Chapter I - Sonnenburskie prison during the rule of the Prussian and the
Weimar Republic Chapter II - Sonnenburg - one of the first concentration camps in Hitler's
Reich in 1933 Chapter III - Sonnenburg wiçziennictwa Nazi system in the years 1934-1942 Chapter IV - Action " Night and Fog " in the occupied countries of Western
Europe Chapter V - From France to the Nazi hell Chapter VI - The tragic fate of the Belgians Chapter VII - Norwegians Sonnenburg Chapter VIII - Dutch prisoners Chapter IX - In addition to records prisoner " Nacht und Nebel " Chapter X - In the hands of the Gestapo Chapter XI - The liberation of the prison by the Soviet Army Chapter XII - Crimes Sonnenburg in the light of the post-war process materials
end Supplements - List transported on 4 August 1943, 27 prisoners " NN " - French citizens
from Leipzig to prison sonnenburskiego . Names, order and place of birth
given by the original German document - An incomplete list of Belgian citizens are buried in the cemetery
sonnenburskim developed based on the original entries prison
administration - Non-exhaustive list of Norwegian citizens transported on 10 June and 29 July
1943 to Sonnenburg , developed on the basis of original records prison
administration - List of Norwegian citizens who died in the period from 2 January to 20
September 1944 in Sonnenburg - List of citizens of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg murdered in January 1945
in Sonnenburg (according to the book Andre Hohengartena "Das Massaker
...", Luxembourg 1979)
Dust jacket , cover and title page designed - ANDREW Pilich Editor - MAREK WUJKIEWICZ Technical Editor - ANNA LASOCKA Photos from the Archives of the District Komiisji Investigation of Nazi Crimes
in Zielona Góra and the collection of the author's own
Issue I. Issue 10 000 250 No. of pages ( with inserts ) : 15.08 Sheets ed.
, 16.75 -sheet printing . Paper printing
. mats . V book.
65 g of
Cellulose and Paper Factories them . J. Dabrowski Klucze . Format 61X86/16 .
Was put into storage in February 1982, printing was completed in October
1982, Military Printing Plant in Warsaw. Zam .
No. 3571 .
About the Nazi concentration camps , which were the primary tool for
implementing the policy of terror and extermination of millions of human
beings , developed a number of books , monographs and articles.
A special place in the literature of the subject, both Polish and foreign
, occupy a large concentration camps such as Dachau, Buchenwald ,
Mauthausen / Gusen , Sachsenhausen , Auschwitz and others.
It is quite understandable that to the epic scale of the crimes made there
, which has not yet recorded a hysteria , on the margins of research camps
were smaller, and in most cases were omitted camps, short-term, ad hoc
rules for the purposes of immediate isolation and elimination of the
"enemies " of the regime Nazi . Such is a typical camp was short-lived in the years 1933-1934 "
Staatliches Con - zentrationslager in Sonnenburg N / M " (State
concentration camp in Słońsk Neumark ) , located within the walls of the
old Prussian heavy prison.
The present work is an attempt to present the history of one of the first Nazi
concentration camps, and heavy prison in Sonnenburg , 1933-1945 . The existing literature on the concentration camp and the heavy prison in
Sonnenburg is very modest.
Fellowship studies on the camp opens , published in the United States in
1934 г . , The relation of the former prisoner , a fugitive from
Sonnenburg Fri The
Sonnenburg Camp torture .
In the same year appeared in Zurich and Paris brochure under the telling
title Folterholle Sonnenburg - tatsachen und eines Augenzeugenhericht
ehemaligen Schutzhaftlings . Noteworthy is the fact that these relations are one of the first , if not the
first sign of an alarming world of barbarzyństwach and the terror of the
Nazi state , which from its inception was a state criminal , genocidal
because it created a system of concentration camps and prisons.
Relationships contained in the brochures , though they represent only
subjective views of the authors , are undoubtedly an important
contribution source .
The Nazi practice of camp surpassed all reality , which is difficult to
realize .
Stanislaw Kutrzeba in the preface to the well-known book of John
Gwiazdomorskiego Memory of stay professors of the Jagiellonian University
in a German concentration camp in Sachsenhausen - writes: " I had a
feeling in the camp, that all this is something unreal that this is
happening outside of me , passing me by that I am not subject to fate, but a spectator . "
No doubt the same feeling they had in 1933 , German intellectuals Carl von
Ossietzky , Dr. Fritz Auslander , Birken - hauer , poet Erich Muhs and
many others.
Ing, which went through translation into several languages in 1940 г . ,
A book Irmgard Litten Fri Eine
Mutter kämpft . The author , a mother trapped Hans Litten - a German lawyer , describes in one
of the chapters , among others, his stay at the Sonnenburg .
The remaining pre-war editions of books , which paid more attention
sonnenburskiemu camp and prison , should include such studies as : M. Holz
Vom weissen roten Kreuz zur Fahne , issued in 1929 г . , Т . Balka Ein Gespenst geht та 1934 г . , And the book Appel W. Harder Ein an das
der Welt Gewissen , also published in 1934
To the same category of work relacjonujących survival of individuals in
sonnenburskim camp postwar works include : W. Kiessling Ernst Schneller ,
Lebensbild eines Revolutionars , Erich Wiesner Man nannte mich Ernst von
Bruck and Carlheinz Fri Ein Mann , der Hitler in die Enge trieb .
In Polish literature, first drew attention to the concentration camp at
Sonnenburg Boguslaw Drewniak work Fri The
origins of the Nazi movement in Western Pomerania .
Only in a few pages the author was able to indicate the magnitude of the
crimes committed there on prominent German political activists .
More about Viktor treated blade in one of the chapters of the book Fri
Places of martyrology Lubusz Land .
If the concentration camp at Sonnenburg appeared some fragmentary publications
written on the basis of the experience of individual prisoners from the
years 1933-1934 , the objective should be noted that German crimes made
in the heavy jail , especially in the years 1942-1945 , have not yet
develop .
In general, full-featured system Nazi prison system and the judicial
police , sonnenburskie heavy prison subject to the Reich Ministry of
Justice ( Reichsjustizministerium ) .
It was the only independent prison ( selbständig Vollzugsanstalt ) in the
District offices of the Higher Court in Berlin ( Kammergericht ) the
Province of Brandenburg , which since 1942 imprisoned in special
restrictive principles citizens of different nationalities deported from
the territories occupied by the Wehrmacht in the context of terrorist
action " Nacht und Nebel " ( Night and Fog ) . This action, regardless of how directly caused the victim was one of the most
perfidious way of extermination and a tool for fighting primarily
psychological .
Implementation of the shares included in the basis of the occupied
territories of Belgium , France, the Netherlands and Norway.
People disappeared without a trace from their homes , the jobs, the
streets and no one knew what happened to them . This form of terrorism does not require a large organizational effort on the
part of police and army ( Wehrmacht ) who were involved in terrorist
actions in public executions , roundups and other direct mass murders ,
used especially in Poland , Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union .
Deportation in the strictest confidence to the Reich individual people or
small family groups, put them in a particularly cruel situation.
Lead author " Nacht und Nebel Erlässe " - the head of the OKW , Field
Marshal Keitel , whom Hitler commissioned the development and
implementation of this barbarous decree assumed that such conduct ,
maintaining a constant uncertainty as to the fate of the missing , greatly
weaken the hostile activity of his relatives and friends to the occupation authorities . One word immediate surroundings
deported , who suddenly disappeared , absorbed would be no vengeance or
retaliation victims , for example, by sabotage, but the search for traces
exported , an attempt to find out if he was alive or where he is .
The whole Nazi extermination policy " Nacht und Nebel Erlässe " therefore
constituted an important link psychological warfare aimed at weakening the
strength of the resistance.
One of the basic conditions for the effectiveness of this action was to
wrap the absolute mystery of deportation.
The total isolation of the victim from the outside world primarily
guaranteed some prisons located in the heart of the Reich . On one of those places was selected sonnenburski prison .
It is essential for this work was the source database , which
unfortunately turned out to be small and scattered. Significant gaps in it are mainly due to the fact that at the time of the
evacuation sonnenburskiego basic documentation prison establishment ( with
the exception of file prisoners had been taken ) was burned .
In the first study period most of the materials obtained in the Central
Archive of the Institute of Marxism - Leninism in Berlin on the team act
Sonnenburg concentration camp . For some of the material from the years 1933-1934 on the camp encountered also
in the Provincial Archives in Gorzow Wielkopolski
Conducted in the years 1946-1949 by the Regional Commission for the
Investigation of German Crimes in Poznan investigation into the murder in
January 1945, about 1,000 prisoners allowed to gather some documentation
stating that victims of crime byh primarily Belgians , French, Dutch ,
Norwegians , and a large group of Luxembourgers.
Unable , however, at this time to determine the names of the victims ,
despite the intensive work of the International Commission of exploration
that were arriving , inter alia, to Słońska . The nature and role of sonnenburskiego prison as a special purpose company for
the prisoners " NN " were then unknown .
The first sign of informing the world of the criminal activities of the
prison in Sonnenburg was the official report of the French Government
submitted to the International Court of Military in Nuremberg. In contrast, process No. 3 in Nuremberg against former higher Reich Ministry
of Justice officials , among whom were two undersecretaries of state (
Staatsekretar ) of that ministry , revealed the mechanism of crimes
involving the murder of the majesty of the law of several hundred people
in prison sonnenburskim .
Records of the Nuremberg Trial were so in this paper the basic source base
. No less important role fulfilled investigative materials the Prosecutor
General of the USSR and the trial records of the Court Sworn in Kiel
against Heinz Richter and others.
Rich source of information about themselves victims sonnenburskiego
prisons were records of the Department of War Victims - Ministry of Public
Health and Family in Belgium and the Netherlands Institute for
Documentation in Amsterdam.
_ Similarly, an important source material are also accounts by former
prisoners. Author during his research work received more than 240 different types of
surveys , reports , memoirs , and descriptions of former prisoners from
France, Belgium , the Netherlands , Norway, Luxembourg and Czechoslovakia.
The author delivery of such materials to a large extent involved were also
living in the West family tortured prisoners in the years 1942-1945 ,
whose ashes lie today in the cemetery of the victims of the Nazi terror in
Słońsk .
Especially oenne sources are , among others, the manuscripts of Joseph de
La Martiner , Ріегге'а Le Rolland and Georges Mi- chotte'a . With the majority of ex-prisoners and their families, the author had the
opportunity to personally contact , which allowed for a thorough
verification of certain data .
Recent source are rudimentary documents and photocopies of the judgments
of the Court Party ( Volksgerichtshof ) and other courts , especially the
field or specialty , photocopies of letters on the activities of the
Gestapo secret organization in Belgium and France , reports , etc. All of
these materials have been obtained by the author mostly from family or
friends murdered . Discussed above, reference materials allowed , despite the enormous
difficulties and attempt to develop the factual role - met in Germany
sonnenburskie prison in the Brown regime.
In closing I wish to express some preliminary express my heartfelt gratitude
for the assistance given to me in obtaining materials Gentlemen :
Fernandowi Dirixowi , Ceorgesowi Michotte'owi and Lu - cien Vinckierowi
from Belgium , as well as friends of the French , Gentlemen : Henri
Laffly'emu and Guy Quintelowi .
I offer heartfelt thanks also to all the mothers , wives and children of the
murdered , who did not remain indifferent to my list , giving me valuable
information about their loved ones .
I also thank Mr. Andre Hohengartowi of Luxembourg, from whom I received
valuable materials allowing deeper understanding of the problems of years
of war and occupation of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. '
I offer special thanks Professors : Czeslaw Łuczak , Stanislaw Nawrockiemu
and Czeslaw Pilichow - ment, whose valuable advice and guidance helped me
in a fundamental way to overcome a number of difficulties , this
publication is still in fact constitute a single document showing what the
world has brought war and fascism .
11 - Nl De Fr No Chapter I Sonnenburskie prison during the reign of the Prussian and the Weimar Republic Sonnenburskiego history dates back to the prison , when the Prussian state ,
strengthening its internal cohesion , built a number of
prisons , discoursing with any libertarian tendencies . At the turn of 1832-1833 in Sonnenburg , in this small town (1 ) of the then
province of Brandenburg , had the first criminal confinement
buildings (2) .
The prison has been placed on the sidelines in the
southeastern part of the city at Chausseestr. 22 , in the damp , extremely unhealthy climate due to the proximity of large
marshy areas .
The main prison consisted initially of the so-called northern
wing , which adjoined a large administrative building .
On the ground floor of the north wing of the 4- storey floor
were rooms for the workshops : locksmith , blacharskiego ,
forging and carpentry .
On the ground floor there are 2 targets were available double
and 6 twin objectives . The I, II and III of the floors were isolated targets 44 and 62 on the fourth
floor objects are also isolated , but an area of only 1.5 ms
each ( 3). ___________________
(1 ) Deutsches Städtebuch , Volume II , Munchen 1939 . In
1940, the town had a population of 2,963 inhabitants
Soamenburg .
At the end of the war in 1945, Sonnenburg population of about
14 700 people.
Of this number several thousand inhabitants were bombed Berlin
and other parts of Germany . Currently the
municipality Słońsk , province. Gorzów , has only 2,700 citizens. ( 2
) Brandenburgisches Landeshauptarchiv Rep . 33 Reg. Frankfurt an der Oder (quoted BLHA ) , No 2430 .
(3 ) Archive of the Regional Commission for the Investigation
of Nazi Crimes in Zielona Góra (hereinafter cited AOKBZH ), a
" Prison " , Ref. 18/VII/69f pp. 18 23 III 1933 tr . At the
behest of the Prussian Minister of Justice made an
inspection prison Sonnenburg
in order to adapt it to the police prison - See report of 25
III 1933 , No. III 281 files Ds 6/66 , Vol I, pp. 19-24 .
premises with an area of 1.5 m2 were the so-called sleeper
targets . During the day the prisoner had the opportunity of bringing his bunk to the
wall , and thus could be in the room to move .
12 - Nl De Fr No
Total prison could accommodate 204 people initially .
In later years , especially after 1872, created on the site
sonnenburskiego a number of buildings ( on the inside and
outside) the administrative and residential buildings for the
officers of the prison , an outbuilding ( working ) , a
hospital prison and two new 4- storey buildings , the
so-called eastern wing and
Western .
The east wing of the ground floor consisted of 29 individual
goal , 1 cell common to the three prisoners and one cell that
could accommodate 5 prisoners.
For I, II and III floors were on the 42 goals usual for 126
prisoners , and on the fourth floor of the 61 target single
area of 1.5 m2 each . In total, the building of the east wing could accommodate 224 people . The west wing had six chambers common to the three prisoners each, 9 chambers
common to the six prisoners each, 4 chambers for eight
prisoners each, 10 chambers common to the four prisoners each,
3 chambers for 15 prisoners each, and one common chamber for
20 prisoners.
The western wing could accomodate 209 prisoners. Thus, the potential distribution of prisoners in three wings were as follows: - In the north wing of 204 - In the east wing of 224 - In the west wing 209 seats
representing together 637 places in individual cells.
In addition to the essential buildings prison , ie defending
the east , west and north , 250 prisoners could be embedded in
the so-called purposes . building work .
And so, on the ground floor were two goals for the 30
prisoners each, one room shared by 20 prisoners and 1 room for
4 prisoners.
On the first floor there were two objectives common to 20
prisoners each, 1 room for 30 prisoners and 1 apartment for 6
inmates. The second floor had 1 common room for 30 prisoners and 1 hall , which could
accommodate 60 prisoners.
13 - Nl De Fr No
Hospital prison , which held two chambers on the ground floor
common for 20 prisoners and two chambers for two prisoners
each , and on the first floor of the two chambers together for
20 prisoners , and 5 chambers for 2 prisoners each, could also
take 54 sick prisoners . Outside the chambers designed for patients in the hospital was a one- cell
arrest , medical room and a room for pharmacy .
As seen above , the plant sonnenburski could take 941
prisoners.
From this you can put ordinary purposes 293 prisoners in the
so-called individual purposes . 123 inmates sleeping in chambers common (for 3 to 8 people ) 166 prisoners ,
in the halls of the common ( for 10 to 60 people ) 305
prisoners and patients in chambers for 54 prisoners ( 4).
The prison had a laundry , a bakery , and a steam room. All
buildings heated furnaces.
Were as primitive sanitation and water supply, which was drawn
by pumps located in the east wing and away from the well about
50 m from the farm building .
For the inside of the plant, which was surrounded by earthen
berms and gardens and barge wall, were all three wings prison
, administrative building , building work , hospital, kitchen,
laundry facilities, and a coach house with fire fighting
equipment and shed .
The complex of buildings outside the prison entered : the
building entrance , where there was one apartment for a senior
official and two lower officers , the house of the director (
on the left side of the entrance ) and a residential home for
the two senior officials .
In addition, the left side of the prison outside wall
surrounded by gardens were two houses business for eight
junior officials , the house of one senior official and a
priest , two stables , laundry. Large residential home for six lower prison officers closed on the side of the
building complex . ________________
(4 ) AOKBZH , Team " Prisons " , Ref. 18/VH/69 , p 21
Application in detail the functionality of the plant
sennenburskiego ipodyktowane is the fact that the prison in
February 1945, was burned , and the dimensions of the
devastation justified the decision of the authorities as to
the total dismantle the ruins in the fifties. 14 - Nl De Fr No
In the north- eastern part of the area of the prison located
on the outer side was a large two - storey building of the
court ( Amtsgericht ) , in which there was also a judicial
arrest ( Gerichtsgefangnis ) , which could accommodate 12
prisoners.
In the same area there was a coach house , a shed , a garage ,
a pigsty , a barn and other equipment for use .
On the right side of the north wing of the eastern wing was a
proper prison courtyard , where the designated hours of
walking were held prisoners.
Gutters and exterior walls were completed with barbed wire.
In the four corners around the bend of the prison were set
sentry . The overall area of land in jail along with the administration buildings
covered about 3.5 ha (5).
In sonnenburskiej fortress , as determined by the prison , the
Prussian authorities imprisoned Polish patriots who fought for
the independence of their homeland. They stayed in it in particular participants of the Poznań , associated with
the activities of national liberation Mierosławski (6) , which
included , inter alia, Bronislaw Dabrowski - the son of
General Jan Henryk Dabrowski , the creator of the Polish
Legions in Italy. " Coexistence in sonnenburskiej fortress trapped several hundred people this
national uprising - as wrote later in his memoirs of the
Poznań participants - representatives of all states ,
especially artisans and peasants , brought them closer
together and made a name in their specific national spirit "
(7 ) . Heavy prison sonnenburskie designed during the Prussian mainly for criminals
and repeat offenders - which did not bother to imprison him
during the Spring of Nations Polish patriots - after World War
I during the Weimar Republic became a well-known place of
detention for many activists, workers , and especially
communist (8). The German Communist Party was the only party during the reign of the Republic
persecuted in a violent and brutal (9). _________________
(5 ) AOKBZH , Ds 6/66 , Vol I, p 11 - the technical
documentation and the plan of the prison at Sonnenburg .
See BLHA Rep . 33 No 2340 . (6) S. Kieniewicz , Polish Society of Poznan Uprising in 1848, Warsaw, 1960 ,
p 119 (7 ) Ibid . (8 ) E. Wiesner , Man nannte mich Ernst , Berlin 1961 , p 174 (9 ) F. Ryszka , state of emergency , Wroclaw 1964 , p 135
15 - Nl De Fr No The very statement of the number of interpellation KPD deputies to the
Reichstag and the Prussian Landtag gives a review of the
persecution and harassment , and at the same time view of the
situation in which they had to operate legalnej1 - and one of
the largest political party in the then Republic , (10). At the time of the " pacification " in Berlin in 1919 was arrested and then
killed many activists revolutionary left of Karl Liebknecht
and Rosa Luxemburg in the head (11). In the years 1924-1933 30,000 KPD activists were convicted " for treason " and
detained in various prisons.
The well-known activist of the then years later a prisoner
Sonnenburg , Erich Wiesner as chairman of the Central
Committee of the Communist Youth Groups accused of treason and
sought arrest warrant as " extremely vile " Communist (12 ) ,
wrote: " the working class, of Germany, in particular, the
Communist youth
feature that meet Sonnenburg prison was well known . Below is
the period of the Weimar Republic reaction detained several
militants revolution. which is why our young people to honor
the memory of those comrades who behind the walls of this
prison have to suffer , she sang the song " Zu Sonnenburg - da
haben gesessen wir ... "( 13).
Inhuman relations in sonnenburskiej fortress during the reign
of Weimar were one of the major issues raised by the German
working class , chiefly by the Union of Communist Youth (14).
In numerous demonstrations of workers continually called for
an amnesty for political prisoners . This was also reflected in the speeches of members of the KPD in the Reichstag
. Communist German Max Holz, whose fourteen days after the bloody suppression of
the uprising in the Mansfeld mining district in March 1921, a
special court verdict sentenced to life imprisonment (15 ) and
embedded in Sonnenburg , in his book Fri ______________ (10 ) Ibid , p 165 (11 ) A. Czubiński , German Left in the fight against the Nazi dictatorship
from 1933 to 1945 , Warsaw 1973 , p 13 (12 ) Wiesner , Op.
cit , p 174 (13 ) Ibid , p 201 (14 ) F. Lange , Memories prisoner manuscript AOKBZH , Ds 6/66 , Annex No. 11,
p 3
(15 ) HE Hannover , Political Justiz , 1918-1933 , Frankfurt a
/ M 1966 , p 312 In his final word, Max Holz said: " No matter
what sentence will be released - will be the judgment of the
school .
Ten years of hard prison is for me a couple of poorly ;
fifteen years hard labor for me it would be a good degree ,
life imprisonment - for me five .
However, if you condemn me to death - it will be like I was
five with a plus , it will be the best testimony that could
put me . " With M. Holz stay in sonnenburskim prison cell
involves the famous torture called the period of the existence
there in the 1933 /
1934 the concentration camp his name. M. Holz even in prison
enjoyed a legendary reputation . things referred to him with
great respect. Cf Hannover , op. cit , p 316
16 - Nl De Fr No
Vom weissen roten Kreuz zur Fahne describes how important
those affected by demonstrations and activity fraction naps in
the Reichstag on morale and mobilization sonnenburskich
political prisoners.
"We are prisoners of the communist - Holz notes - all ,
without exception, have started a hunger strike in order to
express our protest outside against postponing deliberations
on this matter ... (talking about attempting to thwart the
Reichstag by other parties including the SPD proposal CRC on
amnesty - PM . ) .
Deposition and boycott the draft amnesty soon forced us to
take a tougher fight in the form.
Organized by us in the conspiracy manifestation made not
only in the prison , but in the whole Sonnenburg all « stood
on his head ".
After the collapse of darkness climbed into our windows, and
we all began to recite poems and sing revolutionary songs in
chorus communist .
Outside, on the streets, hundreds of people listened to us ...
From the windows target wywieszaliśmy on long sticks red flags
... "( 16) July 14, 1928 , the Reichstag under pressure from a
tough stance and demands of the working class of Germany
finally passed a law on amnesty -delayed . between 16 and 17 July 1928, the number of political prisoners released from
prison sonnenburskiego . prisoners covered by the amnesty , in
solidarity with the comrades are not covered by this law ,
they were forced by prison guards force to go beyond the gates
of the fortress . Former prisoner Sonnenburg communist Fritz Lange thus describes : "While the
release of prisoners took place the harrowing scene. ___________________ (16 ) M. Hol with , Vom weissen roten Kreuz zur Fahne , Berlin 1929 , p 48
17 - Nl De Fr No
Although all were very happy with the potency finally see
their loved ones and return to work the party , however,
balked to leave prison without companions not covered by the
amnesty . Therefore, the caretaker had to force their output outside the prison walls
"(17) .
Since 1930, the prisoners in Sonnenburg already recruited
mainly from criminals , which gradually began to move prisons
in Brandenburg , Gollnow (Goleniów ) , Wuhlau , Neustrelitz
and Stralsund in connection with the liquidation of the prison
project . The main ;
reasons that forced the government Braun in Prussia to take
such a decision , was the then economic crisis , which was
associated with a lack of cash to overhaul the prison and the
fact that the state of the plant sonnenburskiego not answer
basic and rudimentary sanitation . Contaminated drinking water and moldy damp targets caused among the prisoners
ever new and ever more difficult to control outbreaks of
diarrhea and flu. At the end of 1931 г . , After almost a century of operation, Sonnenburg
prison is closed and transferred to the Prussian Ministry of
Justice under the supervision of the Prussian Ministry of the
Treasury (18).
The government's decision to liquidate the Prussian prison met
with great displeasure of the local population (19).
For the approximately 3,000 residents of this small town is
not growing any industry and service facilities constituting a
poor agricultural area - the prison was the source of some
fixed income (restaurants , grocery stores , etc. ) .
Part of the population was permanent or casual employment in
the prison. Hence, residents Sonnenburg turned a petition to the then Gauleiter in
Frankfurt an der Oder and Mr NSDAP Reichstag William Kubego
(20 ) for the reactivation of activities in prison because, as
motivated , it was connected with their daily life . ___________________ (17 ) Lange , op. cit , pp. 8 , (18 ) Folterholle Sonnenburg - tatsachen und eines Augenzeugenbericht
ehemaligen Schutzhaftlings , Zürich - Paris 1934 , p 9 (19 ) The newspaper " Volksfreund " of 18X1930 , No. 114/30 reported that in
Sonnenburg has been convened an extraordinary meeting of the
city , on ostanowiono ask the Prussian National Government for
non- prison.
(20 ) Wilhelm Cuba after the attack of Nazi Germany on the
Soviet Union was appointed Gauleiter of Belarus.
22IX1943 he was liquidated by the Soviet partisans . See I. Jakubowski , Earth on fire , Warsaw , 1976, p 83 18 - Nl De Fr No
Gauleiter Cuba , like " anyway as SA- Gruppenfiihrer regency
Frankfurt Siegfried Kasch and commander episode of" Measles "
and the commander of auxiliary police ( Hilfspolizei ) Erich
von dem Bach- Zelewski , the petition suffered Aug. favorably
.
Cuba promised Sonnenburg population that prison will be open
again as soon as the Nazi party would win the elections 1933
(21). Indeed,
he kept his word .
Hitler's rise to power in Germany unleashed terror of
unprecedented brutality and sizes.
Sonnenburg again opened its gates . So the prison , which recently was considered not suitable even for criminals
, was supposed to be in the near future for brown opponents of
the regime. __________________ (21 ) H. Joachim , Zur Geschichte des Zuchthauses Sonnenburg ( manuscript) , p
2 , Horst Joachim , a historian of Frankfurt an der Oder , in
1972-1974 worked actively in the collection of documents and
exhibits for the Museum of the Victims of Fascism in Słońsk . 19 - Nl De Fr No
Chapter II Sonnenburg - one of the first concentration camps in the Nazi Reich in 1933 One of the basic tools in the system extermination of political opponents were
to be the assumption of the ideologues of Nazi Germany
concentration camps , which at the time of Hitler's rise to
power in January 1933 were organized by formations of SA , SS
and police (22).
For the Nazi regime in the upcoming elections , scheduled for
the day March 5, 1933 г . , Enemy No. 1 was the Communist
Party of Germany , which was decided by using the most brutal
methods to discredit and ultimately eliminated.
The leaders of the NSDAP in action election , moreover, funded
by the wheels of big industry , was put at the disposal of the
entire state apparatus with the press and radio included.
There is no doubt, however, that the internal situation in the former Reich
decisive importance was the elevation of Hermann Goring ' for
the post of interior minister of Prussia and extend his power
over the Prussian police. _____________________ ( 22 ) K.D.
Brach er , Die deutsche Diktatur , Koln, Berlin 1969, 389 In
addition to the concentration camp at Dachau, which was
created 22 March 1933 under the orders of Himmler , then
receivership police president of Munich , in 1933, were
created
further concentration camps and detention protective (
Schutzhaft und Konzentriationslager ) in taikich places as
Oranienburg , Papenburg , Sachsenhausen , Quednau ,
Hammerstein , Lichtenburg , near Merseburg , Esterwegen ,
Werden , Durrgoy near Wroclaw , Kemna near Wuppertal ,
Sonnenburg - Słońsk , Brauweiler
, Borgermoor (Emsland ), and - as defined by the author - "
und das beriichtigte SS Spezialgefangnis Columbis Haus (
Berlin ) ." by June 1933, six camps were considered state
concentration camps : Quednau , Sonnenburg , Hammerstein ,
Lichtenburg , Werden and Brauweiler . Por . T. Musioł , Dachau 1933-1945 , Katowice 1971 , p 281 20 - Nl De Fr No
Aiming in the first period of the Nazi dictatorship to a
ruthless crackdown , with opponents , Goering as Minister of
the Interior of Prussia and superior throughout the Prussian
police formed a terrorist camera Gestapo ( Geheime
Staatspolizei ) , headed by Rudolf Diels .
Speaking at one of the public meetings Frankfuroie election in
Frankfurt, Goring clearly and openly revealed his intentions ,
saying : "Brothers Germany!
In issuing his orders will not be bound by any bureaucracy.
I do not care about justice : my vocation is to destroy and
exterminate , nothing more "(23) . Under the pretext that the
regular police force can not cope with the " red danger " ,
February 22, Goring extraordinary decree appointed auxiliary
police ( Hilfspolizei ) .
In the ranks of the formation stood 50 000 people , including
25 000 from SA and 15 000 SS (24). In this way, the police handed over power to a multi-thousand group of people
who, under the cover of state authority can formally discuss
with real , even imaginary opponents of fascism.
February 24 police and its associated auxiliary troops stormed
the headquarters CRC " Karl Iiebknecht Haus ", which allegedly
found plans of the communist revolution (25). Provocation has
given a new excuse to arrest members of the Central Committee
, the committees of district and many other activists. Smashed
the organizational structure of the party, liquidated all
communist writings and all movable and immovable property of
her fortune. Terror was raised to the rank of an important
factor in the management of the state and a national of the
absolute obedience and submission to brown the regime. however
for unleashing mass action was needed antylewicowej the Nazis
an excuse , inflammatory large-scale public against the enemies of the "new order " in Germany . And
behold, February 27, 1933 , at. 21.00 Reichstag fire broke out . _____________________ (23 ) E. Crankshaw , Gestapo instrument tyranny , Warsaw, 1960 , p 44 (24 ) A. Bullock , Hitler - a study of tyranny , Warsaw, 1969 , p 211 (25 ) Ibid , p 212 In this case the announced special message announcing that
the found documents will be published in the coming days .
21 - Nl De Fr No
Göring arrived immediately on the spot (he lived closest ) ,
also arrived , Hitler , Goebbels and other Nazi VIPs .
Goring had to say : " This is the beginning of the communist
uprising ... There is no time to lose " (26) ( Es darf keine
Minute versäumt werden ) . Chief of the Gestapo , Rudolf Diels
, who Göring for a few days before the fire instructed to draw
up a list of suspects on the basis of
materials developed yet by the police on behalf of the Weimar
Republic, the Prussian Minister of the Interior Severing , in
a book published after the war, he writes: " Hitler plunged
silently stared at the sea of flames . Agitation and heat
emanating from the dome of stained his face red. began to
scream , and passion seemed
it burst . Having lost his temper completely cried : Now you
no mercy . crush anyone who stands in our way ! German people
will not know mercy. communist Everyone gets a bullet in the
head . communist MPs have to hang on the gallows that night .
.. "(27) .
Mass arrests began immediately.
During the night and in the early hours of the next day were
arrested in the Berlin 1500 ( 28) , and in the whole of
Germany more than 10 000 members of the KPD and SPD , and
various opposition groups . In prison, there
were , among others.
Walter Stocker , a Communist member of the Reichstag , Ernst
Schneller , a member of the Central Committee of the KPD , the
chairman of the Committee of Anti-Fascist Action , which is
demanding the arrest of armed stormtroopers , he received the
answer : " communist pig does not have anything like it " (29
), Hans Litten (
30 ), known defender , prominent intellectuals German poet
Erich Miihsam , writer , editor of " Die Weltbuhne " Carl von
Ossietzky . Among those arrested social democratic deputies to the Reichstag were: E.
Rosscmann , O. Eggerstedt , L. Marums , С Mierendorff and MEP
Prussian Kirchmann and many others. ____________________ (26 ) Lange , op. cit , p 4 (27 ) R. Diels , Lucifer Ante portas , Stuttgart 1950 . (28 ) Berliner Morgen - Zeitung ", No. 60 and 61, 1 and 2 March 1933 (29 ) W. Kiessling , Ernst Schneller , Lebensbild eines Revolutionaren ,
Berlin 1960 , p 183 (30) С . von Briicke , Ein Mann , der Hitler in die Enge trieb , Berlin 1974 , p 118 22 - Nl De Fr No
Summarizing all kind of provocative actions related to the
Reichstag fire was submitted the next day by President
Hindenburg Hitler's decree " On Protection of nation and state
," which overturned the basic articles of the Constitution of
the Weimar defining civil rights , creating the legal basis
for the institution of repression court, the so-called
protective custody (
Schutzhaft ) . provisions of Decree freezed personal freedom
and authorize the Nazi government to take full control in each
of the countries of the Reich. limits the right to preach
their views , suspended freedom of the press , associations
and meetings, admitted violation of the secrecy of
correspondence , introduced Ordinance able to carry out house
searches , requisition private property has been restored and so also the death penalty for " crimes
of treason ."
Practically decree gave full , unlimited power in the hands of
Hitler.
Terror began in sizes not yet encountered , and all democratic
freedoms were suppressed .
March 5, 1933 , in the new elections the Nazis received 44 %
of the vote and 288 seats garrisoned ( at 647 ) in the new
Reichstag.
The Communists , who obtained 81 seats , if not escaped abroad
and if you have not lived in the dungeon prison , were
arrested , and their mandates revoked .
A situation in which they found themselves after the elections
the Communist deputies of the Reichstag and the national
parliaments , which protected the parliamentary immunity ,
best illustrates the telegram Goering of March 11, 1933 г . ,
Addressed to all the presidents of the Prussian rejencyjnych ,
which reads : "Selected Communist MPs Reich
and national parliaments after the adoption of the selection
arrest .
In the transport package to supply our police presidium in
Berlin.
Immediately learn the names of the organizers of the election
district .
Try to arrange for absolute performance .
List of putative members will be sent.
a special letter ... "( 31) At this time, the number of
arrests increased from day to day. State prisons is long
enough. Arrests protection at the disposal of SA or SS , which
was allowed to cruel atrocities and murders , have proved to
be slim . ____________________ (31 ) AOKBZH team act " KL Sonnenburg " , Ref. VII/12/67 , pp. 12-13. 23 - Nl De Fr No
In this situation , according to the then head of the Gestapo
, Rudolf Diels , the Prussian Minister of Justice has proposed
placing the communist leaders in the dungeons Sonnenburg .
March 20, 1933 , to " request " a representative of the
Ministry of Internal Affairs , the prosecution counsel Volk ,
Ministry of Justice , in consultation with the Ministry of the
Treasury of Prussia agreed to be the official transfer of the
former prison in Sonnenburg at the disposal of the Ministry of
Interior to organize in the concentration camp ( 32) Representatives of the Minister of Justice , Dr. Burger and counsel Marx also
expressed their willingness to "serve " the Ministry of
Internal Affairs in word and deed with the furnishing of the
camp and the desire to make available to the board of
equipment after his former prison.
The prison received its official name : " StaatMches Konzentra
- tionslager in Sonnenburg N / M " (State Sonnenburg
concentration camp in Neumark ) and subject directly
administered by the police in Berlin, and , strictly speaking,
the head of the Gestapo Dielsowi . Early April 4th, 1933 , the
came to Sonnenburg
the first transports of prisoners , mostly officers and
deputies of the KPD who had previously been held in custody of
the Bureau of the Berlin police and prison Spandau in Berlin
Moabit and Plotzensee (33). Administration sonnenburskiego
camp officers seized police presidium Berlin , and its
headquarter was responsible for the police department for the
special
poruczeń - " Wecke " and reinforced troops SA " Horst Wessel "
and No. 33 (District Małkowski - Hebbelstrasse ) - as
auxiliary police - whose members already before 1933 and have
gained infamous notoriety as professional thugs and murderers
workers ( 34). 's first commander camp was a police lieutenant ( Polizeioberleutnant ) Gerhard Paessler . ____________________
(32 ) Ibid , p 2 - Report of the talks on 20 March 1933
between the prosecution counsel volki a representative of the
Ministry of Justice Dr . Burger, 1 counselor of the Ministry Магхет . (33) " Oder- Zeitung ", No. 52 of 1933 4IV See Lange , op. Cit , p 5 and "
Sonnenburger Anzeiger " with 7IV 1933 (34 ) Lange , op. cit , pp. 8-9.
Berlin police department led to special tasks . Lieutenant (
Oberleutnant ) Wecke , hence a group of police officers from
that department Sonnenburg was defined as a branch of " Wecke
" .
24 - Nl De Fr No
April 6, 1933 , the camp came to sonnenburskiego second 52 -bed transport
of prisoners from Berlin.
Among them were, among others : the members of the Central Committee of
the KPD Ernst Schneller , Ottomar Geschke , deputy to the Reichstag on
behalf of the KPD Villa Kasper , President of the fraction of the KPD in
the Prussian parliament Ernst Fat deputies to the Reichstag , Rudolf
Bernstein, Gusti Sandtner , lawyer Hans Litten , members
KPD Fritz and Fritz Lange Kroh , Carl von Ossietzky writer and novelist ,
columnist and theater critic Erich Muhs (35).
Not all of the above already acquainted with brutal methods , as being in
some prisons in Berlin were treated by investigators relatively decent.
What is hell fascism, learned only upon arrival at the Sonnenburg (36).
At the station in Sonnenburg waiting for transportation SA men with rubber
truncheons , beating prisoners who wherever he rushed to the camp .
The poet Erich Muhs received such a strong blow to the head that fell to
the ground .
Schneller seeing it received from Muhsama his suitcase to relieve him .
Unfortunately SA men rushed to the Schneller and beating him forced to
give suitcases półprzytomnemu Muhsamowi .
A further tragedies of this transport prisoners we learn from the
relationship Fritz Lange , who among other things, thus writes: " I
barely closed the prison gates , I started to terrible torture .
Rubber sticks , riding crops , brass knuckles , fists and boots abused
defenseless prisoners.
Watchmen - SA -men revels in bloodlust and power. Their first victims were: Ernst Schneller (37 ) , Carl von Ossietzky writer ,
lawyer Litten , journalist Erich Muhs and many others. " In the following transports to Sonnenburg exiled communist and trade union
activists from Berlin , among which was a part of the personnel of the KPD
" Rote Fahne " ( Red Flag ) and the Communists of the Ruhr area and the
district Schleswig -Holstein. _____________________ (35 ) Kiessling , Op. cit , p 184 (36 ) I. Litten , Eine Mutter kämpft , Rudolstadt ( Thüringen ) 1948, p 23
(37 ) T. Cieslak , Oranienburg' - Sachsenhausen Nazi concentration camps
from 1933 to 1945 , Warsaw, 1972 , p 186 Ernst Schneller 11 , 1944 along
with 27 other activists, communist was shot in Sachsenhausen . Urn with the ashes of this eminent post-war activist placed in the walls of
the Kremlin. 25 - Nl De Fr No Large parts of the political prisoners were sent to the camp of
sonnenburskiego Western Pomerania, especially from Szczecin , and even
from Opole Silesia (38).
The reports of police authorities Gorzow , saws and governor of
Mesopotamia show that the camp in the first period of its existence there
were many communist activists of the village (39). In total, from April to July 1933 Sonnenburg 987 political activists were
imprisoned and later preventive arrests increased to 1,226 people ( 40)
In subsequent shipments addressed to Sonnenburg were : Michael
Niederkiirehner , Communist member of the Reichstag , Mr Erich Steinfurth
, Berthold Geisler , writer Birkenhauer , Wisnewski - city councilman
Berlin , Dr. Fritz Aus- lander , school counselor Pritz Bensch , Walter
Dittbender , lawyer Dr. Walter
blunt weapon MEP Ernst Oberdorster Reich , communist deputy to the
national parliament Otto Gotsche , Niles - the so-called director . folk scene in Berlin and communist member of parliament Schmetter .
Besides, there was a prominent activist of the KPD , Member of the
Reichstag Walter Stocker , and with it the Erich Wiesner - propaganda
secretary of the Committee of the KPD Szczecin , Willi Prietzel of the
Berlin leadership group " Red Unity Sports (41 ) , Willi Harder -
Secretary of the Committee of the KPD in Stralsund activists KPD Walter Weidener (42 ), Richard Knaak , Herman Pranks , Demuth
and physicians , Dr. Benjamin and Erwin Mueller from Spandau . _____________________ (38 ) K. Jońсa , Protective Custody - non-judicial means of combating
anti-Nazi opposition in the Opole ( 1933-1934 ) , "Studies Silesian " ,
Vol XII , p 132
(39 ) AOKBZH , Ds 6/66 , Vol I, p 146 With Babimost arrested Mayor
Dickmann .
See Records of the District Court of Schwerin , Case H. Adrian , ref.
STKs 75/47 (40 ) W. Harder , Appel Ein an das der Welt Cewissen , Karlsbad 1934, pp. 123 (41 ) W. Sagebrecht , Nicht Amboseli , sonder Hammer sein , Berlin 1968 , pp.
212 " Kampfgemeinschaft fur Sporteinheit Rot " . (42 )
The records of the District Court of Schwerin , ref.
STKs 75/47 (hereafter cited ASO Schwerin ), pp. 55 ( reasons for
judgment). Walter Weidener in the years 1946-1948 he served as Mayor of Dresden. 26 - Nl De Fr No
In the second half of June 1933 to sonnenburskiego concentration camp were
transported from the town of Krefeld and other regions of North Rhine-
Westphalia, a large group of trade unionists and members of the KPD ,
among which was known activist of the circle Aurel Billstein . At the same time, recorded the arrival of the Sonnenburg former editor of
daily naps " Ruhr- Echo ", a party activist in Berlin , Walter
Kuchenmeistra , which were held for nine months in the cellar to release
the highly advanced pulmonary tuberculosis (43).
Nov. 23 to a concentration camp in Sonnenburg is transferred 15 communist
activists from Trier. They were mostly workers involved in the district KPD Middle Rhine and the Red
Aid (44).
The first transports of detainees found the camp in general not prepared
to accept the prisoners.
In rooms there were no beds , or even missions of straw .
In the early days of the prisoners slept just on cement floors.
A few days later, when the prisoners were instructed to bring the straw to
the cells , SA -men organized a party , called it a "straw roll " that
prisoners long remembered . Consisted in the fact that laden with straw
prisoners had to run through the yard, hallway and stairs to the
individual .
target between two rows of stormtroopers . Each of the guards armed with
rubber stick or a wooden pole or even the leg of a broken chair asked the
prisoners running times , at random . Some prisoners , older , less
resistant , such as Erich Mühsam , Rudi Bernstein Carl von Ossietzky whether , they were - according to one of the former
prisoners - so " locked out in " that they needed to be transported to the
camp infirmary completely neglected (45). ______________________ (43 ) Walter
Kuchenmeister , b.
911897 , in Waldheim ( Saxony ) , during World War U , despite the
steadily deteriorating health , was active in the anti-fascist circle of
workers from the Berlin district of Wedding .
He was also closely associated with the circle of people gathered around
the well-known resistance organization Schulze- Boysen and Harnack .
16 September 1942 ,
he was arrested .
Sentenced to śmietrć by the tribunal ( Volks - Gerichtshof ) in Berlin .
He died 13 May 1943 on the scaffold in prison Berlin - Plotzensee . See K.N. Biernat , L. Kraushaar , Schulze- Boysen Organization , Harnack , Warsaw 1977
, p 128 27 - Nl De Fr No
Prisoners ) of the first transports were placed in solitary confinement .
And
here SA men found an opportunity to abuse. On the day of each of the
target was open.
The prisoner for hours he was forced to sit or stand at the door inside
the cell and the guard on duty at the signal quickly jump out and take
outside her door force posture.
SA men called it "the science leaving the goal." In the night while
usually drunk guards through the barred windows roar and insults were
threatening the terrified prisoners did not survive the next day ( 46).
Often burst into the dark purpose and abused prisoners. Most persecuted
were
leading Communists : Walter Stocker , Ernst Schneller , Willi Kasper and
Jewish prisoners who wanted to kill as soon as possible . After a hard
skatowaniu Mr Schneller , a lawyer and poet Muhsama Litten , they were
told to take the blade and the wall of the yard in the west wing of the
prison to dig graves
. they were forced to sing at the International. In order to give the
apparent execution of verisimilitude Nw gathered near all the prisoners
and set guards with guns at the ready . After digging pits of laughter,
shouts and insults SA -men told them again to flood . guards thought
his duty to harassment and humiliation of human dignity of prisoners.
Most of them deserved the opinion of sadists.
The camp commandant , Gerhard Polizeioberleutnant Paessler with the thugs
of the branch " Horst Wessel " organized in the basement of the east and
west wings special targets , through which he had to pass each newly
arrived prisoner . Driving them to the basement of torture a day from
eight to fifteen , and even more new prisoners. People who until recently did not expect anything , who faces czerstwymi
sonnenburskiego crossed the gate of the camp, after several days of
graying , losing hair and teeth and changed out of all recognition . One
of the then prisoners , the German communist with Fiirstenwalde W. __________________ (44 ) Franz Josef Heyen , Nationalsozialismus them Alltag ( Quellen zur
Geschichte des Nationalsozialismus vornehmlich im Raum Mainz -Koblenz
Trier ) , Boppard am Rhein in 1967 . 28 - Nl De Fr No
Tese thus relates , inter alia, their survival in the basement of torture
: "The most painful memories dręczeń basement , or torture chamber .
There was attached prisoners chains to the wall , then began angulation
steel rods , brass knuckles and kicking .
I do not know to this day how he got out of this hell dręczeń . When I
came to myself, I lay covered in blood .
I witnessed how communist from my village, ie Fiirstenwalde , Max Behnkemu
, SA -men planted the cell noose to hang up on him .
Because he did not , shot it later "(47) . Less resistant mentally
prisoners collapsed , unfortunately, and take back your life , such as
Karl Ritter of Frankfurt Oder , or school counselor Tackel from Szczecin ,
which as a result of cruel dręczeń crazy ( 48).
A favorite method of harassment and disturbing the people were feeding
them one by one to the so-called interrogation cell and putting them there
questions.
They were asked , for example, " you're still a communist ? " If you asked
answered "yes" , then hail fell on him truncheons and punches his fist : "
Well, what a pig , you're still a communist ? " - If a prisoner replied "
no", of blows ,
kicks and punches he heard the roar : " What , you coward , you do not
have the courage to admit to communism ? " Despite the terrible situation
in which they found themselves sonnenburscy prisoners , one of them
managed to send out a message , which reported : "For the frenzy may
lead handling of the companions of the management. comrades are slowly
being driven to death. During the night raid on them in goals and beat the
blood. motto SA is : " no leader does not come out alive. But no one will
be shot , the damage bullets ". Lawyer Litten is close to shock. since 14 days lying in bed , beaten beyond
recognition already tried to commit suicide. Comrades, if you do not
protest against this niesłychanemu terror on the defenseless prisoners ,
it's they never see "( 49). ___________________ (45) " Folterhölle Sonnenburg " ..., p 8 (46 ) Kiessling , Op. cit , p 183 (47 ) W. Tese , paper presented at the scientific session in Słońsk 19IV 1975
__ author's archive .
(48 ) L. Hoffmann , Die des Deutschen Bestialitaten Faschismus ( Ein
Bericht aus dem Konzentrationslager Sonnenburg ) , bmw 1934, pp. 27 , Karl Ritter born
. 30X1877 laying in Sonnenburg was martyred in 1933 ( 49 ) Т . В alk , Ein Gespenst geht um , Paris 1934 . 29 - Nl De Fr No
Description sonnenburskiego camp is shocking confirmation in letters
Muhsama wives and Kasper , who had read an article the local newspaper "
Sonnenburger Anzeiger " of April 7, 1933 learned that the " singing the
national anthem prisoners were forced to march to the more ancient prison
, where they were beaten with batons often rubber " .
Concerned about the fate of the men of the great difficulties with their
vision obtained .
" They beat our husbands to death - says wife Muhsama - Erich ! I saw him ! I did not recognize him . I did not recognize
him among the other inmates ! As
they are beaten ! ... They cut his beard , broke his teeth .
During transport, he had to carry a suitcase , and yet Erich is so awkward
. On the way he fell .
Then these beasts so beat him as he lay on the road , he could not get up
- when I came to Sonnenburg , sat completely broken and was scared my
arrival .
His first words were : " How did you find in this hell ? Alive never get out
of here ! They
will kill you because you seen how we arranged ".
When I saw Kasper - he writes R. Muh - he - I had to gather all my
strength not to faint.
His view was all the more shocking that he recently saw.
He stood leaning against the wall , his face was bloodless and completely
distorted.
At one of the Eye , which was completely under - siniałe , had a bloody
stroke , running up to his lips.
His lips were so bloodshot , as if someone kicked him in the face. He could almost speak and move out of the pain that he felt in the whole body
" (50).
Also, Bernstein and Geisler's wife forced simply by Dr .
Mittelbach , who oversaw the arm of the Berlin Gestapo camp , seeing with
their husbands.
Meeting with her husband H. Bernstein describes : " I thought I was
seeing a complete stranger in front of him .
The eyes and the adjacent part of the face was blood red and heavily
swollen . I was not allowed to touch my husband , but his whole body had to be terribly
beaten , because the whole time lasted motionless in a strange position .
" ___________________ (50 ) A photocopy of the letter wife Muhsama in the author's collection . 30 - Nl De Fr No In contrast, Geisler's wife said: "When I saw my husband , he was so changed,
and his face was so swollen that I had to learn that the grief does not
scream out loud ."
One of the prisoners who managed to escape from the camp and escape abroad
, reported, " In the prison is located sonnenburskim 414 political
prisoners , among them Carl von Ossietzky also , who was arrested on 28
February.
Inclined ... figure fell face, yellow and morbid zabarwieme face, nervous
gestures of hands, unsteady gait - it looks like Ossietzky ... For
prisoners sonnenburskich - he writes fugitive - include: Dr. Wiesner ,
bruised all over his body , a communist Bernstein
which reflected This kidneys , and which can now only walk with a cane , a
communist Kasper , who snatched the whole hair of the vulva , Erich Muhs
is ... horribly defaced since cut off his beard malicious way .
On the night of glass were broken in the cell Kasper , was inserted
through the opening gun and threatened with shooting . Then wtargnięto the cell and wrap it with rubber truncheons " (51).
About disclose to the public the truth about the camp tried sonnenburskim
primarily courageous wife Communists Steinfurth , Bernstein , Stocketra
and the mother of Hans Litten and Maud von Ossietzky , the wife of the
writer.
In protest addressed to all lawyers in Berlin brave and courageous woman
wrote : " We consider it our duty to all fair -minded people to inform
about the shameful treatment of prisoners remaining in protective custody
in Sonnenburg and invite them to express protest.
In April, taken from the most famous prisoners from various prisons in
Berlin and sent them to the Sonnenburg .
They put them in the old prison , which in recent years has been closed
because it was full of bugs , mice and rats. Prisoners banned
from reading books and newspapers. Not
allowed to communicate with their lawyers .
Every day they must perform squats to a loss of power and consciousness.
Are forced to perform hard labor , far beyond their strength. __________________ (51) " Folterhölle Sonnenburg " ... , pp. 15-16 . 30 31 - Nl De Fr No At
night, there are often woken up from sleep at the hearing. But it is not enough for this !
Sonnenburscy prisoners were repeatedly abused in an inhuman manner ...
with Sonnenburg Eyewitnesses tell us that the police and the SA men beat
prisoners like cattle rubber batons , kicked and flogged with steel rods
... Erich Mühsam (52 ) looked terrible .
His beard was trimmed in a despicable way to make it the worst type of
Jew.
With the beard he had his large lots , and on her head tried to cut a
swastika . May 1 .
drunk SA men pounced on defenseless prisoners ... Communist MEP Reich and
elementary school teacher Ernst Schneller was 100 beats a rubber truncheon
... The responsibility for these acts of violence is borne not only
replaced worthy SA , but bear it primarily government officials higher , namely, the prosecution counsel Berlin Dr. Mittel - bach , who
cynically declared prisoners ' wives that their husbands beat each other ,
and interior Minister Goering , who directly subject to the prisoners
sonnenburscy .
A SA -man , who could no longer look at those terrifying torture, secretly
talked with a lawyer Hans Litten , advising him to take his own life ...
Advocate Litten earned , however, enough strength to reject this proposal
.
If, however, soon there will be a change for the better in the situation
of the prisoners , then there is a danger that poodbierają his life to put
an end to the agony or die miserably due to continuous barbaric battered
and following the order of the prison .
For the wives and children of prisoners sonnenburskich , whose only crime
is that they are political opponents of the Nazi government , we ask you
to do everything that lies in your power to save these helpless .
You ask with us , so that was completed with the brutal oppression is
pulled, the guilty to justice and punished them to the prisoners received
permission to visit , conversation and reading, allowed them to talk to
their lawyers , and that they were treated in a manner appropriate to the
dignity of man "( 53). __________________
(52 ) AOKBZH team act " Sonnenburg " - different , Ref. VII/19/69 , p 37
Erich in July Muhs was taken to the prison in Brandenburg , where then
taken to the concentration camp in Oranienburg , where on the night of
10 on И July 1934, he was murdered.
(53 ) Ibid , pp. 39-41, a photocopy of the letter drawn from the file ref.
580 at the Institute of Marxism-Leninism in Berlin. 32 - Nl De Fr No
As he writes in his postwar memoirs, the then head of the Gestapo , Rudolf
Diels (54), moreover, co-responsible for the atrocities committed by the
SS in sonnenburskim camp , crimes cheap made from entering the columns
of the foreign press and radio .
Friends of Carl von Ossietzkiego and mother of Hans Litten tirelessly to
intervene within their capabilities at the highest factors of the Nazi
Reich.
" I got - writes Diels - with a few companions to the car to suddenly
break into Sonnenburg .
Commandant SA impressed with our official positions allowed to enter .
Members asked about the Prussian Landtag Kasper , whom I knew for years.
Constantly did impressed me his fiery eloquence and his wisdom .
We were led through the narrow porch of an old fortress and admitted to
the vaulted dungeon.
On the floor lay on a litter prisoners , who at the behest of duty »
baezność ! " Raised a staggering and trying to stand up straight . View prisoners
was simply indescribable. Reminded of
the spectrum or the demonic apparitions sleep.
With wrinkled and ragged clothes sticking head swollen like a pumpkin ,
yellow and bluish swollen faces that were not similar to human faces .
Naked body parts were covered with welts and blood. Fear
gripped me as before the advent of the apparitions .
When asked about Kasper , checked into being, in which only a fiery black
eyes testified that once bursting with life and to be put face adversity
man.
I stroked him after his broken , shaven skin to bare his head and tried to
say a few words in the cave of torture. Kasper was as if absent
thoughts.
How to cry without tears was illustrated a convulsive cramps in his
battered face. I promised to help
him .
Ongoing proceedings against him for high treason may not prove him a lot .
From this hell
will probably fired. SA -men , which is located at the entrance to the basement , looked
zwytrzeszczonymi eyes on the scene and did not understand " (55). _________________ (54 ) Diels , op. cit , p 195 (55 ) Ibid , pp. 196-197 . 33 - Nl De Fr No
Prison Sonhenburg - general view
Prison sonnenburslcie as a concentration camp in the years 1933/1934 Prisoners of the concentration camp at Sonnenburg in the years 1933-1934 ,
from srtrony left: Carl von Ossietzky , Walter Stöcker , Ottomar Geschke ,
villas Kasper , Ernst Grube and Michael Niederkirchner German anti-fascists during the " exercise " in May 1933 drawing by an unknown
author Hans Litten The interior of the prison Sonnenburg in the years 1940-195 Ernst schneller Fulkownik Maurfice Dutheil de la Richer Emile Demesy Eugčne Greau Roman Pandel Jean Baptiste Lebas Monument mayor Jeon Lebas erected after the war in Roubaix Marcel Lannier Raymond Marquis d' Argence Ernest Laurent Emile Le Dref
Diels conversation with Kasper stopped unexpectedly arrived with his
entourage Karl Ernst ( 56) , the commander of the Berlin SA , who were
informed about the trip to Diels Sonnenburg .
" Ernst - as he continues Diels - shouting drew attention nia me not to
interfere in matters that do not care about me .
I told him just standing still in front of Kasper - Mr. Ernst , The Lord
himself will watch this man and all the others who are standing here .
If you have a heart, it must be the Lord shrug battered creature "(57) .
The camp commandant , as explained further Diels , attempted to justify
violent behavior stormtroopers against the prisoners , explaining it by
the fact that communist leaders behaved in the camp recalcitrant in
relation to its people , stirring up the rest of the prisoners , and
communist songs sung , while most of the prisoners learned the battle songs SA . It was not true.
Mistreated the prisoners to destroy them as political opponents, for which
the Nazi Reich has no place . But not only
political opponents .
In this regime there was also a place for people who dare to defend the
rule of law , of which we have already in the Weimar Republic , when the
rampage began militias SA , it was becoming increasingly difficult .
The best example may be the case Litten , over which so cruelly mistreated
in sonnenburskim camp.
Hans Litten as a lawyer he believed that his duty is to defend each case
to whom was hurt .
In the years 1930-1933 so happened that Litten or defended workers ( not
always communists ) beaten by szturmówki SA , or performed with sue on
behalf of the wives , mothers and children were murdered by German
anti-fascists SA (58).
His loudest political process is the so-called case Felseneck . Then it szturmówki SA invaded the north of Berlin on Felseneck village
inhabited by about 50 families of workers . _____________________
(56 ) Ibid , p 197 Karl Ernst as the commander of the Berlin SA was shot
29 VI1933 , during the trial of the leaders of Hitler's SA Leibstandarte
SS barracks in Lichtefelde . See R. Majewski , Waffen SS , myths and reality , Warsaw 1977 , p 33 (57 ) Diels , op. cit , pp. 197-199 . (58 ) Litten , Op. cit , pp. 13-16 .