Lagerordnung - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Lagerordnung was the "Disciplinary and Penal Code", first written for Dachau concentration camp, which became the uniform code at all 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...

concentration camps

Nazi concentration camps

Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps set up in Germany were greatly expanded after the Reichstag fire of 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...

in the Third Reich on January 1, 1934. Also known as the Strafkatalog (Punishment Catalogue), it detailed the regulations for prisoners. SS guards were instructed to report violations of the code to the commandant's office. 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...

was responsible for execution of the resulting punishment, which was carried out without verification of the allegations or any possibility of vindication (see "Procedures for punishing violations").

Evolution of a new penal system

The early, provisional concentration camps did not have unified, coordinated regulations, but rather drew their Lagerordnung from regulations then in use at various police departments and prisons run by the justice system.Concentration camps Neustadt an der Haardt, Moringen

Moringen

Moringen is a town in the district Northeim, in the southern part of Lower Saxony, Germany. The town consists of the center Moringen and eight surrounding villages.-History:The town and its villages were founded over a thousand years ago....

, Kislau, Kuhberg, Hainichen

Hainichen concentration camp

Hainichen concentration camp is a concentration camp at Öderanstrasse in Hainichen, Saxony, formed on April 4, 1933 by order of Amtshauptmann Döbeln. Ortsgruppenleiter Georg "Zuff" Ziegler was the commandant and Friedrich Zill served as his deputy. The guards consisted of SA-Sturm 5/139, later...

, Hammerstein

Hammerstein

Hammerstein is a municipality on the Rhine River in the district of Neuwied in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany....

, Fuhlsbüttel

Fuhlsbüttel

Fuhlsbüttel is an urban quarter in the north of Hamburg, Germany in the district Hamburg-Nord. It is known as the site of Hamburg's international airport, and as the location of a prison which served as a concentration camp in the Nazi system of repression....

had such regulations. The draft of regulations for Moorland concentration camp and the edict from the Landeskriminalamts ("State Criminal Office") in 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....

for Sachsenburg concentration camp

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...

are also examples. Source: Zámečník, Das war Dachau, p.35 Differences were nonetheless minor. Some banned smoking, others allowed prisoners to receive food parcels or visits from family members. The regulations were still based on existing law and the camps were patterned after ordinary detention centers. The early camps had penalties such as denial of privileges, or for more severe cases, solitary confinement, a hard bed, denial of food or solitary confinement in a darkened cell, but there is no corporal punishment

Corporal punishment

Corporal punishment is a form of physical punishment that involves the deliberate infliction of pain as retribution for an offence, or for the purpose of disciplining or reforming a wrongdoer, or to deter attitudes or behaviour deemed unacceptable...

.The only exception to this was the draft, not yet instituted, from Lutze, Oberpräsident of Hannover. This draft contained clauses where beating with a stick was allowed, "up to 10 blows on the buttocks". This document is dated January 1934, just after Eicke's Lagerordnung. Source: Zámečník, Das war Dachau, pp. 35-36 The early camps were primarily controlled by the SA

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...

or the Gestapo

Gestapo

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...

.

Dachau, in contrast, was under the control of the SS. Sometime in May 1933, SS camp commandant Hilmar Wäckerle

Hilmar Wäckerle

Hilmar Wäckerle was a German soldier in both the German Imperial Army and the Waffen-SS and the first commandant of Dachau concentration camp.-War service:...

wrote the first Lagerordnung for a concentration camp. It gave full jurisdiction to the office of camp commandant, making him the sole legal authority. To impose capital punishment at Dachau, with the Lagerordnung it would be sufficient to have a judgment from two SS men — appointed by the commandant. A defense of the accused would no longer be recorded. The executive, judicial and legislative were unified; the separation of powers and system of opposing checks and balances abolished. Through the ever-present threat of the death penalty, Dachau would create a constant state of emergency for the inmate.

In none of the other, earlier concentration camps were there as many political murders as in Dachau's first few months. The first legalized murders took place at Dachau. The first murders, committed under Wäckerle, led to an investigation when Sophie Handschuh, the mother of one of the dead prisoners, filed a formal complaint to find out what had really happened to her son. The resulting prosecution forced Himmler to replace Wäckerle. In his stead, Himmler installed Theodor Eicke

Theodor Eicke

Theodor 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...

, a fanatical SS-Oberführer whose extreme violence had, only shortly before, in March 1933, caused him to be committed for evaluation at a psychiatric clinic at the University of Würzburg

University of Würzburg

The University of Würzburg is a university in Würzburg, Germany, founded in 1402. The university is a member of the distinguished Coimbra Group.-Name:...

. Himmler arranged for Eicke to be released, asking his doctor, Werner Heyde

Werner Heyde

Werner Heyde was a German psychiatrist. He was one of the main organizers of Nazi Germany's T-4 Euthanasia Program.-Education:Heyde completed his Abitur in 1920...

to talk to Eicke and get him to promise to control himself.

Expanded to all camps

Six months later, on October 1, 1933, Commandant Eicke wrote a second edition of the Lagerordnung, adding the Postenpflicht

Postenpflicht

The Postenpflicht was part of a written order for SS guards in Nazi concentration camps regarding the use of firearms. It required SS guards to shoot prisoners who tried to escape or engage in resistance and to do so without verbal warning or a warning shot. The order stated that failure to shoot...

and introducing corporal punishment

Corporal punishment

(flogging

Flagellation

Flagellation or flogging is the act of methodically beating or whipping the human body. Specialised implements for it include rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails and the sjambok...

). The Lagerordnung established a "state within a state". The second edition established an orderly system, whereby "legally

Reichstag Fire Decree

The Reichstag Fire Decree is the common name of the Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State issued by German President Paul von Hindenburg in direct response to the Reichstag fire of 27 February 1933. The decree nullified many of the key civil liberties of German...

" arrested political opponents could be subjected to torture and execution by the SS.
In the early years of the Nazi government, the SS barely had any concentration camps. The first SS camp was Dachau, near Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, which 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...

called "the capital of the [Nazi] movement". The improvised operations of the earlier, smaller concentration camps were under the control of the SA, Gestapo or state authorities. The SS didn't become a separate organization until after the Röhm Putsch

Night of the Long Knives

The Night of the Long Knives , sometimes called "Operation Hummingbird " or in Germany the "Röhm-Putsch," was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany between June 30 and July 2, 1934, when the Nazi regime carried out a series of political murders...

, when the SA was disempowered in summer 1934. Once competition from the SA was removed, the SS, under the direction of 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 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 able to begin the systematic establishment of newly built, large concentration camps.

All SS concentration camps were to follow the esteemed Dachau model and become a "state within a state", shielded centers of terror with their own laws and judges, without legal defense, and with their own executable violence.

After January 1, 1934, all subsequent versions of the Lagerordnung were effective for all SS-run concentration camps.

The Disciplinary and Penal Code

[Translator's note: The sometimes odd phrasing, inconsistencies of capitalization, style and style itself are from the source, not the translator.] The original article on the German Wikipedia also has a comment

Comment (computer programming)

In computer programming, a comment is a programming language construct used to embed programmer-readable annotations in the source code of a computer program. Those annotations are potentially significant to programmers but typically ignorable to compilers and interpreters. Comments are usually...

(in the editable view) about the spelling mistakes, style and phrasing.

Dachau Concentration Camp

Office of the Commandant, October 1, 1933

Disciplinary and Penal Code for the Detention Camp

Introduction

The following penalties are issued within the scope of existing camp regulations, to maintain order and discipline on the grounds of Dachau concentration camp,
These regulations apply to all prisoners of the DCC from the time of admission on, till the hour of discharge.

The consummate authority of punishment is in the hands of the camp commandant, who is personally responsible to the political police commander for the implementation of the rules as issued.

Tolerance means weakness. Realizing this, there will be a ruthless grip there, where, in the interests of the fatherland, it appears necessary. The decent, incited [sic] VolksgenosseVolksgenosse is a Nazi word meaning "fellow German" or "fellow comrade". will not come into contact with these penalties. But to the politicizing rabble-rouser and intellectual agitator — regardless of which direction — let it be said, beware, that you're not nabbed, otherwise you'll be grabbed by the neck and after your own recipe, [sic] made to hold your peace.
§1Because there is no complete document from Dachau, §§1 through 5 and 14 through 18 are taken from the Lichtenburg Lagerordnung. The differences are primarily of minor terminology, such as names for holidays or prisoner functionary jobs. Source: Stanislav Zámečník, Das war Dachau p. 406.

To be punished with three days of hard time:

1. Whoever after the wake-up call

Appellplatz

Appellplatz is a compound German word meaning "roll call" and "area" or "place" . In English, the word is generally used to describe the location for the daily roll calls in Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust.- Concentration camp usage :Roll calls were a daily part of the regimen in...

does not immediately quit the dormitory or leave the bed or the barracks room in order.

§2

To be punished with five days of hard time:

1. Whoever knowingly lies under questioning and interrogation.

2. Whoever wears civilian clothing in the camp without a permit.

§3

To be punished with five days of hard time and several weeks of punitive labor:

1. Whoever, without cause or approval of his ward leader, is absent from a roll call

Roll call

Roll call is the calling of the names of people from a list to determine the presence or absence of the listed people . The term applies to the calling itself, to the time moment of this procedure, and to a military signal that announces it Roll call is the calling of the names of people from a...

or call to work division.

2. Whoever goes to the doctor for no reason or after reporting sick, fails to visit the doctor promptly, moreover, whoever goes to the doctor or dentist or infirmiry without the knowledge of the ward leader.

§4

To be punished with 8 days of hard time:

1. Whoever collects signatures for the purpose of grievance.

2. Whoever alleges or files a false report, an essentially false report or an unfounded complaint.

3. Whoever writes more than 2 letters or 2 postcards a month or for this purpose, writes under a false name.

4. Whoever as stubenältester allows a prisoner from another station or room to stay within a workforce.

5. Whoever, unauthorized, is in another hall, even within his own station, is there illegally.

6. Whoever does not keep himself in line with the general camp order, hoots, screams or behaves improperly.

7. As stubenältester, whoever lets vermin (bedbugs, lice, crabs, etc.) be discovered in his area: whether this condition is caused deliberately or transferred to other camp halls, then sabotage comes into question.

8. Whoever is arrested with an infectious or contagious disease and advises nothing of it on arrival.

9. Whoever deliberately damages articles of clothing and gear, doesn't keep them clean and in order; otherwise will be called on for compensation.

10. Whoever, assigned to food distribution, gives preferential treatment to fellow prisoners

Nazi concentration camp badges

Nazi concentration camp badges, primarily triangles, were part of the system of identification in Nazi camps. They were used in the concentration camps in the Nazi-occupied countries to identify the reason the prisoners had been placed there. The triangles were made of fabric and were sewn on...

or discriminates against prisoners, politically otherwise disposed.

§5

To be punished with 8 days of hard time and with several weeks of punitive labor:

1. Whoever shirks his work or feigns physical deficiency or disease with the aim of being idle.

2. Whoever leaves a work place or workshop without command, prematurely backs in, fails [at quitting time] to check out with the supervising SS man, checks out at quitting time with a fellow prisoner.

§6

To be punished with 8 days of hard time and be flogged 25 times with a stick at the beginning and end of the punishment:

1. whoever makes derogatory or sarcastic remarks to an SS member, deliberately neglects the mandatory salute, or by his manner otherwise indicates that he will not submit to the compulsory discipline and order,

2. whoever as prisoner-sergeant, as prisoner-corporal or as foreman exceeds the powers as "Ordnungsmann",Ordnungsmann translates as "order man" or "man in charge of order". assumes the rights of a superior with respect to other prisoners, maneuvers preferred work or any other advantage for politically like-minded prisoners, bullies politically otherwise-minded fellow prisoners, makes false reports about them or in some way discriminates.
§7

Will be punished with 14 days of severe time

1. Whoever exchanges his assigned housing with another, unauthorized without the order of the commander of the company, or incites or misleads fellow prisoners,

2. whoever attaches forbidden or camp-made items in outgoing laundry packages, hides or sews in clothing items etc.,

3. whoever enters or leaves barracks, housing, or other buildings outside the stipulated entry ways, crawls through windows or existing openings,

4. whoever smokes in the barracks, toilets and in flammable atmospheres, or stores or sets flammable items down in such areas. If a fire occurs as a result of disregarding this ban, then sabotage will be assumed.

§8

Will be punishThe original German had a grammatical mistake, using the wrong case, "werden bestraft" instead of "wird bestraft". Since werden and wird both translate as "will (be), the sense of the original could only be replicated by introducing another mistake. with 14 days of severe time and be flogged 25 times with a stick at the beginning and end of the punishment:

1. Whoever leaves or enters the prison camp without escort, whoever follows a work column marching out of the camp, unauthorized,

2. whoever in letters or other communication makes derogatory remarks about National Socialist leaders, the state and government, authorities and establishments, exalts Marxist or liberal leaders or "November parties","November parties" referred to left-wing political parties that had fomented the German Revolution of 1918–1919, which began in November. See Theodor Heuss and Ernst Wolfgang Becker, Theodor Heuss – In der Defensive, Briefe 1933-1945, p. 136. Edited by Elke Seefried. K. G. Saur Verlag, Munich. Retrieved May 25, 2010 communicates goings-on in the concentration camp,

3. whoever keeps prohibited items, tools, batons and knives in his room or in straw sacksPrisoner bedding consisted of sacks filled with straw.

§9

Will be punished with 21 days of severe time

Whoever carts off government-owned items, of whatever sort, from said location to another, deliberately damages, destroys, squanders, alters or uses for any other than purpose than prescribed; apart from the penalty, according to circumstances, is liable to some or all of the prisoners for any losses incurred.

§10

Will be punished with 42 days of severe time or lengthy detention in solitary confinement:

1. Whoever accumulates sums of money in the camp, finances prohibited efforts in or outside of the camp, or brings fellow prisoners to heel or binds them to secrecy through money,

2. whoever has sent to himself sums of money which come from prohibited Rote Hilfe

Rote Hilfe

The Rote Hilfe was the German affiliate of the International Red Aid. The Rote Hilfe was affiliated with the Communist Party of Germany and existed between 1924 and 1936.- Origin :...

collections, or distributes to fellow prisoners,

3. clergy who make announcements that lie outside the framework of pastoral care, slip letters or messages to be passed on, [whoever] seeks the clergy to achieve forbidden objectives,

4. the symbols of the National Socialist state or the pillars of same, makes contemptible, curses, or in other ways disregards,

§11

Whoever in the camp, at work, in the barracks, in kitchens and workshops, lavatories and rest areas, for the purpose of agitating, politicizes, gives provocative speeches, meets with others for this purpose, forms cliques, or gads about, gathers true or untrue news to further the goals of the opposition's atrocity-propaganda [sic] about the concentration camp or its institutions, receives, buries, passes along to foreign visitors or others, smuggles outside the camp using a secret message or other means, in writing or verbally gives released or transferred [prisoners], hides in articles of clothing or other items, using rocks, etc. throws over the camp wall, or draws up cipher

Cipher

In cryptography, a cipher is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption — a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is encipherment. In non-technical usage, a “cipher” is the same thing as a “code”; however, the concepts...

s; moreover, whoever for the purpose of inciting, climbs up on barracks roofs or trees, gives or seeks connection outside [the camp] through light signals or other means, or whoever induces others to escape or commit a crime, and to this end, gives advice or supports through other means, by dint of revolutionary justice, will be hanged as an agitator!
§12

Whoever assaults a guard

Postenpflicht

or SS man, refuses to obey him or refuses to work at a work site, calls on or leads others for the purpose of mutiny

Mutiny

Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject...

or the same assault, as mutineer leaves a marching column or workshop, calls on others during a march or at work to hoot, shout, agitate or gives speeches, will be shot on the spot as a mutineer or hanged afterwards.

§13

Whoever deliberately causes in the camp, in the barracks, workshops, work sites, in kitchens, warehouses etc. a fire, an explosion, water or some other damage to property, moreover whoever carries out actions on the wire hindrance, on a power line in a switching station, on telephone or water lines, on the camp wall or other security installation, on heating or boiler plants, on machines or vehicles, which do not meet the order given, will be punished with death for sabotage. If the action happened because of negligence, then the guilty party will be held in solitary confinement. In cases of doubt, sabotage will nevertheless be assumed.

§14

Whoever offers gifts to an SS man or guard, seeks to win him over with gifts, money or other means, carries out actions for the purpose of subverting the SS troops, enters into a political discussion in the presence of a guard or SS man, about Marxism

Marxism

Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...

or other November PartySee previous footnote about "November parties". or glorifies their leaders, makes derogatory remarks about the SS, SA, the National Socialist state, its leader

Adolf Hitler

and its institutions, or appears otherwise insubordinate, moreover whoever at the camp produces or passes along to others forbidden items for the purpose of smuggling secret messages or for purposes of attack, will be held for community perilousness in perpetual solitary confinement. Release for such persons is out of the question.

§15

Whoever repeatedly avoids work, despite previous warning stays away from roll calls for work assignments or head counts, constantly reports to the doctor or dentist without reason, feigns physical suffering or disability doesn't march [out to work], constantly acts lazy and sluggish, was unclean, writes obnoxious letters, steals from fellow prisoners, hits, bullies [others] for their attitude, derides or ridicules, will be punished for incorrigibility with continuous punitive labor, detention, with punitive exercise or be flogged.

§16

Whoever after the onset of curfew moves outside his quarters, forms a crowd with others, on the order of an SS man does not disperse at once, after the onset of the alarm does not immediately seek out his own quarters or during an extended alarm leave the station or the windows open [sic], will be shot at by the nearest SS man or guard.
§17

Whoever keeps forbidden items (tools, knife, files, etc.) or wears civilian clothing unauthorized, can be held in solitary confinement for suspicion of escape.

§18

Whoever as stubenältester, as foreman or as prisoner suspects or becomes aware of the intent to commit sedition

Sedition

In law, sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority. Sedition may include any...

, mutiny

Mutiny

Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject...

, sabotage or some other punishable act, if he does not immediately report his knowledge, will be punished as a perpetrator. The informer will not be held responsible for filing a false report, if, through special circumstances, he was misled.

§19

Hard time will be carried out in a cell with a hard bed and bread and water. Every 4th day, the inmate will receive a warm meal.This was later made even more severe. See standing cell

Standing cell

A standing cell was a special cell used in Nazi concentration camps during the Third Reich. It was used as extra and severe punishment within the concentration camp system, being constructed so as to prevent the prisoner from doing anything but standing while held there. In addition, prisoners in...

. Punitive labor involves hard physical or particularly dirty work, which will be carried out under special supervision.

Supplementary punishments that may be considered:

punishment exercise, corporal punishment

Corporal punishment

, withholding of mail, withholding of food, hard bed, strappado, reprimand and warnings. All punishments will be kept on file. Hard time and punitive labor lengthen the protective custody

Protective custody

Protective custody is a type of imprisonment to protect a prisoner from harm, either from outside sources or other prisoners. Many administrators believe the level of violence, or the underlying threat of violence within prisoners, is a chief factor causing the need for PC units...

a minimum of 8 weeks; addition of a supplementary punishment lengthens the protective custody a minimum of 4 weeks. Prisoners kept in solitary confinement will not be released in the foreseeable future.

The Kommandant of the Concentration Camp

(signed) SS-Oberführer Eicke

Evolution of a new penal system

Expanded to all camps

The Disciplinary and Penal Code

See also