Lichtenburg (concentration camp)
Encyclopedia
Lichtenburg was a Nazi concentration camp, housed in a Renaissance
castle
in Prettin
, near Wittenberg
in eastern Germany
. Along with Sachsenburg
, it was among the first to be built by the Nazis, and was operated by the SS
from 1933 to 1939. It held as many as 2000 male prisoners from 1933 to 1937 and from 1937 to 1939 held female prisoners. It was closed in May 1939, when the Ravensbrück concentration camp
for women was opened.
An account of the way the camp was run may be read in Lina Haag
's book A Handful of Dust or How Long the Night. Haag was perhaps the best known survivor of Lichtenburg, having obtained release before it was shut down.
Details about the operation of Lichtenburg, held by the International Tracing Service
, only became available to researchers in late 2006.
The castle today houses a regional museum and exhibit about Lichtenburg's use during the Nazi period.
Camp System. Holocaust and Genocide Studies 25, no. 1 (Spring 2011): 100–126.
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
in Prettin
Prettin
Prettin is a town and a former municipality in Wittenberg district in Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 January 2011, it is part of the town Annaburg. It was part of the former administrative community of Annaburg-Prettin....
, near Wittenberg
Wittenberg
Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a city in Germany in the Bundesland Saxony-Anhalt, on the river Elbe. It has a population of about 50,000....
in eastern Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Along with Sachsenburg
Sachsenburg (concentration camp)
Sachsenburg was a Nazi concentration camp in eastern Germany, located in Frankenberg, Saxony, near Chemnitz. Along with Lichtenburg, it was among the first to be built by the Nazis, and operated by the SS from 1933 to 1937...
, it was among the first to be built by the Nazis, and was operated by the SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
from 1933 to 1939. It held as many as 2000 male prisoners from 1933 to 1937 and from 1937 to 1939 held female prisoners. It was closed in May 1939, when the Ravensbrück concentration camp
Ravensbrück concentration camp
Ravensbrück was a notorious women's concentration camp during World War II, located in northern Germany, 90 km north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück ....
for women was opened.
An account of the way the camp was run may be read in Lina Haag
Lina Haag
Lina Haag née Jäger is a former member of the Youth movement of the Communist Party of Germany in the small Württemberg town of Schwäbisch Gmünd in the 1920s. In 1927, she married fellow Communist Alfred Haag. Alfred was a member of the regional Parliament for the KPD until Hitler's rise to...
's book A Handful of Dust or How Long the Night. Haag was perhaps the best known survivor of Lichtenburg, having obtained release before it was shut down.
Details about the operation of Lichtenburg, held by the International Tracing Service
International Tracing Service
The International Tracing Service in Bad Arolsen, Germany, is the internationally governed archive whose task it is to document the fate of millions of civilian victims of Nazi Germany. The documents in the ITS archives include original records from concentration camps, details of forced labour,...
, only became available to researchers in late 2006.
The castle today houses a regional museum and exhibit about Lichtenburg's use during the Nazi period.
Camp commandant
- May 1934 – July 1934: SS-Brigadeführer Theodor EickeTheodor EickeTheodor Eicke was a SS Obergruppenführer , commander of the SS-Division Totenkopf of the Waffen-SS and one of the key figures in the establishment of concentration camps in Nazi Germany. His Nazi Party number was 114,901 and his SS number was 2,921...
- July 1934 – March 1935: SS-Obersturmbannführer Bernhard Schmidt
- March 1935 – March 1936: SS-Standartenführer Otto Reich
- April 1936 – October 1936: SS-Standartenführer Hermann BaranowskiHermann BaranowskiHermann Baranowski was a German politician and military figure. A member of the Nazi Party, he is best known as the commandant of two German concentration camps of the SS Death's Head unit. He was the commandant of Dachau concentration camp in 1938...
- November 1936 – July 1937: SS-Standartenführer Hans HelwigHans HelwigHans Helwig was a German Nazi Party politician, Schutzstaffel general and Nazi concentration camp commandant...
- July 1937 – December 1937: Commisar Alexander Piorkowski
Protective custody chief
- July 1934 - February 1935: Edgar Entsberger
- February 1935 - April 1935 Karl Otto KochKarl Otto KochKarl-Otto Koch , a Standartenführer in the German Schutzstaffel , was the first commandant of the Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen, and later also served as a commander at the Majdanek concentration camp.-Early life:Koch was born in Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse on...
- April 1935 - October 1936 Heinrich Remmert
- November 1936 - August 1937 Egon ZillEgon ZillEgon Zill was a German Schutzstaffel Sturmbannführer and concentration camp commandant....
Deputy director of camp
- December 1937 - August 1938 Alexander Piorkowski
- September 1938 - May 1939 Max Koegel
External links
Further reading
- Stefan Hördler: Before the Holocaust: Concentration Camp Lichtenburg and the Evolution of the Nazi
Camp System. Holocaust and Genocide Studies 25, no. 1 (Spring 2011): 100–126.