International concentration camp committees
Encyclopedia
International concentration camp committees are organizations composed of former inmates of the various Nazi concentration camps, formed at various times, primarily after the Second World War. Although most survivors have since died and those who are still alive are generally octegenarians, the committees are still active.
, Buchenwald
and Dachau. After liberation, these groups became the foundation of post-war survivor organizations for their respective camps.
The concentration camp committees are international organizations because their members come from and live in many different countries. The purpose of the committees is to educate the world about what was done under the Third Reich regarding the arrest and deportation of religious, political and social groups considered "undesirable" by the National Socialists. They also serve to care for the survivors of Nazi brutality, and finally, the committees facilitate communication and cooperation among survivors.
The committees' efforts have resulted in the establishment of numerous camp memorials and commemorative events and displays.
in Berlin
, there was a meeting of the presidents of the international camp committees from January 24–27, 2009.
A document was produced under the auspices of the International Auschwitz Committee
that was signed by representatives of ten different Nazi concentration camps in Berlin
on January 25, 2010. It refers to the pledge taken by survivors to work for peace and freedom, to remember the past and work to keep fascism
from gaining ascendancy and noting the thinning ranks of their own members, it calls on young people to take up the work for future generations.
Committees' history and purpose
During the Nazi era, there were active, underground resistance organizations at several of the camps, such as those at SachsenhausenSachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May, 1945. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used as an NKVD...
, Buchenwald
Buchenwald Resistance
The Buchenwald Resistance was a resistance group of prisoners at Buchenwald concentration camp. It involved Communists, Social Democrats, and people affiliated with other political parties, unaffiliated people, and Christians. Because Buchenwald prisoners came from a number of countries, the...
and Dachau. After liberation, these groups became the foundation of post-war survivor organizations for their respective camps.
The concentration camp committees are international organizations because their members come from and live in many different countries. The purpose of the committees is to educate the world about what was done under the Third Reich regarding the arrest and deportation of religious, political and social groups considered "undesirable" by the National Socialists. They also serve to care for the survivors of Nazi brutality, and finally, the committees facilitate communication and cooperation among survivors.
The committees' efforts have resulted in the establishment of numerous camp memorials and commemorative events and displays.
Appeal in the new century
Held under the auspices of the International Auschwitz CommitteeInternational Auschwitz Committee
The International Auschwitz Committee was formed by survivors of the Auschwitz death camp in 1952 for the support of the survivors and to fight racism and anti-Semitism...
in 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...
, there was a meeting of the presidents of the international camp committees from January 24–27, 2009.
A document was produced under the auspices of the International Auschwitz Committee
International Auschwitz Committee
The International Auschwitz Committee was formed by survivors of the Auschwitz death camp in 1952 for the support of the survivors and to fight racism and anti-Semitism...
that was signed by representatives of ten different Nazi concentration camps in 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...
on January 25, 2010. It refers to the pledge taken by survivors to work for peace and freedom, to remember the past and work to keep fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
from gaining ascendancy and noting the thinning ranks of their own members, it calls on young people to take up the work for future generations.
List of international concentration camp committees
- International Auschwitz CommitteeInternational Auschwitz CommitteeThe International Auschwitz Committee was formed by survivors of the Auschwitz death camp in 1952 for the support of the survivors and to fight racism and anti-Semitism...
- World Federation of Bergen-Belsen Associations
- International Buchenwald Committee
- International Dachau Committee
- International Dachau Sub-Camps Committee
- International Flossenbürg Committee
- Comité International de MauthausenAmicale de MauthausenThe Amicale de Mauthausen is a French association in memory of the history of the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp.Shortly after the end of World War II, on 1 October 1945, the institution named l’Amicale des déportés politiques de la Résistance de Mauthausen et de ses kommandos dépendants was...
- International Committee Mittelbau-Dora
- International Neuengamme Committee
- International Ravensbrück Committee
- International Sachsenhausen Committee
- KLB ClubKLB ClubThe KLB Club was formed on 12 October 1944, and included the 168 allied airmen who were held prisoner at Buchenwald concentration camp between 20 August and 19 October 1944...
Notable members of camp committees
- Jean-Aimé Dolidier (1906–1971), a French trade unionist and survivor of Neuengamme. He was president of the Amicale Internationale de Neuengamme and a member of the memorial site commission, that established a monument there in 1953.
- Hermann LangbeinHermann LangbeinHermann Langbein was an Austrian who fought in the Spanish Civil War with the International Brigades for the Spanish Republicans against the Nationalists under Francisco Franco...
(1912–1995), an Austrian resistance fighter against Nazism and a historian. While in confinement, he led groups of resisters at several concentration camps. After 1945, he was the General Secretary of the International Auschwitz Committee and later the secretary of the Comité International des Camps. In the mid-1960s, he and Fritz BauerFritz BauerFritz Bauer was a German judge and prosecutor.-Life:Bauer was born in Stuttgart, Kingdom of Württemberg, German Empire to Jewish parents. He attended Eberhard-Ludwigs-Gymnasium and studied business and law at the Universities of Heidelberg, Munich and Tübingen. After receiving his Doctorate of...
played an important role in the Frankfurt Auschwitz TrialsFrankfurt Auschwitz trialsThe Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials, known in German as der Auschwitz-Prozess or der zweite Auschwitz-Prozess, was a series of trials running from December 20, 1963 to August 10, 1965, charging 22 defendants under German penal law for their roles in the Holocaust as mid- to lower-level officials in the...
. - Edmond MicheletEdmond MicheletEdmond Michelet was a French politician.On 17 June 1940, he distributed tracts calling to continue the war in all Brive-la-Gaillarde's mailboxes...
, 1962 to 1964, President of the European Documentation and Information CentreEuropean Documentation and Information CentreThe European Documentation and Information Centre was founded in 1952 on the occasion of a first international congress in Santander...
. Served under De Gaulle and others as Ministre des Anciens combattants (Minister for War Veterans). - Oskar MüllerOskar MüllerOskar Müller was the first employment minister in Hesse, Germany after World War II.-Early career:Müller was born in Wohlau in Prussian Silesia as the son of a farmer. He fought in World War I and became an officer. After the war, he joined the Communist Party of Germany...
, Lagerältester in Dachau, later first Minister of Labor in HesseHesseHesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
. - Harry NaujoksHarry NaujoksHarry Naujoks was a German anti-fascist and survivor of Sachsenhausen concentration camp.- Biography :...
(1901–1983) – Lagerältester and chronicler of Sachsenhausen. - Marcel PaulMarcel PaulMarcel Paul was a French trade unionist and communist politician. He was also a Nazi concentration camp survivor and later served as a member of the French parliament.- Biography :...
, (1900-1982), French trade unionist, member of the French parliament and survivor of Buchenwald. He and Henri Manhès founded a French organization, the Fédération nationale des déportés et internés résistants et patriotesFédération nationale des déportés et internés résistants et patriotesThe Fédération nationale des déportés et internés résistants et patriotes is an organization founded by Marcel Paul and Henri Manhès in October 1945, five months after the defeat of Nazi Germany at the end of World War II...
in October 1945. - Marie-Claude Vaillant-CouturierMarie-Claude Vaillant-CouturierMarie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier, , whose real name was Marie-Claude Vogel, was a member of the French Resistance.-Photographer:...
, RésistanceResistance- Physics :* Electrical resistance, a measure of the degree to which an object opposes an electric current through it* Friction, the force that opposes motion** Drag , fluid or gas forces opposing motion and flow...
, resistance at (Auschwitz-Birkenau), witness at Nuremberg TrialsNuremberg TrialsThe Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
.
See also
- Elie WieselElie WieselSir Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel KBE; born September 30, 1928) is a Hungarian-born Jewish-American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He is the author of 57 books, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz, Buna, and...
- Kurt Julius GoldsteinKurt Julius GoldsteinKurt Julius Goldstein was a German journalist and a former broadcast director.- Biography :Goldstein was born to a Jewish merchant family in Dortmund, Germany. At school, he experienced Germany's growing anti-Semitism and it had the effect of politicising him...
- Max MannheimerMax MannheimerMax Mannheimer is an author and painter and survivor of the Holocaust. Except for one brother, he lost his entire family in the Holocaust, including his new wife. For decades, he did not speak about his experiences, despite nightmares and depression...
- La Fondation pour la Mémoire de la DéportationLa Fondation pour la Mémoire de la DéportationThe Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Déportation was founded on 17 October 1990 on the initiative of former French prime minister Michel Rocard and the former minister of the Interior...
- List of Nazi concentration camps
External links
- Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Foundation Official website for Buchenwald Memorial and Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp Memorial. Retrieved April 17, 2010
- Association Française Buchenwald Dora et Kommandos Official website for French Association Buchenwald Dora and Kommandos. Retrieved February 11, 2011
- Fritz Bauer Institute Official website. Retrieved April 18, 2010
- Council of Survivors at the Fritz Bauer Institute. Retrieved April 18, 2010
- Wollheim Memorial Official website with commemoration for victims of Buna-Monowitz concentration camp. Retrieved April 18, 2010
- The Friends of the Sachsenhausen Memorial Museum e.V. Official website. Retrieved May 5, 2010