Solahütte
Encyclopedia
Solahütte was a little-known resort for the Nazi German guards, administrators, and auxiliary personnel of the Auschwitz/Birkenau/Buna
facilities. Because Auschwitz detainees led by Franz Hössler constructed the rustic getaway facility and a crew of detainees did ongoing grounds-keeping and cleanup work, Solahütte can be considered a tiny subcamp of Auschwitz. Postcards of the era sent by German staff sometimes bore the resort-hamlet's pre-printed return address
"SS Hütte Soletal" but otherwise the place remained largely unknown until after 2007 when the Höcker Album
of vintage Auschwitz photographs was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
which then released images online for study.
Wartime snapshots made at Solahütte are somewhat jarring because of the lightheartedness of the particular people pictured: some of history's most infamous war crime
s perpetrators are shown while cheerily singing to accordion music, loafing on deckchair
s, or giggling over desserts with female Nazi staff. Among the Nazi killers photographed making merry at Solahütte were Oswald Pohl
(executed through the Nuremberg Tribunal
), Rudolf Höss (executed through the Supreme National Tribunal of Poland), and Josef Mengele
(nicknamed the "Angel of Death"). The latter was almost never seen photographed in uniform with Auschwitz colleagues until the Solahütte snapshots and a select few other images became known.
The Solahütte is around 18 miles by car from Auschwitz and the main lodge still stands—renamed and in use as a tavern. The site is near the bends in the Soła river where engineers in 1935 finished a heavy dam and so made the scenic Międzybrodzkie reservoir lake. Sola and Sole were Germanic approximations of the Polish Soła. Hütte is German for hut. Hence the German name "Sola hut"—even though the "hut" was actually a motel-sized building with a full-length sun-deck porch along with numerous smaller campus buildings. Activities included hunting, hiking, sunbathing, and excursions to the nearby lake and peaks. Villages of Porąbka
and Międzybrodzie Żywieckie
are close by—along with the Żar glide-airstrip and the Żar peak with its funicular incline-tram
. The region was already popular with tourists. Far from Germany and deep in the potentially-hostile occupied Polish territory
, the guards and the Nazi female typists and clerks of the extermination camp had few nearby safe vacation options other than going "off to the Sola Hut".
The Nazis were not the last totalitarians
to favor the particular forested area where Solahütte stands. Only around 4000 feet away, the Polish Communist party in the late 1960s expanded some existing facilities into a major elite resort called HPR-Kozubnik Porąbka with dance halls and bars plus a restaurant, indoor pool, cinema, sauna, and a multistory hotel for key officials. Top mining and metals-industry planners and high-ranking official visitors including the son of Leonid Brezhnev
stayed there. However, after the fall of Communism in Poland, the resort became a rusty ghost town
visited mostly by looters, paintball
ers, and urban explorers
poking around the ruins
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...
facilities. Because Auschwitz detainees led by Franz Hössler constructed the rustic getaway facility and a crew of detainees did ongoing grounds-keeping and cleanup work, Solahütte can be considered a tiny subcamp of Auschwitz. Postcards of the era sent by German staff sometimes bore the resort-hamlet's pre-printed return address
Return address
In postal mail, a return address is an explicit inclusion of the address of the person sending the message. It provides the recipient with a means to determine how to respond to the sender of the message if needed....
"SS Hütte Soletal" but otherwise the place remained largely unknown until after 2007 when the Höcker Album
Höcker Album
The Höcker Album is a collection of photographs believed to have been collected by Karl-Friedrich Höcker, an officer of the SS during the Nazi regime in Germany. It contains over one hundred images of the lives and living conditions of the officers and administrators who ran the...
of vintage Auschwitz photographs was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust history...
which then released images online for study.
Wartime snapshots made at Solahütte are somewhat jarring because of the lightheartedness of the particular people pictured: some of history's most infamous war crime
War crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
s perpetrators are shown while cheerily singing to accordion music, loafing on deckchair
Deckchair
A deckchair is a folding chair, usually with a frame of treated wood or artificial material and a fabric or vinyl backrest and seat. It may have an extended seat, meant to be used as a leg rest, whose height may be adjustable...
s, or giggling over desserts with female Nazi staff. Among the Nazi killers photographed making merry at Solahütte were 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:...
(executed through the Nuremberg Tribunal
Nuremberg Trials
The 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....
), Rudolf Höss (executed through the Supreme National Tribunal of Poland), and 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...
(nicknamed the "Angel of Death"). The latter was almost never seen photographed in uniform with Auschwitz colleagues until the Solahütte snapshots and a select few other images became known.
The Solahütte is around 18 miles by car from Auschwitz and the main lodge still stands—renamed and in use as a tavern. The site is near the bends in the Soła river where engineers in 1935 finished a heavy dam and so made the scenic Międzybrodzkie reservoir lake. Sola and Sole were Germanic approximations of the Polish Soła. Hütte is German for hut. Hence the German name "Sola hut"—even though the "hut" was actually a motel-sized building with a full-length sun-deck porch along with numerous smaller campus buildings. Activities included hunting, hiking, sunbathing, and excursions to the nearby lake and peaks. Villages of Porąbka
Porabka, Silesian Voivodeship
Porąbka is a village in Bielsko County, Silesian Voivodeship, in southern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Porąbka. It lies approximately east of Bielsko-Biała and south of the regional capital Katowice....
and Międzybrodzie Żywieckie
Miedzybrodzie Zywieckie
Międzybrodzie Żywieckie is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Czernichów, within Żywiec County, Silesian Voivodeship, in southern Poland. It lies approximately north of Czernichów, north of Żywiec, and south of the regional capital Katowice....
are close by—along with the Żar glide-airstrip and the Żar peak with its funicular incline-tram
Funicular
A funicular, also known as an inclined plane or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other.-Operation:The basic principle of funicular...
. The region was already popular with tourists. Far from Germany and deep in the potentially-hostile occupied Polish territory
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...
, the guards and the Nazi female typists and clerks of the extermination camp had few nearby safe vacation options other than going "off to the Sola Hut".
The Nazis were not the last totalitarians
Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible...
to favor the particular forested area where Solahütte stands. Only around 4000 feet away, the Polish Communist party in the late 1960s expanded some existing facilities into a major elite resort called HPR-Kozubnik Porąbka with dance halls and bars plus a restaurant, indoor pool, cinema, sauna, and a multistory hotel for key officials. Top mining and metals-industry planners and high-ranking official visitors including the son of Leonid Brezhnev
Leonid Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev – 10 November 1982) was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , presiding over the country from 1964 until his death in 1982. His eighteen-year term as General Secretary was second only to that of Joseph Stalin in...
stayed there. However, after the fall of Communism in Poland, the resort became a rusty ghost town
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
visited mostly by looters, paintball
Paintball
Paintball is a sport in which players compete, in teams or individually, to eliminate opponents by tagging them with capsules containing water soluble dye and gelatin shell outside propelled from a device called a paintball marker . Paintballs have a non-toxic, biodegradable, water soluble...
ers, and urban explorers
Urban exploration
Urban exploration is the examination of the normally unseen or off-limits parts of urban areas or industrial facilities. Urban exploration is also commonly referred to as infiltration, although some people consider infiltration to be more closely associated with the exploration of active or...
poking around the ruins
