Abstract
When we speak of Nazi concentration camps we think of mass annihilation, terror, and starvation.1 The image of piles of corpses in Bergen-Belsen and the crematories of Auschwitz has burned itself into our collective memory.2 In the final years of the existence of the vast concentration-camp system in the ‘Third Reich’, the Nazis installed a system of brothels which only prisoners were allowed to attend. It is not surprising that the establishment of such prisoner brothels has for many years been almost completely ignored by historians. Books and movies have referred to brothels for SS guards in which Jewish women were raped,3 but the notion of brothel barracks created for prisoners seems completely absurd. Since the 1990s, various scholars have begun to discover the so-called Sonderbauten (special constructions), which was the SS euphemism for these brothels.4
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Notes
I refer here to concentration camps (Konzentrationslager) as camps which were under the control and supervision of the Inspektion der Konzentrationslager and later supervised by the SS-Wirtschafts- und Verwaltungshauptamt (WVHA). Excluded from this definition are extermination camps (such as Chelmno, Sobibor, Belzec and Treblinka) which were under the administration of the Aktion Reinhardt and solely built between 1941 and 1943 in order to kill Jews and Gypsies from occupied Poland, the Generalgouvernement and later on from all over Europe. The camp complex Auschwitz consisting of three major camps – Stammlager (I), Birkenau (II) and Monowitz (III) – was founded as concentration camp, but served from 1943 also as principal place of the extermination of Hungarian Jews, Jews from Theresienstadt and Gypsies. Auschwitz-Birkenau, as well as Bergen-Belsen, were multi-functional camp complexes consisting of sub-camps which served different purposes, such as transit or POW camps. On the differentiation of camp types see W. Benz, ‘Nationalsozialistische Zwangslager. Ein Überblick’, W. Benz and others (eds), Der Ort des Terrors. Geschichte der nationalsozialistischen Konzentrationslager. Band 1. Die Organisation des Terrors, 1st edn (Munchen, 2005), pp. 11–29.
See C. Brink, Ikonen der Vernichtung: öffentlicher Gebrauch von Fotografien aus nationalsozialistischen Konzentrationslagern nach 1945, 1st edn (Berlin, 1998), pp. 9–22.
See the most popular example, Ka-tzetnik 135633, House of Dolls, 1st edn (New York, 1956). Furthermore there is an entire film genre called ‘SS-Sexploitation’/Sadiconazista, in which the subject of female prisoners being forced to become sex labourers for SS men is exploited in abominably distasteful manner, such as in S. Garrone’s SS Experiment Camp and SS Camp 5, as well as B. Mattei’s SS Girls. See M. Stiglegger, Sadiconazista. Faschismus und Sexualität im Film, 1st edn (St. Augustin, 1999).
In addition to that Israeli Stalag-Comics as well as American men’s adventure magazines from the 1960s and 1970s have to be mentioned. See I. Kershner, ‘Israel‘s Unexpected Spinoff from a Holocaust Trial’, The New York Times, 6 September 2007; M. A. Collins, G. Hagenauer, R. Oberg, and S. Heller (eds), Men’s Adventure Magazines in Postwar America, 1st edn (Los Angeles, 2004), pp. 290–364.
See R. Kassing and C. Paul, ‘Bordelle in deutschen Konzentrationslagern’, K(r)ampfader VI (1/1991), pp. 26–31;
C. Schulz, ‘Weibliche Häftlinge aus Ravensbrück in den Bordellen der Männerkonzentrationslager’, C. Füllberg-Stolberg et al. (eds), Frauen in Konzentrationslagern. Bergen-Belsen Ravensbrück, 1st edn (Bremen, 1994), pp. 135–146;
C. Paul, Zwangsprostitution. Staatlich errichtete Bordelle im Nationalsozialismus, 1st edn (Berlin, 1994);
H.-P. Klausch, ‘Das Lagerbordell von Flossenbürg’, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Arbeiterbewegung (4/1992), pp. 86–94;
A. Baumgartner, Die vergessenen Frauen von Mauthausen. Die weiblichen Häftlinge des Konzentrationslagers Mauthausen und ihre Geschichte, 1st edn (Wien, 1997);
K. Engelhardt, ‘Frauen im Konzentrationslager Dachau’, Dachauer Hefte, XIV (1998), pp. 218–244;
P. Heigl, ‘Zwangsprostitution im KZ-Lagerbordell Flossenbürg’, Geschichte Quer, (6/1998), pp. 44f;
C. Schikorra, ‘Prostitution weiblicher Häftlinge als Zwangsarbeit. Zur Situation “asozialer” Häftlinge im Frauen-KZ Ravensbrück’, Dachauer Hefte, XVI (2000), pp. 112–124;
C. Wickert, ‘Tabu Lagerbordell. Vom Umgang mit der Zwangsprostitution nach 1945’, I. Eschenbach, S. Jacobeit, and S. Wenk (eds), Geschlecht und Gedächtnis. Deutungsmuster in Darstellungen des nationalsozialistischen Genozids, 1st edn (Frankfurt/Main/New York, 2002), pp. 41–58;
R. Sommer, Der Sonderbau. Die Errichtung von Bordellen in nationalsozialistischen Konzentrationslagern. Magisterarbeit at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin 2003, (Morrisville/USA, 2006);
H. Amesberger, K. Auer, and B. Halbmayr, Sexualisierte Gewalt. Weibliche Erfahrungen in NS-Konzentrationslager, 1st edn (Wien, 2004);
B. Halbmayr, ‘Arbeitskommando “Sonderbau”. Zur Bedeutung und Funktion von Bordellen im KZ’, Dachauer Hefte, XXI (2005); R. Sommer, ‘Die Häftlingsbordelle im KZ-Komplex Auschwitz-Birkenau. Sexzwangsarbeit im Spannungsfeld von NS-“Rassenpolitik” und der Bekämpfung von Geschlechtskrankheiten’, A. Jah, C. Kopke, A. Korb, and A. Stiller (eds), Nationalsozialistische Lager. Neue Beiträge zur NS-Verfolgungs- und Vernichtungspolitik und zur Gedenkstättenpädagogik (Ulm, 2006), pp. 81–103;
B. Alakus, K. Kniefacz, and R. Vorberg (eds), Sex-Zwangsarbeit in nationalsozialistischen Konzentrationslagern (Wien, 2006).
See H. Marsalek, Die Geschichte des Konzentrationslagers Mauthausen (Wien, 1980), p. 177.
See 1. Nachtrag zur Dienstvorschrift fur die Gewährung von Vergünstigungen an Häftlinge from 14 February 1944, in: BArch, NS 3/427; F. Piper, Arbeitseinsatz der Häftlinge aus dem KL Auschwitz (Oświęcim, 1995), appendix 22;
P. Setkiewicz, ‘Häftlingsarbeit im KZ Auschwitz III-Monowitz. Die Frage nach der Wirtschaftlichkeit der Arbeit’, U. Herbert, K. Orth, and C. Dieckmann (eds), Die nationalsozialistischen Konzentrationslager. Entwicklung und Struktur, 1st edn (Göttingen, 1998), pp. 598–601.
See O. Nansen, Von Tag zu Tag. Ein Tagebuch (Hamburg 1949), pp. 187f, 187f. On the history of the Sachsenhausen brothel see Wickert, 2002 and Sommer, 2003/2006.
Ravensbrück was the main woman’s concentration camp located north of Berlin from May 1939 on. Over 130,000 female prisoners passed through the Ravensbrück camp system until the end of the war. Only 40,000 survived. Although the inmates came from every country in German-occupied Europe, most were Jewish women from Poland and the occupied Soviet territories. On the history of Ravensbrück see B. Strebel, Das KZ Ravensbrück. Geschichte eines Lagerkomplexes, 1st edn (Paderborn, 2003).
L. Millu, Smoke over Birkenau (Philadelphia/New York/Jerusalem, 1999), pp. 171f.
Ukrainian guardsmen – also called Trawniki men – were recruited among Soviet POWs and trained at Trawniki camp. As fremdvölkische (foreign racial-ethnic) SS men they served as guards in extermination camps of the Aktion Reinhardt as well as in concentrations camps. See I. Gutmann (ed.), Enzyklopädie des Holocaust. Die Verfolgung und Ermordung der europäischen Juden, 2nd edn (München, 1998), p. 1425.
W. Sofsky, The Order of Terror. The Concentration Camp, 1st edn (Princeton, 1997), p. 48. Recently there has been a controversy on Sofsky’s Order of Terror. I agree that Sofsky analyses a rather abstract ideal type of concentration camp, which sometimes lacks historical differentiation and dynamics in the development of the camp system. On the other hand, Sofsky manages in a unique manner to analyse social structures inside the camps in relation to surveillance and control techniques of the SS used to destroy individual scope for action. In that way, his book is essential for understanding the terror of the SS and mechanisms of the Holocaust.
The exception is Mittelbau-Dora where the last camp brothel was opened just a few months before the end of the ‘Third Reich’. The SS opened it on a hillside above the camp roll call square at the entrance of the camp in a barrack that used to be the camp library. The reason for that position might have been the availability of space, but perhaps also to increase the incentive for the prisoners. See R. Sommer, ‘“Sonderbau” und Lagergesellschaft. Die Bedeutung von Bordellen in den KZ’, J. Milotová and A. Hájková (eds), Theresienstädter Studien und Dokumente 2006 (Prag, 2007), pp. 304–306.
For example see plan of concentration camp of Flossenbürg (in: handout of the museum of Flossenbürg); plan of Monowitz, in: H. Frankenthal, Verweigerte Rückkehr. Erfahrungen nach dem Judenmord, 1st edn (Frankfurt/Main, 1999), pp. 150f.
See P. Matussek, Die Konzentrationslagerhaft und ihre Folgen, 1st edn (Berlin, 1971), p. 29.
That was also the case in other concentration camps: In June 1944 the Dachau brothel was searched by the SS. An investigation eventually led to the closing of the brothel at the end of 1944. See E. Kupfer-Koberwitz, Dachauer Tagebücher. Die Aufzeichnungen des Häftlings 24814, 1st edn (München, 1997), p. 293.
V. E. Frankl, Ein Psycholog erlebt das Konzentrationslager, 1st edn (Wien, 1947), p. 46.
E. Federn, ‘Eros hinter Stacheldraht. Interview-Auszug’, H. Kirsten and U. Kirsten (eds), Stimmen aus Buchenwald. Ein Lesebuch, 1st edn (Göttingen, 2002), p. 69.
On dehumanization see N. Shik, ‘Weibliche Erfahrungen in Auschwitz-Birkenau’, G. Bock (ed.), Genozid und Geschlecht: Jüdische Frauen im nationalsozialistischen Lagersystem, 1st edn (Frankfurt/Main, 2005), pp. 105f.
This process of adaptation to camp life is one of the main subjects in: L. Begov, Mit meinen Augen. Botschaft einer Auschwitzüberlebenden, 1st edn (Gerlingen, 1983).
See S. Pisar, Das Blut der Hoffnung, 1st edn (Frankfurt/Main, 1979), p. 77.
Liana Millu in particular underlined those differences. She explained in an interview that in Auschwitz-Birkenau, women would trade their last pieces of bread for a hair brush or some make-up. The loss of menstruation was devastating to women. See G. Jäger, ‘“Was für ein schönes Seidenhemd ich hatte!” Liana Millu über die “Umwertung der Werte”’, Werkstatt Geschichte, XX (1998), pp. 100f. Grete Salus speaks of female prisoners in Auschwitz who tried to recall what it means to be a woman, because they felt completely genderless, see testimony Grete Salus in: Wiener Library, Reel 53, P III h. (General) No. 724.
That seems also to have been the case with female prisoners. The more a woman adapted to camp life and climbed up in the hierarchy, the greater the importance of sexuality in her life. Kielar describes how a female prisoner functionary in Birkenau gets her menstruation again and shows strong interests in men. See W. Kielar, Anus Mundi: Fünf Jahre Auschwitz, 9th edn (Frankfurt/Main, 2004), p. 164.
A Polish survivor of Sachsenhausen, Aleksander Kulisiewicz, wrote in 1945 a poem about the arrival of 1000 women at the Sachsenhausen camp. Before that he had never seen a woman in a concentration camp. The male society of prisoners got very excited about that and felt, for a few instants, like sexual human beings again. See A. Kulisiewicz and C. Kulisiewicz (eds), Adresse Sachsenhausen: Literarische Momentaufnahmen aus dem KZ, 1st edn (Gerlingen, 1997), pp. 58–60.
See Paul, 1994, pp. 76ff. (‘reichsdeutsche’/ethnic German visitors); Interview with Albert van Dijk in: Mieder, von Schwarz , Häftlingsbordell (Dutch); Interv. Sommer 2003–07-19 Dekeyser (Belgians); See Knop, Wickert, Weibliche Häftlinge, in: AGS, R 132/14, p. 10 (Scandinavians); Interv. Sommer 2003–05-01 Hantz 1, pt.1,00.28.00 (Poles); Interv. 2006–02-13 Hájková (Czechs); APMO, Ośw./Petrykowski/1931, p. 138 (Ukrainians); D. W. Pike, Spaniards in the Holocaust. Mauthausen, the Horror on the Danube, 1st edn (London, 2000), p. 72.
See H. Maršálek, Die Geschichte des Konzentrationslagers Mauthausen. Dokumentation, 2nd edn (Wien, 1980), p. 61.
See J. Giza and W. Morasiewic, ‘Z zagadnień popędów w obozach koncentracyjnych. Przyczynek do analiz tzw. KZ-syndromu’, Przegląd Lekarski (1/1973), pp. 29–41. Translation by Anna Taborska.
The SS did not know that he was one of the heads of the resistance movement. The dilemma of the prisoner resistance movement was the necessity to collaborate in order to maintain power and create counter structures. See L. Niethammer (Hg.), Der, gesäuberte’ Antifaschismus. Die SED und die roten Kapos von Buchenwald, 1st edn (Berlin, 1994), pp. 27–68.
J. Michel, Dora. The Nazi Concentration Camp Where Modern Space Technology Was Born and 30,000 Prisoners Died, 1st edn (London, 1979), pp. 156f.
For the definition of constraints in prostitution, see N. Campagna, Prostitution. Eine philosophische Untersuchung, 1st edn (without place, 2005), pp. 176f.
One example is the Lagerordnung (camp regulations) of Ravensbrück, in which female homosexuality was officially forbidden. See C. Schoppmann, Nationalsozialistische Sexualpolitik und weibliche Homosexualität, 1st edn (Pfaffenweiler, 1997), p. 255. The list of beating punishment (Prügel-Strafen) for the Natzweiler concentration camp gives a detailed list on how many strikes a prisoner receives for whatever kind of sexual action. See ‘P. Strafen’, in: BArch, Film 1575.
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Sommer, R. (2009). Camp Brothels: Forced Sex Labour in Nazi Concentration Camps. In: Herzog, D. (eds) Brutality and Desire. Genders and Sexualities in History. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230234291_7
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