News

Employment of KL Auschwitz prisoners – new online lesson

Prisoner employment in the German Nazi camp Auschwitz is the focus of a new online lesson prepared by the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust. The lesson was authored by Dr. Piotr Setkiewicz, head of the Auschwitz Memorial Research Center.

‘The lesson is divided into chapters covering topics such as the specifics of work units – both those called "bad" and "good", the amount of time prisoners were forced to work, which was constantly regulated by the camp commandant's orders, the issues of extermination through labor and the mortality of prisoners caused by harsh labor, attempts to increase the efficiency of employing Auschwitz prisoners in the latter half of the camp's existence, as well as the financial benefits the SS derived from using the labor of prisoners at Auschwitz,’ said Agnieszka Juskowiak-Sawicka, who heads E-learning at ICEAH.

As we read in the lesson, at the very beginning of the camp's existence, the work of the prisoners was essentially a non-issue. „During the late autumn of 1939, specifically, when the SS initiated discussions with the military authorities regarding the creation of a "quarantine camp" (Qurantänelager) at the former Polish barracks in Oświęcim, the issue of prisoner labour was of minimal significance. The assumption was that it would adopt a structure akin to a state concentration camp (In der Art der staatlichen Konzentrationslager), but this should be understood as a formal subordination to the SS administration in Berlin-Oranienburg. The approximately 10,000 Polish prisoners were intended to remain there temporarily until arrangements could be made to transfer and accommodate them in other concentration camps located in Germany,” we read in the chapter dedicated to the beginnings of the camp.

Very soon, however, it became clear that Auschwitz was not going to be a temporary camp and that slave labour would be an important part of the operation of the camp, which on the one hand was to be an instrument of terror, but also gradually brought the SS more and more profit. German industry also benefited increasingly from prison labour.

German private and state companies paid approximately 60 million marks for the labour of KL Auschwitz prisoners from 1940 to 1944. Initially, these companies, which typically had their skilled workforce in the factories, expected the camp to primarily provide a diverse range of labourers for tasks such as excavating foundations with pickaxes and shovels, dredging drainage ditches, constructing roads, railway sidings, and similar tasks. Over time, it became evident that companies would also require skilled professionals, particularly those with the expertise of artisans and factory labourers, to carry out specific tasks.

Even amidst the war, and particularly in its aftermath, many prisoners voiced the notion that the labour conducted in the concentration camps served solely as a means of extermination. Although it provided some measurable benefits to the SS, its primary objective was mass slaughter. „Nonetheless, scrutinising the official statements by Third Reich leaders concerning labour as a catalyst for destruction indicates that they seldom broached this topic, primarily in anticipation of a predetermined scenario. At the Wannsee Conference, RSHA chief Reinhard Heydrich explicitly stated to his audience that the consequences of employing Jews in road construction in the East were inevitable and, in fact, a desirable state of affairs,”  we read in the chapter titled "Vernichtung durch Arbeit."

It should be remembered that from the spring of 1942, Auschwitz served simultaneously as a concentration camp and a centre for the immediate extermination of the Jews. Most of the Jews deported to the camp were murdered immediately in the gas chambers, but some of them were registered as prisoners in the concentration camp after selections made by SS doctors. Some were also quickly transferred to other camps.

At Auschwitz, therefore, the process of genocide proceeded somewhat differently than at other extermination camps. The SS profited from the slave labour of the prisoners. For this reason, at Auschwitz, in contrast to other extermination camps, there was a selection procedure for Jews deported to their deaths. As a result, about 1/5 of the Jewish victims destined for death, were given a short postponement of their fate and were sent to do slave labour. However, as Dr. Piotr Setkiewicz points out in the lesson, profits did not become an explicit priority, and the Nazi ideology, which assumed the necessity of murdering Jews was still more important than trying to increase the number of prisoners to work.

“The SS doctors involved in the selections only recommended about 1/5 of the deportees for labour. During the notably crucial period for the Construction Board (from the second half of 1942 to early 1943), when management frequently complained about the shortage of workforce in the camp, a pragmatic and straightforward softening of the selection criteria would have immediately led to a substantial increase in the number of prisoners. It is important to note that there was no shortage of accommodation in the expansive and almost completed sector BII at Birkenau,” we read. The criteria of the selection were not changed.

Most prisoners were sent to do heavy labour, where not only could they quickly lose their strength but also contract various illnesses and get injured or beaten up by a Kapo or SS man. These mainly included all kinds of construction kommandos (Tiefbau, Hochbau), where prisoners used pickaxes and shovels to excavate foundations, cart away the earth with wheelbarrows - often at "im Laufschritt" (running pace), carry bricks and mortar in their hands or on wooden carriers.

An analogous situation was found in the kommandos employed in land levelling (Planierung), road construction (Strassenbau) or digging drainage ditches. Working in transporting (Transportkolonne) or unloading railway wagons on sidings was equally regarded as bad: it entailed swiftly emptying the wagons of bricks, bags of cement, cast-iron or ceramic pipes, concrete coils and all other kinds of construction materials.

In particular, the prisoners carrying the concrete fence posts on their shoulders had to put much effort into their work. This was difficult, especially for the tallest prisoners, who had to carry the heaviest weight.

The penal company (Strafkompanie – SK) stood out as the worst kommando in the camp, as it was comprised of prisoners who had been convicted of various offences, mainly Jews and, initially, Catholic priests. It was chiefly responsible for extracting gravel and paving roads with a giant roller pulled by the inmates. Although, in theory, the tasks were not significantly different from those performed in other "bad" kommandos, the crux of the punishment lay in the ruthless treatment of prisoners by the functionaries, who used incessant beatings to enforce a high tempo of work.

„The SK prisoners, including myself, were assigned to the most strenuous jobs, one of which was working in the gravel pit next to the Theatergebäude. Meanwhile, we did the mostly unproductive task of shovelling gravel from one place to another, occasionally moving some of it. However, the cruellest thing was the treatment of the SK prisoners by the SS men who cordoned off our workplace. Throughout my extended stay in SK, I encountered several hardships and experienced immense suffering and humiliation, making it challenging for me to articulate the extent of our struggles. This is something that I doubt anyone can recount. There were frequent occurrences where the SS men guarding us tossed an item behind us and ordered a prisoner to retrieve it. Once the prisoner crossed the line of guards and ventured a few strides away, they would instantly discharge firearms and then claim the utilisation of a weapon was crucial to thwart the prisoner's escape. The SS men were rewarded for such acts with leave. The prisoners were subjected to abusive and murderous treatment by the kapos, with rods and shovels as the instruments of death. Hence, it is no surprise that a considerable number of prisoners died in the SK. All Jews were deported to the penal company during this period and were swiftly eradicated,” said Survivor Zygmunt Kendziora in his account. This is one of the testimonies cited in the lesson on prisoner employment.

The history of the employment of KL Auschwitz prisoners provides a good reflection of the many manoeuvres of Nazi policy towards the use of their labour in the concentration camps. On the one hand, specific efforts were taken, particularly from the spring of 1942 onwards, to uphold the prisoners' capacity for work, yet on the other hand, no significant measures were ever implemented to effectively improve their health and availability in terms of increasing the overall number of prisoners.

The online lesson "Employment of prisoners in KL Auschwitz" is available in both Polish and English. All lessons can be found on the website: lesson.auschwitz.org.