SS command of Auschwitz concentration camp
Encyclopedia
The SS command of Auschwitz concentration camp refers to those units, commands, and agencies of the German SS which operated and administered the Auschwitz concentration camp
during World War II
; it is not a list of all personnel who served at Auschwitz, but does include those in command positions. Due to its large size and key role in the Nazi genocide program
, the Auschwitz Concentration Camp encompassed personnel from several different branches of the SS, some of which held overlapping and shared areas of responsibility.
There were over 7,000 SS personnel who served at Auschwitz from the time of the camp's construction in 1940 to the camp's liberation by the Red Army
in January 1945. Fewer than 800 were ever tried for war crimes, the most notable of which was the trial of camp commander Rudolf Hoess as well as several others
tried between 1946 and 1948.
Heinrich Himmler
, was the highest SS official with knowledge of Auschwitz and the function which the camp served. Himmler was known to issue direct orders to the camp commander, bypassing all other chains of command, in response to his own directives. Himmler would also occasionally receive broad instructions from Adolf Hitler
or Hermann Göring
, which he would then interpret as he saw fit and transmit to the Auschwitz Camp Commander.
Below Himmler, the senior most operational SS commander involved with Auschwitz was SS-Obergruppenführer
Oswald Pohl
, who served as head of the SS-Economics Main Office, known as the SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt
or SS-WVHA. Pohl's subordinate, SS-Gruppenführer
Richard Glucks
, served as the Amtschef (Department Chief) of the Concentration Camps Inspectorate
which was known as "Department D" within the WVHA. It was Glucks who may be seen as the direct superior to the camp commandant of Auschwitz, SS-Obersturmbannführer
Rudolf Höss.
In addition to this direct chain of command, the geograpical location of Auschwitz placed some of its supply and wartime functions under the authoirity of Regional SS and Nazi Party leaders. When the camp was first constructed, Auschwitz was located within the borders of the newly established General Government
, under the control of Reichsleiter
Hans Frank
. Before Auschwitz was a death camp, Frank left the running of the camp mostly to the SS, although did know of the camp's existence since the early Auschwitz fell under his geographical authority. Simultaneously, all SS activities at Auschwitz were under the authority of the Higher SS and Police Leader
"Ost" (east) who, during most of Auschwitz's existence, was Friedrich Wilhelm Krüger
(Wilhelm Koppe
also held this position from late 1943 to early 1945). Krüger's subordinate, the SS and Police Leader of Krakow
was also technically senior to the Commander of Auschwitz and could issue orders concerning wartime needs.
By 1942, the territory in which Auschwitz lay had been absorbed into the German state of Upper Silesia
and thereafter was under geographical control of the corresponding Gauleiter
. For most of the camp's later half of existence, this person was Karl Hanke
, who both visited Auschwitz and had full knowledge of the camp's operation. During Hanke's tenure, the SS command of the region stayed the same, with the addition of Auschwitz now falling under the administrative realm of the Allgemeine-SS division SS-Oberabschnitt Südost
. The 23rd SS-Standarte
also was a General-SS counterpart to the Waffen-SS personnel of the region, many of whom were stationed at Auschwitz.
As well as falling under a direct and geographical chain of command, the nature of the work at Auschwitz also had the camp coming under the sphere of the SS-Reichssicherheitshauptamt, or RSHA. Both Reinhard Heydrich
and later Ernest Kaltenbrunner routinely were briefed on activities at Auschwitz through Adolf Eichmann
, assigned head of RSHA Referat IV B4 (RSHA Sub-Department IV-B4), who dealt with supervising the transportation of Jews
to Auschwitz and had visited the camp on several occasions.
A final group which had interest in Auschwitz were the various German ministries concerned with war production, slave labor, and manpower. During the Nuremburg Trials, heavy emphasis was placed on the knowledge which the civil government of Nazi Germany
had of Auschwitz, which was a primary source of labor for such major firms as IG Farben
. Both Fritz Sauckel
and Albert Speer
were directly accused of having knowledge of Auschwitz, although both denied knowing the scope of the genocide program in place there.
Senior Chain of Command
Reichsführer-SS
Heinrich Himmler
(Supreme Commander of the SS)
SS-Obergruppenführer Oswald Pohl
(Commander, SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt
)
SS-Gruppenführer Richard Glücks
(Concentration Camps Inspectorate
)
Lateral Senior Commands
SS-Obergruppenführer Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger
SS-Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Koppe
SS-Oberführer
Julian Scherner
, or the SS-TV. Due to a 1941 personnel directive from the SS Personalhauptamt
, members of the SS-TV were also considered full members of the Waffen-SS
. Such personnel were further authorized to display the Death's Head Collar Patch, indicating full membership in both the SS-TV and Waffen-SS.
The Auschwitz Commandant was assigned a full time administrative staff to which answered a primary adjutant
as well as several other SS officers in charge of supply, finance, and other administrative needs. Auschwitz also maintained a motor pool
as well as an arsenal from which all the SS personnel would draw weapons and ammunition, although several of the SS were known to purchase their own handguns and other weapons.
Administrative and supply SS personnel were assigned mostly to the camp headquarters at the Auschwitz I camp. Such personnel, many of whom were Waffen-SS members but not members of the SS-TV camp service, were usually "out of the way" of the more horrific activities of the camp. Oskar Gröning
is one such well known Auschwitz clerk, who has appeared on several documentaries speaking about life in Auschwitz for the SS, and how living in the camp was in fact an enjoyable experience.
Garrison commanders
SS-Obersturmbannführer
Rudolf Höss (1940 - 1943/1944)
SS-Obersturmbannführer Arthur Liebehenschel
(1943 - 1944)
SS-Sturmbannführer
Richard Baer
(1944 - 1945)
Senior adjutant officers
SS-Hauptsturmführer Josef Kramer
(Auschwitz I)
SS-Hauptsturmführer Robert Mulka
(Auschwitz I and II)
Junior adjutant officers
SS-Obersturmführer Karl-Friedrich Höcker
(Auschwitz I)
Headquarters staff
SS-Hauptscharführer
Detlef Nebbe
(Head NCO, Commandant's Staff)
Pay office
SS-Unterscharführer Oskar Gröning
(Currency Exchange Clerk)
Post office
SS-Sturmscharführer
Robert Heider (Post Office NCO)
Legal office
SS-Obersturmführer Wilhelm Bayer
SS-Obersturmführer Heinrich Ganninger
Directors of administration
SS-Obersturmbannführer Karl Moeckel
Camp administration main office
SS-Unterscharführer Franz Romeikat
(Administrative assistant)
Prisoner property office
SS-Obersturmführer Theodor Kratzer (Property director)
Camp personnel department
SS-Hauptscharführer Friedrich Schimpf (Personnel accommodation)
SS-Oberscharführer Hans Zobisch (Personnel NCO)
Camp technical section
SS-Scharführer Georg Engelschall (Technical section NCO)
s. Each of the three main camps at Auschwitz was assigned a Lagerführer to which answered several SS-non-commissioned officers known as Rapportführer
s. The Rapportführer commanded several Blockführer
who oversaw order within individual prisoner barracks. Assisting the SS with this task was a large collection of Kapo
s, who were trustee prisoners.
Camp labor section
SS-Unterscharführer Heinrich Oppelt (Director of camp labor)
SS-Unterscharführer Heinrich Schoppe (Labor service NCO)
Women's camp sub-section
SS-Unterscharführer Richard Perschel (Womens camp labor director)
SS-Unterscharführer Johann Ruiters (Womens camp labor administration)
Ironically, contrary to the stereotypical image of the "Concentration Camp Guard", members of the Guard Battalion seldom, if ever, had direct contact with prisoners. Exceptions occurred due to prisoner escapes or uprisings, of which the 1944 Crematorium Revolt (depicted in the film The Grey Zone
where the Guard Battalion enters and machine gun
s a crematorium) is one such example.
Battalion Commanders
SS-Sturmbannführer Max Gebhardt
SS-Sturmbannführer Arthur Plorin
Guard Company Commanders
SS-Sturmbannführer Otto Stoppel
Guard Platoon Leaders
SS-Obersturmführer Josef Kollmer
Guard Battalion NCOs
SS-Hauptscharführer Adolf Becker
SS-Hauptscharführer Matthias Tannhausen
SS-Oberscharführer Emanuel Glumbik
SS-Oberscharführer Vinzent Klose
Guard Battalion Sentries
SS-Rottenführer Erich Dinges
SS-Rottenführer Richard Böck
The "rank and file" of the Guard Battalion consisted primary of junior SS soldiers holding the rank of Schütze
, Oberschütze
, and Sturmmann
.
Auschwitz Dog Squad
SS-Obersturmführer Hans Merbach (Dog Squad Commander)
, whose doctors and medical personnel were from various backgrounds in the SS. The infamous Josef Mengele
, for example, was a combat field doctor in the Waffen-SS before transferring to Auschwitz after being wounded in combat.
Office of the Garrison Physician
SS-Sturmbannführer Dr. Eduard Wirths
SS-Obersturmfuhrer Dr. Franz von Bodmann
Medical administration section
SS-Sturmbannführer Dr. Eduard Krebsbach
(Temporary assignment - served less than 2 months)
Medical staff officers
SS-Hauptsturmführer Dr. Josef Mengele
SS-Hauptsturmführer Dr. Alfred Trzebinski
SS-Obersturmführer Dr. Franz Lucas
SS-Untersturmführer Dr. Hans Wilhelm König
Civilian medical personnel
Dr. Carl Clauberg
(Civilian physician)
SS-Untersturmfuhrer Dr. Walter Goebel (Assistant to Dr. Clauberg)
Medical service staff
SS-Oberscharführer Josef Klehr
(Senior medical staff NCO)
SS-Unterscharführer Adolf Theuer
(Sanitary orderly)
Office of the Garrison Dentist
SS-Sturmbannführer Dr. Raimond Ehrenberger
Staff Dentists
SS-Obersturmführer Dr. Willi Schatz
Dental service staff
SS-Untersturmführer Josef Simon (Dental technician)
Camp Pharmacists
SS-Sturmbannführer Dr. Viktor Capesius
Pharmacy staff
SS-Obersturmführer Gerhard Gerber (Pharmacist's assistant)
Camp Veterinarians
SS-Sturmbannführer Dr. Ludwig Boehne
SS-Hauptsturmführer Armand Langermann
Auschwitz Hygiene Institute
SS-Untersturmführer Dr. Hans Munch
(Deputy hygiene director)
maintained a large office at Auschwitz, staffed by uniformed Gestapo officers and personnel.
Political office directors
SS-Untersturmführer
Maximilian Grabner
Political office directorate
SS-Hauptscharführer Helmut Westphal
SS-Oberscharführer Josef Wietschorek
SS-Unterscharführer Hermann Kirschner
Political records office
SS-Untersturmführer Hans Stark
(Death register)
Camp identification department
SS-Hauptscharführer Bernhard Walter (ID Department NCO)
SS-Rottenführer
Ludwig Pach (Identification checks)
Camp interrogation department
SS-Oberscharführer Klaus Dylweski (Lead interrogator)
Camp escape department
SS-Oberscharführer Wilhelm Boger
(Escape department NCO)
Camp Gestapo agents
SS-Oberscharführer Josef Erber
SS-Unterscharführer Pery Broad
SS-Rottenführer Hans Hoffmann
) forced to assist in the extermination process.
The actual delivery of the gas to the victims was always handled by the SS, this was accomplished by a special SS unit known as the "Hygiene Division" which would drive Zyklon B
to the crematorium in an ambulance
and then empty the canister into the gas chamber. The Hygiene Division was under the control of the Auschwitz Medical Corps, with the Zyklon B ordered and delivered through the camp supply system .
, nurses, and (most notoriously) guards of female compounds within Auschwitz.
Auschwitz concentration camp
Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
; it is not a list of all personnel who served at Auschwitz, but does include those in command positions. Due to its large size and key role in the Nazi genocide program
Final Solution
The Final Solution was Nazi Germany's plan and execution of the systematic genocide of European Jews during World War II, resulting in the most deadly phase of the Holocaust...
, the Auschwitz Concentration Camp encompassed personnel from several different branches of the SS, some of which held overlapping and shared areas of responsibility.
There were over 7,000 SS personnel who served at Auschwitz from the time of the camp's construction in 1940 to the camp's liberation by the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
in January 1945. Fewer than 800 were ever tried for war crimes, the most notable of which was the trial of camp commander Rudolf Hoess as well as several others
Auschwitz trial
The Auschwitz trial began on November 24, 1947, in Kraków, when Polish authorities tried 41 former staff of the Auschwitz concentration camps. The trials ended on December 22, 1947....
tried between 1946 and 1948.
Senior chain of command
The supreme commander of the SS, Reichsführer-SSReichsführer-SS
was a special SS rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945. Reichsführer-SS was a title from 1925 to 1933 and, after 1934, the highest rank of the German Schutzstaffel .-Definition:...
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
, was the highest SS official with knowledge of Auschwitz and the function which the camp served. Himmler was known to issue direct orders to the camp commander, bypassing all other chains of command, in response to his own directives. Himmler would also occasionally receive broad instructions from Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
or Hermann Göring
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
, which he would then interpret as he saw fit and transmit to the Auschwitz Camp Commander.
Below Himmler, the senior most operational SS commander involved with Auschwitz was SS-Obergruppenführer
Obergruppenführer
Obergruppenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the SA and until 1942 it was the highest SS rank inferior only to Reichsführer-SS...
Oswald Pohl
Oswald Pohl
Oswald Pohl was a Nazi official and member of the SS , involved in the mass murders of Jews in concentration camps, the so-called Final Solution.-Early years:...
, who served as head of the SS-Economics Main Office, known as the SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt
SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt
The SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt was responsible for managing the finances, supply systems and business projects for the Allgemeine-SS...
or SS-WVHA. Pohl's subordinate, SS-Gruppenführer
Gruppenführer
Gruppenführer was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party, first created in 1925 as a senior rank of the SA.-SS rank:...
Richard Glucks
Richard Glücks
Richard Glücks was a high-ranking Nazi official. He attained the rank of a SS-Gruppenführer and a Generalleutnant of the Waffen-SS and from 1939 until the end of World War II was the head of Amt D: Konzentrationslagerwesen of the WVHA; the highest-ranking Concentration Camps Inspector in Nazi...
, served as the Amtschef (Department Chief) of the Concentration Camps Inspectorate
Concentration Camps Inspectorate
The Concentration Camps Inspectorate was the central SS administrative and managerial authority for the concentration camps of the Third Reich. Created by Theodor Eicke, it was originally known as the "General Inspection of the Enhanced SS-Totenkopfstandarten, after Eicke's position in the SS...
which was known as "Department D" within the WVHA. It was Glucks who may be seen as the direct superior to the camp commandant of Auschwitz, SS-Obersturmbannführer
Obersturmbannführer
Obersturmbannführer was a paramilitary Nazi Party rank used by both the SA and the SS. It was created in May 1933 to fill the need for an additional field grade officer rank above Sturmbannführer as the SA expanded. It became an SS rank at the same time...
Rudolf Höss.
In addition to this direct chain of command, the geograpical location of Auschwitz placed some of its supply and wartime functions under the authoirity of Regional SS and Nazi Party leaders. When the camp was first constructed, Auschwitz was located within the borders of the newly established General Government
General Government
The General Government was an area of Second Republic of Poland under Nazi German rule during World War II; designated as a separate region of the Third Reich between 1939–1945...
, under the control of Reichsleiter
Reichsleiter
Reichsleiter , was the second highest political rank of the NSDAP next only to the office of Führer. Reichsleiter also served as a paramilitary rank, for the Nazi Party and was the highest position attainable in any Nazi-Organisation.The Reichsleiter reported directly to Adolf Hitler, in whose...
Hans Frank
Hans Frank
Hans Michael Frank was a German lawyer who worked for the Nazi party during the 1920s and 1930s and later became a high-ranking official in Nazi Germany...
. Before Auschwitz was a death camp, Frank left the running of the camp mostly to the SS, although did know of the camp's existence since the early Auschwitz fell under his geographical authority. Simultaneously, all SS activities at Auschwitz were under the authority of the Higher SS and Police Leader
SS and Police Leader
SS and Police Leader was a title for senior Nazi officials that commanded large units of the SS, of Gestapo and of the regular German police during and prior to World War II.Three levels of subordination were established for bearers of this title:...
"Ost" (east) who, during most of Auschwitz's existence, was Friedrich Wilhelm Krüger
Friedrich Wilhelm Krüger
Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger was a Nazi official and high-ranking member of the SA and SS. Between 1939 and 1943 he was SS and Police Leader in the General Government in German-occupied Poland and in that capacity he organized and supervised numerous acts of war crimes.- Early life :Krüger was born...
(Wilhelm Koppe
Wilhelm Koppe
Wilhelm Koppe was a German Nazi commander who was responsible for numerous atrocities against Poles and Jews in Reichsgau Wartheland and the General Government during the German occupation of Poland in World War II.-Biography:Born in Hildesheim, he fought in the First World War...
also held this position from late 1943 to early 1945). Krüger's subordinate, the SS and Police Leader of Krakow
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
was also technically senior to the Commander of Auschwitz and could issue orders concerning wartime needs.
By 1942, the territory in which Auschwitz lay had been absorbed into the German state of Upper Silesia
Upper Silesia
Upper Silesia is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia. Since the 9th century, Upper Silesia has been part of Greater Moravia, the Duchy of Bohemia, the Piast Kingdom of Poland, again of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown and the Holy Roman Empire, as well as of...
and thereafter was under geographical control of the corresponding Gauleiter
Gauleiter
A Gauleiter was the party leader of a regional branch of the NSDAP or the head of a Gau or of a Reichsgau.-Creation and Early Usage:...
. For most of the camp's later half of existence, this person was Karl Hanke
Karl Hanke
Karl August Hanke was an official of the National Socialist German Workers Party . He served as governor of Lower Silesia from 1941 to 1945 and as the final Reichsführer-SS for a few days in 1945.- Early life :Hanke was born in Lauban in Silesia, on 24 August 1903, the son of a locomotive...
, who both visited Auschwitz and had full knowledge of the camp's operation. During Hanke's tenure, the SS command of the region stayed the same, with the addition of Auschwitz now falling under the administrative realm of the Allgemeine-SS division SS-Oberabschnitt Südost
SS-Oberabschnitt Südost
SS-Oberabschnitt Südost was a division command of the Allgemeine-SS which encompassed SS activities in southeastern Germany. The command was first formed in 1932 under the command of Udo von Woyrsch. The first headquarters of the Oberabschnitt was in the city of Brieg...
. The 23rd SS-Standarte
23rd SS-Standarte
The 23rd SS-Standarte was a regimental formation of the Allgemeine-SS located in the region of Silesia. Due to its geographical location, the 23rd SS-Standarte is best known for existing as an General-SS counterpart command for Waffen-SS and SS-TV personnel assigned to Auschwitz Concentration...
also was a General-SS counterpart to the Waffen-SS personnel of the region, many of whom were stationed at Auschwitz.
As well as falling under a direct and geographical chain of command, the nature of the work at Auschwitz also had the camp coming under the sphere of the SS-Reichssicherheitshauptamt, or RSHA. Both Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich , also known as The Hangman, was a high-ranking German Nazi official.He was SS-Obergruppenführer and General der Polizei, chief of the Reich Main Security Office and Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia...
and later Ernest Kaltenbrunner routinely were briefed on activities at Auschwitz through Adolf Eichmann
Adolf Eichmann
Adolf Otto Eichmann was a German Nazi and SS-Obersturmbannführer and one of the major organizers of the Holocaust...
, assigned head of RSHA Referat IV B4 (RSHA Sub-Department IV-B4), who dealt with supervising the transportation of Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
to Auschwitz and had visited the camp on several occasions.
A final group which had interest in Auschwitz were the various German ministries concerned with war production, slave labor, and manpower. During the Nuremburg Trials, heavy emphasis was placed on the knowledge which the civil government of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
had of Auschwitz, which was a primary source of labor for such major firms as IG Farben
IG Farben
I.G. Farbenindustrie AG was a German chemical industry conglomerate. Its name is taken from Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG . The company was formed in 1925 from a number of major companies that had been working together closely since World War I...
. Both Fritz Sauckel
Fritz Sauckel
Ernst Friedrich Christoph "Fritz" Sauckel was a Nazi war criminal, who organized the systematic enslavement of millions from lands occupied by Nazi Germany...
and Albert Speer
Albert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...
were directly accused of having knowledge of Auschwitz, although both denied knowing the scope of the genocide program in place there.
Senior Chain of Command
Reichsführer-SS
Reichsführer-SS
was a special SS rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945. Reichsführer-SS was a title from 1925 to 1933 and, after 1934, the highest rank of the German Schutzstaffel .-Definition:...
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
(Supreme Commander of the SS)
SS-Obergruppenführer Oswald Pohl
Oswald Pohl
Oswald Pohl was a Nazi official and member of the SS , involved in the mass murders of Jews in concentration camps, the so-called Final Solution.-Early years:...
(Commander, SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt
SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt
The SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt was responsible for managing the finances, supply systems and business projects for the Allgemeine-SS...
)
SS-Gruppenführer Richard Glücks
Richard Glücks
Richard Glücks was a high-ranking Nazi official. He attained the rank of a SS-Gruppenführer and a Generalleutnant of the Waffen-SS and from 1939 until the end of World War II was the head of Amt D: Konzentrationslagerwesen of the WVHA; the highest-ranking Concentration Camps Inspector in Nazi...
(Concentration Camps Inspectorate
Concentration Camps Inspectorate
The Concentration Camps Inspectorate was the central SS administrative and managerial authority for the concentration camps of the Third Reich. Created by Theodor Eicke, it was originally known as the "General Inspection of the Enhanced SS-Totenkopfstandarten, after Eicke's position in the SS...
)
Lateral Senior Commands
SS-Obergruppenführer Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger
SS-Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Koppe
Wilhelm Koppe
Wilhelm Koppe was a German Nazi commander who was responsible for numerous atrocities against Poles and Jews in Reichsgau Wartheland and the General Government during the German occupation of Poland in World War II.-Biography:Born in Hildesheim, he fought in the First World War...
SS-Oberführer
Oberführer
Oberführer was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party dating back to 1921. Translated as “Senior Leader”, an Oberführer was typically a Nazi Party member in charge of a group of paramilitary units in a particular geographical region...
Julian Scherner
Julian Scherner
Julian Scherner was a Nazi Party official who served in the SS as an SS-Oberführer...
Camp leadership and personnel
The camp commander of Auschwitz, as well as the senior camp officers and non-commissioned officers, were all members of the SS-TotenkopfverbandeSS-Totenkopfverbände
SS-Totenkopfverbände , meaning "Death's-Head Units", was the SS organization responsible for administering the Nazi concentration camps for the Third Reich....
, or the SS-TV. Due to a 1941 personnel directive from the SS Personalhauptamt
SS Personalhauptamt
The SS Personalhauptamt was the central recording office for all officers and potential officers for the SS in Nazi Germany.-Formation:The Personalhauptamt was responsible maintaining the service records for all commissioned Waffen-SS and Allgemeine-SS personnel. However it did not keep extensive...
, members of the SS-TV were also considered full members of the Waffen-SS
Waffen-SS
The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...
. Such personnel were further authorized to display the Death's Head Collar Patch, indicating full membership in both the SS-TV and Waffen-SS.
The Auschwitz Commandant was assigned a full time administrative staff to which answered a primary adjutant
Adjutant
Adjutant is a military rank or appointment. In some armies, including most English-speaking ones, it is an officer who assists a more senior officer, while in other armies, especially Francophone ones, it is an NCO , normally corresponding roughly to a Staff Sergeant or Warrant Officer.An Adjutant...
as well as several other SS officers in charge of supply, finance, and other administrative needs. Auschwitz also maintained a motor pool
Motor pool
In neuroscience, a motor pool refers to a group of motor spinal neurons that innervate the same muscle. The biological significance of motor pool organization is in the fact that motor pools with many neurons produce finer movements...
as well as an arsenal from which all the SS personnel would draw weapons and ammunition, although several of the SS were known to purchase their own handguns and other weapons.
Administrative and supply SS personnel were assigned mostly to the camp headquarters at the Auschwitz I camp. Such personnel, many of whom were Waffen-SS members but not members of the SS-TV camp service, were usually "out of the way" of the more horrific activities of the camp. Oskar Gröning
Oskar Gröning
Oskar Gröning was a German SS-Rottenführer at Auschwitz concentration camp.He was born in Lower Saxony. After his mother died when he was four, he received a strict upbringing from his father, a skilled textile worker...
is one such well known Auschwitz clerk, who has appeared on several documentaries speaking about life in Auschwitz for the SS, and how living in the camp was in fact an enjoyable experience.
Garrison commanders
SS-Obersturmbannführer
Obersturmbannführer
Obersturmbannführer was a paramilitary Nazi Party rank used by both the SA and the SS. It was created in May 1933 to fill the need for an additional field grade officer rank above Sturmbannführer as the SA expanded. It became an SS rank at the same time...
Rudolf Höss (1940 - 1943/1944)
SS-Obersturmbannführer Arthur Liebehenschel
Arthur Liebehenschel
Arthur Liebehenschel was a commandant at the Auschwitz and Majdanek death camps during World War II. He was convicted of war crimes after the war and executed.-Biography:...
(1943 - 1944)
SS-Sturmbannführer
Sturmbannführer
Sturmbannführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party equivalent to major, used both in the Sturmabteilung and the Schutzstaffel...
Richard Baer
Richard Baer
Richard Baer was a German Nazi official with the rank of SS-Sturmbannführer and commander of the Auschwitz I concentration camp from May 1944 to February 1945. He was a member of N.S.D.A.P...
(1944 - 1945)
Senior adjutant officers
SS-Hauptsturmführer Josef Kramer
Josef Kramer
Josef Kramer was the Commandant of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Dubbed "The Beast of Belsen" by camp inmates; he was a notorious Nazi war criminal, directly responsible for the deaths of thousands of people...
(Auschwitz I)
SS-Hauptsturmführer Robert Mulka
Robert Mulka
Robert Karl Ludwig Mulka was an SS-Obersturmführer. At Auschwitz concentration camp, he was adjutant to the camp commandant, SS-Obersturmbannführer Rudolf Höss.- Life :...
(Auschwitz I and II)
Junior adjutant officers
SS-Obersturmführer Karl-Friedrich Höcker
Karl-Friedrich Höcker
Karl-Friedrich Höcker was a SS-Obersturmführer and the adjutant to Richard Baer, who was a commandant of Auschwitz I concentration camp from May 1944 to February 1945...
(Auschwitz I)
Headquarters staff
SS-Hauptscharführer
Hauptscharführer
Hauptscharführer was a Nazi paramilitary rank which was used by the Schutzstaffel between the years of 1934 and 1945. The rank was the highest enlisted rank of the SS, with the exception of the special Waffen-SS rank of Sturmscharführer....
Detlef Nebbe
Detlef Nebbe
Detlef Nebbe was an SS-Hauptscharführer and member of staff at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial....
(Head NCO, Commandant's Staff)
Pay office
SS-Unterscharführer Oskar Gröning
Oskar Gröning
Oskar Gröning was a German SS-Rottenführer at Auschwitz concentration camp.He was born in Lower Saxony. After his mother died when he was four, he received a strict upbringing from his father, a skilled textile worker...
(Currency Exchange Clerk)
Post office
SS-Sturmscharführer
Sturmscharführer
Sturmscharführer was a Nazi rank of the Waffen-SS that existed between 1934 and 1945. The rank was the most senior enlisted rank in the Waffen-SS, the equivalent of a Sergeant Major in other military organizations...
Robert Heider (Post Office NCO)
Legal office
SS-Obersturmführer Wilhelm Bayer
SS-Obersturmführer Heinrich Ganninger
Directors of administration
SS-Obersturmbannführer Karl Moeckel
Camp administration main office
SS-Unterscharführer Franz Romeikat
Franz Romeikat
Franz Romeikat was an SS-Unterscharführer and staff member at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted in the Auschwitz Trial....
(Administrative assistant)
Prisoner property office
SS-Obersturmführer Theodor Kratzer (Property director)
Camp personnel department
SS-Hauptscharführer Friedrich Schimpf (Personnel accommodation)
SS-Oberscharführer Hans Zobisch (Personnel NCO)
Camp technical section
SS-Scharführer Georg Engelschall (Technical section NCO)
Internal camp order
Internal camp order was under the authority of SS-TV members answering directly to the Camp Commander through officers known as LagerführerLagerführer
Lagerführer was a paramilitary title of the SS, specific to the Totenkopfverbande . A Lagerführer was the head SS officer assigned to a particular Concentration Camp, serving as the commander of the said camp.The term Lagerführer was distinct and separate from the position of Kommondant...
s. Each of the three main camps at Auschwitz was assigned a Lagerführer to which answered several SS-non-commissioned officers known as Rapportführer
Rapportführer
Rapportführer was a paramilitary title of the SS, specific to the Totenkopfverbande . An SS-Rapportführer was usually a mid-level SS-non-commissioned officer who served as the commander of a group of Blockführer who themselves were assigned to oversee barracks within a...
s. The Rapportführer commanded several Blockführer
Blockführer
Blockführer was a paramilitary title of the SS, specific to the Totenkopfverbande . An SS-Blockführer was typically in charge of a prisoner barracks of between two to three Concentration Camp prisoners; in larger camps, this number could be as a high as 1000...
who oversaw order within individual prisoner barracks. Assisting the SS with this task was a large collection of Kapo
Kapo (concentration camp)
A kapo was a prisoner who worked inside German Nazi concentration camps during World War II in any of certain lower administrative positions. The official Nazi word was Funktionshäftling, or "prisoner functionary", but the Nazis commonly referred to them as kapos.- Etymology :The origin of "kapo"...
s, who were trustee prisoners.
Camp labor section
SS-Unterscharführer Heinrich Oppelt (Director of camp labor)
SS-Unterscharführer Heinrich Schoppe (Labor service NCO)
Women's camp sub-section
SS-Unterscharführer Richard Perschel (Womens camp labor director)
SS-Unterscharführer Johann Ruiters (Womens camp labor administration)
Camp Guards
External camp security was under the authority of an SS unit known as the "Guard Battalion", or Wachbattalion. These guards manned watchtowers and patrolled the perimeter fences of the camp. During an emergency, such as a prisoner uprising, the Guard Battalion could be deployed within the camp. the Guard battalion was organized on military lines with a Battalion Commander, Company and Platoon Leaders, as well as non-commissioned officers and enliste3d SS soldiers. Camp guards were either members of the SS-TV or Waffen-SS veterans rotated into the concentration camp system due to wounds in action or for some other administrative reason.Ironically, contrary to the stereotypical image of the "Concentration Camp Guard", members of the Guard Battalion seldom, if ever, had direct contact with prisoners. Exceptions occurred due to prisoner escapes or uprisings, of which the 1944 Crematorium Revolt (depicted in the film The Grey Zone
The Grey Zone
The Grey Zone is a 2001 film directed by Tim Blake Nelson and starring David Arquette, Steve Buscemi, Harvey Keitel, Mira Sorvino and Daniel Benzali. It is based on the book Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account written by Dr. Miklós Nyiszli....
where the Guard Battalion enters and machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
s a crematorium) is one such example.
Battalion Commanders
SS-Sturmbannführer Max Gebhardt
SS-Sturmbannführer Arthur Plorin
Guard Company Commanders
SS-Sturmbannführer Otto Stoppel
Guard Platoon Leaders
SS-Obersturmführer Josef Kollmer
Josef Kollmer
Josef Kollmer was an SS-Obersturmführer at Auschwitz. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial.Born in Händlern, Bavaria, Kollmer was a farmer by trade. He became a member of the SS on January 1, 1935 after having previously spent several years in the German police force. He joined the Nazi party...
Guard Battalion NCOs
SS-Hauptscharführer Adolf Becker
SS-Hauptscharführer Matthias Tannhausen
SS-Oberscharführer Emanuel Glumbik
SS-Oberscharführer Vinzent Klose
Guard Battalion Sentries
SS-Rottenführer Erich Dinges
Erich Dinges
Erich Adam Oskar Dinges was an SS-Sturmmann and member of staff at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial....
SS-Rottenführer Richard Böck
Richard Bock
Richard W. Bock was an American sculptor and associate of Frank Lloyd Wright.He was particularly known for his sculptural decorations for architecture and military memorials, along with the work he conducted alongside Wright....
The "rank and file" of the Guard Battalion consisted primary of junior SS soldiers holding the rank of Schütze
Schütze
Schütze in German means "shooter" or "rifleman". It also occasionally occurs as a surname, as Schütz, as in the opera Der Freischütz. The word itself is derived from the German word schützen, meaning to protect, or to guard...
, Oberschütze
Oberschütze
Oberschütze is a German military rank which was first used in the Bavarian Army of the late 19th century.It was commonly introduced in the Reichswehr in 1920....
, and Sturmmann
Sturmmann
Sturmmann was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was first created in the year 1921. The rank of Sturmmann was used by the Sturmabteilung and the Schutzstaffel ....
.
Auschwitz Dog Squad
SS-Obersturmführer Hans Merbach (Dog Squad Commander)
Camp medical personnel
Auschwitz maintained its own medical corps, led by Eduard WirthsEduard Wirths
Eduard Wirths was the Chief SS doctor at the Auschwitz concentration camp from September 1942 to January 1945...
, whose doctors and medical personnel were from various backgrounds in the SS. The infamous Josef Mengele
Josef Mengele
Josef Rudolf Mengele , also known as the Angel of Death was a German SS officer and a physician in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. He earned doctorates in anthropology from Munich University and in medicine from Frankfurt University...
, for example, was a combat field doctor in the Waffen-SS before transferring to Auschwitz after being wounded in combat.
Office of the Garrison Physician
SS-Sturmbannführer Dr. Eduard Wirths
Eduard Wirths
Eduard Wirths was the Chief SS doctor at the Auschwitz concentration camp from September 1942 to January 1945...
SS-Obersturmfuhrer Dr. Franz von Bodmann
Franz von Bodmann
Franz Hermann Johann Maria Freiherr von Bodmann, sometimes written as Bodman was German SS-Obersturmführer who served as a camp physician in several Nazi concentration camps....
Medical administration section
SS-Sturmbannführer Dr. Eduard Krebsbach
Eduard Krebsbach
Eduard Krebsbach was a former German physician and SS doctor in the Nazi concentration camp in Mauthausen from July 1941 to August 1943...
(Temporary assignment - served less than 2 months)
Medical staff officers
SS-Hauptsturmführer Dr. Josef Mengele
Josef Mengele
Josef Rudolf Mengele , also known as the Angel of Death was a German SS officer and a physician in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. He earned doctorates in anthropology from Munich University and in medicine from Frankfurt University...
SS-Hauptsturmführer Dr. Alfred Trzebinski
Alfred Trzebinski
Alfred Trzebinski was an SS-physician at the Auschwitz, Majdanek and Neuengamme concentration camps in Nazi Germany. He was sentenced to death and executed for his involvement in war crimes committed at the Neuengamme subcamps.-Life:Trzebinski was born in Jutroschin, Province of Posen...
SS-Obersturmführer Dr. Franz Lucas
Franz Lucas
Dr. Franz Bernhard Lucas was a German concentration camp doctor and SS Obersturmführer who served at Auschwitz concentration camp during the same period of time as Josef Mengele...
SS-Untersturmführer Dr. Hans Wilhelm König
Hans Wilhelm König
Hans Wilhelm König was an SS doctor assigned to the Auschwitz Concentration Camp during World War II. König was a medical service officer who often observed the experiments of Josef Mengele, reporting to various medical firms and authorities in Nazi Germany....
Civilian medical personnel
Dr. Carl Clauberg
Carl Clauberg
Carl Clauberg was a German medical doctor who conducted medical experiments on human beings in Nazi concentration camps during World War II...
(Civilian physician)
SS-Untersturmfuhrer Dr. Walter Goebel (Assistant to Dr. Clauberg)
Medical service staff
SS-Oberscharführer Josef Klehr
Josef Klehr
Josef Klehr was an SS-Oberscharführer, supervisor in several Nazi concentration camps and head of the SS disinfection commando at Auschwitz concentration camp.- Life :...
(Senior medical staff NCO)
SS-Unterscharführer Adolf Theuer
Adolf Theuer
Adolf Theuer was an SS-Unterscharführer at Auschwitz concentration camp...
(Sanitary orderly)
Office of the Garrison Dentist
SS-Sturmbannführer Dr. Raimond Ehrenberger
Staff Dentists
SS-Obersturmführer Dr. Willi Schatz
Willi Schatz
Willi Schatz was a Nazi SS-Obersturmführer as a SS-KZ Zahnarzt who served in Auschwitz and Neuengamme.-Early life:...
Dental service staff
SS-Untersturmführer Josef Simon (Dental technician)
Camp Pharmacists
SS-Sturmbannführer Dr. Viktor Capesius
Viktor Capesius
Viktor Capesius was a Nazi SS-Sturmbannführer as a KZ-Apotheker who served in Dachau from 1943-1944 and in Auschwitz from 1944-1945.-Early Life:Capesius, the son of a physician and pharmacist, began his academic studies in 1924 at the University of...
Pharmacy staff
SS-Obersturmführer Gerhard Gerber (Pharmacist's assistant)
Camp Veterinarians
SS-Sturmbannführer Dr. Ludwig Boehne
SS-Hauptsturmführer Armand Langermann
Auschwitz Hygiene Institute
SS-Untersturmführer Dr. Hans Munch
Hans Münch
Hans-Wilhelm Münch was a German citizen and Nazi Party member who, during World War II, worked as a SS physician at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi occupied Poland from 1943 to 1945. He was the only person acquitted of war crimes at the 1947 Auschwitz trials in Kraków...
(Deputy hygiene director)
Camp Gestapo command
The GestapoGestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
maintained a large office at Auschwitz, staffed by uniformed Gestapo officers and personnel.
Political office directors
SS-Untersturmführer
Untersturmführer
Untersturmführer was a paramilitary rank of the German Schutzstaffel first created in July 1934. The rank can trace its origins to the older SA rank of Sturmführer which had existed since the founding of the SA in 1921...
Maximilian Grabner
Maximilian Grabner
Maximilian Grabner was a Austrian Gestapo chief in Auschwitz. At Auschwitz, the infamous torture chamber Block 11 was Grabner's own empire.-Early Life:...
Political office directorate
SS-Hauptscharführer Helmut Westphal
SS-Oberscharführer Josef Wietschorek
SS-Unterscharführer Hermann Kirschner
Political records office
SS-Untersturmführer Hans Stark
Hans Stark
Hans Stark was an SS-Untersturmführer and head of the admissions detail at Auschwitz-II Birkenau of Auschwitz concentration camp.- Life and SS career :...
(Death register)
Camp identification department
SS-Hauptscharführer Bernhard Walter (ID Department NCO)
SS-Rottenführer
Rottenführer
Rottenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was first created in the year 1932. The rank of Rottenführer was used by several Nazi paramilitary groups, among them the Sturmabteilung , the Schutzstaffel and was senior to the paramilitary rank of Sturmmann.The insignia for Rottenführer...
Ludwig Pach (Identification checks)
Camp interrogation department
SS-Oberscharführer Klaus Dylweski (Lead interrogator)
Camp escape department
SS-Oberscharführer Wilhelm Boger
Wilhelm Boger
Wilhelm Friedrich Boger known as “The Tiger of Auschwitz” was a German police commissioner and concentration camp overseer...
(Escape department NCO)
Camp Gestapo agents
SS-Oberscharführer Josef Erber
Josef Erber
Josef Erber was an SS-Oberscharführer at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was in charge of the crematoria....
SS-Unterscharführer Pery Broad
SS-Rottenführer Hans Hoffmann
Hans Hoffmann
Hans Hoffmann was an SS-Rottenführer and member of staff at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the Auschwitz Trial....
Personnel involved in genocide
SS personnel assigned to the gas chambers were technically under the same chain of command as other internal camp SS personnel, but in practice were segregated and worked and lived locally on site at the crematorium. In all, there were usually four SS personnel per gas chamber, led by a non-commissioned officer, who oversaw around one hundred Jewish prisoners (known as the SonderkommandoSonderkommando
Sonderkommandos were work units of Nazi death camp prisoners, composed almost entirely of Jews, who were forced, on threat of their own deaths, to aid with the disposal of gas chamber victims during The Holocaust...
) forced to assist in the extermination process.
The actual delivery of the gas to the victims was always handled by the SS, this was accomplished by a special SS unit known as the "Hygiene Division" which would drive Zyklon B
Zyklon B
Zyklon B was the trade name of a cyanide-based pesticide infamous for its use by Nazi Germany to kill human beings in gas chambers of extermination camps during the Holocaust. The "B" designation indicates one of two types of Zyklon...
to the crematorium in an ambulance
Ambulance
An ambulance is a vehicle for transportation of sick or injured people to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury, and in some instances will also provide out of hospital medical care to the patient...
and then empty the canister into the gas chamber. The Hygiene Division was under the control of the Auschwitz Medical Corps, with the Zyklon B ordered and delivered through the camp supply system .
Female camp personnel
Female personnel assigned to Auschwitz were considered members of the SS Womens Auxiliary and were known as SS-Helferin. Such women served in a variety of roles from secretariesSecretary
A secretary, or administrative assistant, is a person whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, communication & organizational skills. These functions may be entirely carried out to assist one other employee or may be for the benefit...
, nurses, and (most notoriously) guards of female compounds within Auschwitz.