Hainewalde concentration camp
Encyclopedia
On March 27, 1933, the SA
established a protective custody camp at Hainewalde
Castle in Saxony
. Initially SA-Sturm III (Dresden
) under SA-Sturmführer Ernst Jirka guarded the camp, but in May this responsibility fell to SA-Standarte 102 (Zittau) under SA-Standartenführer Paul Unterstab. Altogether there were about 150 guards. The camp's commandant was SA-Sturmbannführer Müller and the adjutant was SA- Sturmbannführer Mittag. On April 12, 1933, the camp held 259 prisoners, but that number subsequently increased to almost four hundred. In total, approximately one thousand prisoners passed through the camp.
An itemization for Hainewalde revealed that protective custody cost the Saxon government over 130,000 Marks. When the camp was dissolved on August 10, 1933, the remaining prisoners were transferred to larger early concentration camps at Hohnstein Castle
and Sachsenburg
.
Hainewalde's prisoners consisted mainly of leftists
and Jews. About 150 were crammed into one barrack, where the prisoners slept on multi-tiered bunks with straw mattresses. The prisoners were required to attend Protestant
religious services, as well as nightly Nazi
indoctrination. For the latter purpose, younger and older prisoners were housed separately, on the theory that the young prisoners would be more susceptible to Nazification if isolated from their elders.
The SA forced the prisoners to perform penal exercises, conducted torture
under the pretext of interrogation, and directed all but the most serious cases of injury or illness to a cellar for warehousing without medical treatment. The SA used an administrative office and a special bunker for interrogations. Prisoners were also compelled to work in woodcutting and latrine details. Jews and intellectuals were singled out for humiliation and brutal treatment.
The outlawed German Social Democratic Party continued to assist Hainewalde's prisoners. For example, the Prague-based, socialist newspaper Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung
reproduced the photograph of a Hainewalde detainee. A sympathetic SA guard had smuggled the image out of camp, which revealed a prisoner in terrible condition. Zittau
's underground Communist organization also smuggled propaganda into the camp that let the prisoners know their suffering had not been forgotten: "We know that you have remained loyal to the cause of the working classes with unfaltering courage, in spite of all the terror and despite the harassment to which you have been exposed. ...We know very well-and also the working classes know-what you have suffered. If we send you this greeting despite all difficulties of illegality inside the concentration camp, take it as an avowal of our undivided solidarity with you."
The camp administration imposed strict conditions for release from custody. On pain of arrest, released prisoners signed a declaration swearing not to discuss conditions in Hainewalde. According to another declaration, dated August 5, 1933, the released detainee promised not to associate again with "Marxist parties." The well-known screenwriter, playwright, and novelist, Axel Eggebrecht
, recalled a rumor that the prisoners would be released on May Day, but it turned out not to have any foundation.
Eggebrecht was held at Hainewalde from April to May 1933. A resident of Berlin
, he was visiting his father in Leipzig
at the time of his arrest, March 5, 1933, which coincided with Germany's election day. After a month in jail, he was delivered to Hainewalde. As the prisoners entered the gate, a teacher among them joked that the castle once held the "favorites" of the Saxon king, August the Strong. A guard then put them through a mindless initiation rite. With the command, "Right leg, high!" Eggebrecht raised his leg like a "stork." When the SA next issued the impossible order to raise the left leg as well, he refused to do so, in the gruff language of the barracks. In the exchange that followed, the guard ascertained that Eggebrecht was a World War veteran. Eggebrecht soon realized, however, that his military service meant little to the guards. Stereotyped as an intellectual, he was ordered to work in a humiliating labor command. "Aha-the scriptwriter from Berlin!" Sturmführer Jirka exclaimed, "I have something extra fine for you-the shit detail!"
Eggebrecht's bunkmate, a Jewish prisoner named Benno Berg, experienced a rare moment of humor after a reeducation session. A Nazi Kreisleiter lectured the detainees on the Jewish threat, quoting the stock phrase, "the Jews are our misfortune." After the speech, he inspected the prisoners and stopped in front of Berg. In response to the Kreisleiter's questions, Berg gave his name and birthplace: "Berg, from Reichenberg
, Bohemia
." Not realizing that the prisoner was Jewish, the Nazi announced: "A Sudeten national comrade! Bravo! All of you will come to us again!" Eggebrecht added: "The big shot's fat hand struck the 'non-Aryan' appreciatively on the shoulder. 'For myself, you are the model of the true SA man! Heil Hitler!' Hand raised, he strutted away."
Eggebrecht was interrogated, but not tortured. In this regard his experience contrasted with other Hainewalde prisoners. Eggebrecht recalled the interrogator's interest in how he had gotten mixed up with the Communists
, after growing up in a "good home." His release came through his father's intercession with an influential Saxon official, Professor Apel. Eggebrecht's father wrote him about Apel's interest in his case. Sometime later, his father visited him at the camp. Exclaiming that the conditions were "unworthy" of his son, the father added that he should be patient, because "it won't last much longer!" Several days later, Eggebrecht was released after signing a promise not to circulate "atrocity stories."
In 1948, the Bautzen
state court sentenced 39 guards to penitentiary terms for their role in the maltreatment of Hainewalde prisoners. The trial was conducted under the auspices of the Soviet occupation, but further details are not known. No additional information has emerged so far about Hainewalde, for which further research is needed.
Sturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...
established a protective custody camp at Hainewalde
Hainewalde
Hainewalde is a village in Germany on the river Mandau, in the Bundesland of Saxony and the district Görlitz, historically belonging to the region Lusatia...
Castle in Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
. Initially SA-Sturm III (Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
) under SA-Sturmführer Ernst Jirka guarded the camp, but in May this responsibility fell to SA-Standarte 102 (Zittau) under SA-Standartenführer Paul Unterstab. Altogether there were about 150 guards. The camp's commandant was SA-Sturmbannführer Müller and the adjutant was SA- Sturmbannführer Mittag. On April 12, 1933, the camp held 259 prisoners, but that number subsequently increased to almost four hundred. In total, approximately one thousand prisoners passed through the camp.
An itemization for Hainewalde revealed that protective custody cost the Saxon government over 130,000 Marks. When the camp was dissolved on August 10, 1933, the remaining prisoners were transferred to larger early concentration camps at Hohnstein Castle
Hohnstein Castle
Hohnstein Castle is a one of the largest and best-preserved castle ruins in Germany and is located near Neustadt in the vicinity of Nordhausen in Thuringia.- Location :...
and Sachsenburg
Sachsenburg
Sachsenburg is a market town on the Drava river in the Spittal an der Drau district in Carinthia, Austria. The municipality comprises the Katastralgemeinden of Sachsenburg and Obergottesfeld.-History:...
.
Hainewalde's prisoners consisted mainly of leftists
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
and Jews. About 150 were crammed into one barrack, where the prisoners slept on multi-tiered bunks with straw mattresses. The prisoners were required to attend Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
religious services, as well as nightly Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
indoctrination. For the latter purpose, younger and older prisoners were housed separately, on the theory that the young prisoners would be more susceptible to Nazification if isolated from their elders.
The SA forced the prisoners to perform penal exercises, conducted torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
under the pretext of interrogation, and directed all but the most serious cases of injury or illness to a cellar for warehousing without medical treatment. The SA used an administrative office and a special bunker for interrogations. Prisoners were also compelled to work in woodcutting and latrine details. Jews and intellectuals were singled out for humiliation and brutal treatment.
The outlawed German Social Democratic Party continued to assist Hainewalde's prisoners. For example, the Prague-based, socialist newspaper Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung
Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung
Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung or AIZ was a weekly German illustrated magazine published between 1924 and 1938 in Berlin and later in Prague...
reproduced the photograph of a Hainewalde detainee. A sympathetic SA guard had smuggled the image out of camp, which revealed a prisoner in terrible condition. Zittau
Zittau
Zittau is a city in the south east of the Free State of Saxony, Germany, close to the border tripoint of Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic. , there are 28,638 people in the city. It is part of the Görlitz district....
's underground Communist organization also smuggled propaganda into the camp that let the prisoners know their suffering had not been forgotten: "We know that you have remained loyal to the cause of the working classes with unfaltering courage, in spite of all the terror and despite the harassment to which you have been exposed. ...We know very well-and also the working classes know-what you have suffered. If we send you this greeting despite all difficulties of illegality inside the concentration camp, take it as an avowal of our undivided solidarity with you."
The camp administration imposed strict conditions for release from custody. On pain of arrest, released prisoners signed a declaration swearing not to discuss conditions in Hainewalde. According to another declaration, dated August 5, 1933, the released detainee promised not to associate again with "Marxist parties." The well-known screenwriter, playwright, and novelist, Axel Eggebrecht
Axel Eggebrecht
Axel Constantin August Eggebrecht was a German journalist and writer.-Life:Eggebrecht grew up in bourgeois surroundings in Leipzig until 1917 when he volunteered to serve in the First World War where he received a serious wound, the effects of which he would continue to feel for his entire life...
, recalled a rumor that the prisoners would be released on May Day, but it turned out not to have any foundation.
Eggebrecht was held at Hainewalde from April to May 1933. A resident of Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, he was visiting his father in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
at the time of his arrest, March 5, 1933, which coincided with Germany's election day. After a month in jail, he was delivered to Hainewalde. As the prisoners entered the gate, a teacher among them joked that the castle once held the "favorites" of the Saxon king, August the Strong. A guard then put them through a mindless initiation rite. With the command, "Right leg, high!" Eggebrecht raised his leg like a "stork." When the SA next issued the impossible order to raise the left leg as well, he refused to do so, in the gruff language of the barracks. In the exchange that followed, the guard ascertained that Eggebrecht was a World War veteran. Eggebrecht soon realized, however, that his military service meant little to the guards. Stereotyped as an intellectual, he was ordered to work in a humiliating labor command. "Aha-the scriptwriter from Berlin!" Sturmführer Jirka exclaimed, "I have something extra fine for you-the shit detail!"
Eggebrecht's bunkmate, a Jewish prisoner named Benno Berg, experienced a rare moment of humor after a reeducation session. A Nazi Kreisleiter lectured the detainees on the Jewish threat, quoting the stock phrase, "the Jews are our misfortune." After the speech, he inspected the prisoners and stopped in front of Berg. In response to the Kreisleiter's questions, Berg gave his name and birthplace: "Berg, from Reichenberg
Liberec
Liberec is a city in the Czech Republic. Located on the Lusatian Neisse and surrounded by the Jizera Mountains and Ještěd-Kozákov Ridge, it is the fifth-largest city in the Czech Republic....
, Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
." Not realizing that the prisoner was Jewish, the Nazi announced: "A Sudeten national comrade! Bravo! All of you will come to us again!" Eggebrecht added: "The big shot's fat hand struck the 'non-Aryan' appreciatively on the shoulder. 'For myself, you are the model of the true SA man! Heil Hitler!' Hand raised, he strutted away."
Eggebrecht was interrogated, but not tortured. In this regard his experience contrasted with other Hainewalde prisoners. Eggebrecht recalled the interrogator's interest in how he had gotten mixed up with the Communists
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
, after growing up in a "good home." His release came through his father's intercession with an influential Saxon official, Professor Apel. Eggebrecht's father wrote him about Apel's interest in his case. Sometime later, his father visited him at the camp. Exclaiming that the conditions were "unworthy" of his son, the father added that he should be patient, because "it won't last much longer!" Several days later, Eggebrecht was released after signing a promise not to circulate "atrocity stories."
In 1948, the Bautzen
Bautzen
Bautzen is a hill-top town in eastern Saxony, Germany, and administrative centre of the eponymous district. It is located on the Spree River. As of 2008, its population is 41,161...
state court sentenced 39 guards to penitentiary terms for their role in the maltreatment of Hainewalde prisoners. The trial was conducted under the auspices of the Soviet occupation, but further details are not known. No additional information has emerged so far about Hainewalde, for which further research is needed.
External links
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - Early Camp/Hainewalde
- Castle Hainewalde on the web