concentration Camps are to disappear into the army in the same way. All further matters will be dealt with by Standartenführer Hintz, the police president of Flensburg.” He shook each of us by the hand. We were dismissed!

He had with him at the time Professor Gebhardt and Schellenberg of the Reich Security Head Office. Like Gebhardt, Glücks said that Himmler intended to go into hiding in Sweden.