Arolsen

 

In mid-November 1943, prisoners from Buchenwald were brought a barracks complex in Bad Arolsen (Arolsen). Waffen SS soldiers had been based there from 1935 and in January 1944 the Leadership School of the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office (WVHA) also began operations there. The first prisoners were brought to the site to perform conversion tasks in the building as they had relevant skills. Some prisoners were employed at the SS clothing depot in Arolsen. Others worked in the tailor shop, a carpentry workshop, in the electrical and automotive workshops, a kitchen and canteen, the SS barbershop, and as gardeners and cleaners.

The prisoners were held in the eastern wing of a former tool and machine hall, equipped with three-tiered bunk beds. There was also an infirmary and a sanitary area in the building.

In January 1944, the total number of prisoners reached 80, but by September it had increased again to 123. The SS rotated the prisoners through the camp, meaning that a total of 185 had passed through it by the time of its evacuation. Most of these prisoners came from Poland, the USSR and Germany. Others were from Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and France. They were classed as political prisoners, ‘asocials’ or career criminals. Four escape attempts were recorded, including one on 4th June 1944, in which four prisoners stole SS uniforms and a vehicle and fled to Luxembourg without being detected.

The barracks used by the Leadership School of the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office (WVHA)

An SS physician was present in the camp, but one prisoner, Walter Erdmann, who was a weaver, was appointed to act as the camp medic, operating from a small medical room.

Living and working conditions were reasonable and there are no deaths recorded.

The camp was initially commanded by an SS-Unterscharführer, subsequently followed by Oberscharführer Friedrich Demmer and then, in late 1944, by SS-Oberscharführer Josef Franz Fischer. Twelve SS men served as camp guards, operating from two rooms alongside the prisoner accommodation.

In 1947, Demmer was sentenced by a military court in Dachau to ten years imprisonment for the murder of a prison in Arolsen, but he was acquitted in after an appeal in 1948.

The camp was evacuated shortly before US troops arrived on 30th March 1945.

Arolsen is known as the base for the Arolsen Archives – the largest archives on the victims and survivors of Nazi persecution.

Area occupied by the former machine and tool hall, subsequently used as prisoner accommodation.

For further information, see the Buchenwald Subcamp Portal.


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