NEUSTIFT
The sub-camp Neustift (Tyrol-Austria) is mentioned for the first time on October 10, 1942, in the records of the International Search Services. It existed throughout the period of two and a half years up to May 4, 1945. The village of Neustift is located approximately 30 kilometers from Innsbruck in the Stubai Valley at a height of 993 meters in a broad valley bottom surrounded by the Stubai Alps. In September 1942, the SS High Command decided to build an SS High Mountain School at Neustift. The choice of the place was due to the fact that in November, 1939, a high mountain range, which had been set up by the Oberkommando -OKW- (High Command) of the army, was to be re-enacted as the Gebirgsjäger Schule (The Mountain Corps Military School) . SS-Obersturmbannführer Eberhard von Quirsfeld was commissioned by SS Headquarters to carry out the construction and extension, as the original facilities were too limited at Neustift for basic mountain exercises.
SS-Obersturmbannführer Eberhdard von Quirsfe
Quirsfeld remained from 15 September 1942 until the arrival of the
US troops on 3 May 1945 commander of the Hochgebirgsschule (Mountain
Corps School) and at the same time, that of the sub-camp Neustift.
The members of the commander's staff were Helmut Schön, the company
commander Ferdinand Steiner, and a camp doctor, a camp dentist, an
administrative director, the Spiess (First Sergeant), as well as a
Hauptsturmführer, with a task not clearly defined. As an inspector
of the Hochgebirgsschule,functioned SS Brigadeführer Karl Ferdinand
Reichsritter von Overkamp. The administration of the school was
subordinated to the SS-WVHA in Berlin. Together with the
instructors, the school staff comprised of 60 people. The actual
training at Neustift started in 1943.
 |
Brigadeführer (Generalmajor) Karl von Oberkamp
was a German Waffen-SS commander
and war criminal during World War II. During his SS
career, he commanded the SS Division Prinz Eugen, the SS Division
Nibelungen and the V SS Mountain Corps.
Following World War II, Oberkamp was
extradited to Yugoslavia,
where he was tried for war crimes. He was sentenced to death and
hanged in Belgrade on
4 May 1947.
On October 13, 1942, a transport of a total of fifty prisoners from
Dachau arrived at Innsbruck, with 31 German and 19 Polish nationals.
In the first two transports, 30 prisoners were divided up for the
camp I (Reichsstrassebauamt) and 20 prisoners for the camp II
(Fulpmes-Neustift). However, no subdivision was apparently carried
out for this village, and the only sub-camp, namely the
SS-Hochgebirgsschule Neustift, was the only one mentioned by the
prisoners during later investigations. It was clear from the
repatriation lists of December 1942 that the camp was exclusively
called 'Hochgebirgsschule Neustift'. The prisoners were quartered in
an existing empty barrack, which stood 50 meters away from the newly
erected training barracks. These had been erected two years before
on behalf of the Reich Road Construction Office
(Reichsstrassenbauamt) - Innsbruck for workers of the intended
Cross-Alpine Connecting Highway (Queralpen-Verbindungsstrasse) which
was never materialized.
Training area of SS-Maintain Battalion near Neustift
The prisoners were guarded by a platoon of ten to twelve men, older,
partly wounded ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche) from Siebenbürgen, and
the Banat. They lived together in a barrack, in which three smaller
rooms with barred windows for prisoners was used, and a larger room
for the soldiers. The prisoners were generally overseen and reported
to a commander in charge. In Neustuft, a number prison commanders
replaced each other very often. This method of rotation was for some
reason rather high. It could be due to the fact,that most of
them were ethnic Germans and easy going,sic. By the end of
the year 1942 the 30-year-old, who had been from Innsbruck,by the
name of Friedrich Pötter was in charge. He was portrayed as human in
his dealings with detainees. For a short time SS-Obercharführer
Arnold followed him. From January 27, 1943, to June 13, 1944, the
50-year-old SS chief officer, Wicklein, was in charge as the
SS-commanding officer, who had already been in the guard company at
Dachau since May 1941. Immediately before that he was stationed as
the commander of the sub-camp Munich-Freimann. In 1944, Karl Raush
was in this position. The last commanding officer, was finally SS
subordinate leader Otto Dertinger. This SS team had a commanding
officer above them. In the memories of prisoners, only one name is
mentioned: SS-Unterscharführer, EWolf, who was regarded as rather
'sharp' and 'rabble-rouser.'
The work force, which initially composed of about 60 male prisoners, was reduced to approximately 20 to 30 during the winter months. In the period between spring and autumn, the number returned to their normal strength of 60. On October 13, 1942, Karl Wagner was appointed as Kapo, who continued in this function until April 1943. He was succeeded by Hugo Jakusch, who, until the liberation of May 1845, acted as a Kapo. It was determined that Wagner was better used as overseer of the work commando as an experienced and tested bricklayer, rather than as a Kapo who as a rule did not physically work. The characterization was confined to the appointment of Kapos only, since there were neither Camp Elders nor Block Leaders, as was the case in lager sub-camps.
The work force, which initially composed of about 60 male prisoners, was reduced to approximately 20 to 30 during the winter months. In the period between spring and autumn, the number returned to their normal strength of 60. On October 13, 1942, Karl Wagner was appointed as Kapo, who continued in this function until April 1943. He was succeeded by Hugo Jakusch, who, until the liberation of May 1845, acted as a Kapo. It was determined that Wagner was better used as overseer of the work commando as an experienced and tested bricklayer, rather than as a Kapo who as a rule did not physically work. The characterization was confined to the appointment of Kapos only, since there were neither Camp Elders nor Block Leaders, as was the case in lager sub-camps.
Neustift Village
The first task of the prisoners was the construction of the High
Mountain School: The construction of the work- and living barracks,
the construction of a parade ground and an ammunition depot. After
the construction, they were used individually as carpenters,
electricians, bricklayers and Boot-makers to provide work within
their crafts and auxiliary services for the Hochgebirgsschule. They
were not divided into permanent working commissions, but were used
on a case-by-case basis according to existing work requirements. The
payment for working hours were settled by the SS-WVHA, Department C
(Building Management)
The camp was not fenced, the prisoners who had the confidence of the commanding officer were allowed to work under guard in the village, for example, as a harvester or for household repairs. They were rewarded for this with food stuff (Naturalien) by the inhabitants, of which their guards also profited. This working commando was equipped with a kitchen,(probably a Wehrmacht portable field kitchen,sic.) The supply is described as barren but more substantial than in the parent camp (i.e Dachau). On the initiative of the Menses-daughter (Tochter) Luise Kempf, villagers at the Mesnerhaus brought together food for the prisoners. Visits by members of the prisoners, was generally forbidden, but could be held in Neustift village through the intermediary of the residents. Letters, which were also written on unofficial stationery under the commandant Wicklein, were sent uncensored via middlemen. The prisoners were also allowed to use the medical and dental care of the well-equipped High Mountain School.
Wehrmacht - Field Kitchen
Two prisoners were killed in Neustift. The proceedings resulted in criminal proceedings in the years 1963 and 1973, without a guilty verdict, or any verdict, being passed. On 19 August 1943 Josef Scheiblecker was shot. The prisoner, who was missing from the Abendappell (Evening Roll Call), was found in the private apartment of a female villager who had been scammed with him. According to different witness statements, it could have been either a commissioned execution by the commanding officer Wicklein, since Sscheiblecker knew too much about him. According to another version, it was a question of jealousy between the recently transferred executioner SS-Private Hafner and the prisoner.
A second death occurred after a failed escape of two German prisoners in February 1945, during which one prisoner was killed in an avalanche
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzJ3cL3f1a0
The second prisoner returned to Neustift, he hid in the village and was discovered. Prior to be taken to Dachau, he was shot. The Kapo Hugo Jakusch fled into the mountains with a few fellow inmates at a time which was most dangerous to prisoners, just before the liberation by US troops, (enemy advance,sic) while rumors were circulating. The troops of the 7 US Army reached the Stubaital on 4 May 1945 and liberated Neustift the following day. They met 34 prisoners.
View:YouTube: Victory Round-up May 194:5: https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=n96hb8Uqb8g - surrender
Author German Text: Albert Knoll
NUREMBERG (NÜRNBERG)
On May 12, 1941, 58 prisoners of the KZ-Dachau were taken to the Nuremberg SS-Kaserne( Garrison) at Frankenstrasse 204. Thus, the first K-sub-camp was established in the 'City of the Reichsparteitage Nürnberg' (Reichs Party Meeting Nuremberg). It was part of the first generation KZ-sub-camps, which the SS set up for their own needs. The prisoners were housed in a cellar of an adjoining building of the SS barracks, which was called the H-building because of its design on the ground plan and served as a gymnasium and drill-instructions. The barracks were situated on the edge of the Reichsparteitagsgelände (Reich Part Meeting Area), between 1936 and 1939, on the p;ans of the architect Franz Ruff, were commissioned by the SS. It was to be used as an accommodation for the crews during the Reichsparteitagen, as an annex for higher SS ranks during the Reicchsparteitage )Meetings). In fact, since the Party Meetings were not held during the war, the buildings were used to train SS-Radio Transmission Units
Reichsparteitag 1934, Luitpoldarena, "Totenehrung" (honouring of dead): SS-leader Heinrich Himmler, Adolf Hitler and SA-leader Viktor Lutze on the terrace in front of the "Ehrenhalle" (Hall of Honour); in the background: the crescent-shaped "Ehrentribüne" (literally: tribune of honour)
From the outset, the KZ-sub-camp of the SS-Garrison was divided into two branches: most of the prisoners worked for the "Working Community Accommodation" or the 'Building Activity-Waffen SS and Police Nuremberg Reserve Department' . The main task of the KZ-prisoners was to begin construction work in the area of the SS-Garrison. As one of the prisoners, the Kapo of the sub-camp Hugo Jakusch from Munich, remembered, for this sub-camp, mainly young men who had learned a handy profession were selected. They built garages, laid electric cables, and covered roofs in the barracks area. On their arrival in Nuremberg, the population, who had apparently tossed prisoners with stones. This may have been the only case, were SS-guards had to protect the prisoners' column. Among the first prisoners from Dachau were 28 Germans, 16 Poles, ten Czechs, PSV (Polzeiliche Schutzverwahrung) and 'AZR' (Arbeitszwang Reich) prisoner.(Forced Labour-Reich)
The prisoners assigned to the 'SS News Service (Nachrichten) Department' were, as the surviving transfer lists suggest, made up of tradesmen especially shoemakers, tailors and hairdressers
Bomb Damage at Nuremberg
At the beginning of the air raids on Nuremberg the prisoners were therefore used from the SS-Garrison in the debris clearing and the reconstruction of armaments enterprises. Hugo Jakusch and Jan Predski, both prisoners of the first transport from Dachau, remembered especially the working commando at Faun in the Wachterastrasse, which was heavily hit in August 1942. After the reconstruction within four weeks the Minister of Armament Albert Speer had promised their freedom during a visit to Nuremberg for their rapid rebuilding. Yet the two detainees were not released. In August, 1943, Faun's factory was destroyed a second time and this time it remained in ruins.
After the transfer of prisoners from the KZ-Flossenbürg to the SS-Garrison Nuremberg as early as February, for some reason the SS carried on its own sub-camp as 'Nuremberg' in its administration as from June 16, 1943, while the new prisoners were termed as sub-camp KZ-Flossenbürg and kept separately administrative wise under those headings. The number of prisoners fluctuated according to the very incomparably preserved documents as a sub-camp, they fluctuated between 41 and 175, and in the later recalled memories of the prisoners, however, they claimed the figure between 100 and 300.
The bombing war led to an increased need of labor for debris removal and changed the character of the KZ-sub-camp in the SS-Garrison. Outside working commandos in armaments factories, such as in the Rudolf Chillingworth premises n Nuremberg, and the bomb removals in Nuremberg itself, now came to the fore. According to the detainees, the air raids of the affected city districts were devastated, the prisoner's work commandos recall the total destruction of part of the city during their interrogation after 1945. For this reason in the years 1944/45, additional prisoners were transferred from the KZ-sub-camps Pottenstein and Hersbruck, to Nuremberg. A small commando about 20 prisoners secured after the big air attack on Nuremberg on 2 January 1945 for the SS and police leader Benno Martin his Nuremberger Office/Service Villa in the Virchowstrasse 19, which had already been hit 1942 by bombs for the first time
Aerial photo of the Congress Hall, 2009 - rebuilt
The Congress Hall (Kongresshalle) is the biggest preserved national socialist monumental building and is landmarked. It was planned by the Nuremberg architects Ludwig and Franz Ruff. It was intended to serve as a congress centre for the NSDAP with a self-supporting roof and should have provided 50,000 seats. It was located on the shore of and in the pond Dutzendteich and marked the entrance of the rally grounds. The building reached a height of 39 m (128 ft) (a height of 70 mwas planned) and a diameter of 250 m (820 ft). The building is mostly built out of clinker with a facade of granite panels. The design (especially the outer facade, among other features) is inspired by the Colosseum in Rome. The foundation stone was laid in 1935, but the building remained unfinished and without a roof. The building with an outline of an "U" ends with two head-buildings. Since 2001, the Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelände (Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds), with the permanent exhibition Faszination und Gewalt (Fascination and Terror), has been located in the northern wing.[6] In the southern building, the Serenadenhof, the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra have their domicile
SS-Hauptscharführer Kurt Erich Schreiber -sentenced to 20 years jail, during the Flossenbürg Trials
The Nuremberg SS-Garrison and their facilities was used by US Units stationed there since April 1945 until 1992. After their withdrawal, the buildinsgs were administrated by the Federal German Republic. After an elaborate reconstruction, the Federal Office for the Recognition of Foreign Refugees moved into the main building. The adjoining building, where the KZ- prisoners had been housed, was demolished to make way for a parking garage. In another sub-building, the 'Z-Bau', a self- supporting cultural center took its place.
The Central Office of the Provincial Administration Authorities encouraged the process in the Nuremberger SS-Garrison, but no process took place. In the Nuremberg Memorial Culture Center, KZ-sub-camps played no role - the legacy of Nuremberg's National Socialist Regime was too exaggerated as a 'city of the Reichsparteitage' and the 'Nuremberg laws'. The story of the KZ-sub-camp of the SS-Garrison Nuremberg is, however, a part of the history of the Reichsparteigeländes and a testament to the violence of the facade of the monumental Reich-Party-Meetings, which was fascinating for many.
View: Google-
Pictures Nuremberg Rally 1934
Author German Text: Alexander Schmidt
Sources/Acknowledgements:
Wikipedia -
Der Ort des Terrors, Pages 452-Vol 2 C.H.Beck, München 2005
The camp was not fenced, the prisoners who had the confidence of the commanding officer were allowed to work under guard in the village, for example, as a harvester or for household repairs. They were rewarded for this with food stuff (Naturalien) by the inhabitants, of which their guards also profited. This working commando was equipped with a kitchen,(probably a Wehrmacht portable field kitchen,sic.) The supply is described as barren but more substantial than in the parent camp (i.e Dachau). On the initiative of the Menses-daughter (Tochter) Luise Kempf, villagers at the Mesnerhaus brought together food for the prisoners. Visits by members of the prisoners, was generally forbidden, but could be held in Neustift village through the intermediary of the residents. Letters, which were also written on unofficial stationery under the commandant Wicklein, were sent uncensored via middlemen. The prisoners were also allowed to use the medical and dental care of the well-equipped High Mountain School.
Wehrmacht - Field Kitchen
Two prisoners were killed in Neustift. The proceedings resulted in criminal proceedings in the years 1963 and 1973, without a guilty verdict, or any verdict, being passed. On 19 August 1943 Josef Scheiblecker was shot. The prisoner, who was missing from the Abendappell (Evening Roll Call), was found in the private apartment of a female villager who had been scammed with him. According to different witness statements, it could have been either a commissioned execution by the commanding officer Wicklein, since Sscheiblecker knew too much about him. According to another version, it was a question of jealousy between the recently transferred executioner SS-Private Hafner and the prisoner.
A second death occurred after a failed escape of two German prisoners in February 1945, during which one prisoner was killed in an avalanche
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzJ3cL3f1a0
The second prisoner returned to Neustift, he hid in the village and was discovered. Prior to be taken to Dachau, he was shot. The Kapo Hugo Jakusch fled into the mountains with a few fellow inmates at a time which was most dangerous to prisoners, just before the liberation by US troops, (enemy advance,sic) while rumors were circulating. The troops of the 7 US Army reached the Stubaital on 4 May 1945 and liberated Neustift the following day. They met 34 prisoners.
View:YouTube: Victory Round-up May 194:5: https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=n96hb8Uqb8g - surrender
Author German Text: Albert Knoll
NUREMBERG (NÜRNBERG)
On May 12, 1941, 58 prisoners of the KZ-Dachau were taken to the Nuremberg SS-Kaserne( Garrison) at Frankenstrasse 204. Thus, the first K-sub-camp was established in the 'City of the Reichsparteitage Nürnberg' (Reichs Party Meeting Nuremberg). It was part of the first generation KZ-sub-camps, which the SS set up for their own needs. The prisoners were housed in a cellar of an adjoining building of the SS barracks, which was called the H-building because of its design on the ground plan and served as a gymnasium and drill-instructions. The barracks were situated on the edge of the Reichsparteitagsgelände (Reich Part Meeting Area), between 1936 and 1939, on the p;ans of the architect Franz Ruff, were commissioned by the SS. It was to be used as an accommodation for the crews during the Reichsparteitagen, as an annex for higher SS ranks during the Reicchsparteitage )Meetings). In fact, since the Party Meetings were not held during the war, the buildings were used to train SS-Radio Transmission Units
Reichsparteitag 1934, Luitpoldarena, "Totenehrung" (honouring of dead): SS-leader Heinrich Himmler, Adolf Hitler and SA-leader Viktor Lutze on the terrace in front of the "Ehrenhalle" (Hall of Honour); in the background: the crescent-shaped "Ehrentribüne" (literally: tribune of honour)
From the outset, the KZ-sub-camp of the SS-Garrison was divided into two branches: most of the prisoners worked for the "Working Community Accommodation" or the 'Building Activity-Waffen SS and Police Nuremberg Reserve Department' . The main task of the KZ-prisoners was to begin construction work in the area of the SS-Garrison. As one of the prisoners, the Kapo of the sub-camp Hugo Jakusch from Munich, remembered, for this sub-camp, mainly young men who had learned a handy profession were selected. They built garages, laid electric cables, and covered roofs in the barracks area. On their arrival in Nuremberg, the population, who had apparently tossed prisoners with stones. This may have been the only case, were SS-guards had to protect the prisoners' column. Among the first prisoners from Dachau were 28 Germans, 16 Poles, ten Czechs, PSV (Polzeiliche Schutzverwahrung) and 'AZR' (Arbeitszwang Reich) prisoner.(Forced Labour-Reich)
The prisoners assigned to the 'SS News Service (Nachrichten) Department' were, as the surviving transfer lists suggest, made up of tradesmen especially shoemakers, tailors and hairdressers
Bomb Damage at Nuremberg
At the beginning of the air raids on Nuremberg the prisoners were therefore used from the SS-Garrison in the debris clearing and the reconstruction of armaments enterprises. Hugo Jakusch and Jan Predski, both prisoners of the first transport from Dachau, remembered especially the working commando at Faun in the Wachterastrasse, which was heavily hit in August 1942. After the reconstruction within four weeks the Minister of Armament Albert Speer had promised their freedom during a visit to Nuremberg for their rapid rebuilding. Yet the two detainees were not released. In August, 1943, Faun's factory was destroyed a second time and this time it remained in ruins.
After the transfer of prisoners from the KZ-Flossenbürg to the SS-Garrison Nuremberg as early as February, for some reason the SS carried on its own sub-camp as 'Nuremberg' in its administration as from June 16, 1943, while the new prisoners were termed as sub-camp KZ-Flossenbürg and kept separately administrative wise under those headings. The number of prisoners fluctuated according to the very incomparably preserved documents as a sub-camp, they fluctuated between 41 and 175, and in the later recalled memories of the prisoners, however, they claimed the figure between 100 and 300.
The bombing war led to an increased need of labor for debris removal and changed the character of the KZ-sub-camp in the SS-Garrison. Outside working commandos in armaments factories, such as in the Rudolf Chillingworth premises n Nuremberg, and the bomb removals in Nuremberg itself, now came to the fore. According to the detainees, the air raids of the affected city districts were devastated, the prisoner's work commandos recall the total destruction of part of the city during their interrogation after 1945. For this reason in the years 1944/45, additional prisoners were transferred from the KZ-sub-camps Pottenstein and Hersbruck, to Nuremberg. A small commando about 20 prisoners secured after the big air attack on Nuremberg on 2 January 1945 for the SS and police leader Benno Martin his Nuremberger Office/Service Villa in the Virchowstrasse 19, which had already been hit 1942 by bombs for the first time
Aerial photo of the Congress Hall, 2009 - rebuilt
The Congress Hall (Kongresshalle) is the biggest preserved national socialist monumental building and is landmarked. It was planned by the Nuremberg architects Ludwig and Franz Ruff. It was intended to serve as a congress centre for the NSDAP with a self-supporting roof and should have provided 50,000 seats. It was located on the shore of and in the pond Dutzendteich and marked the entrance of the rally grounds. The building reached a height of 39 m (128 ft) (a height of 70 mwas planned) and a diameter of 250 m (820 ft). The building is mostly built out of clinker with a facade of granite panels. The design (especially the outer facade, among other features) is inspired by the Colosseum in Rome. The foundation stone was laid in 1935, but the building remained unfinished and without a roof. The building with an outline of an "U" ends with two head-buildings. Since 2001, the Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelände (Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds), with the permanent exhibition Faszination und Gewalt (Fascination and Terror), has been located in the northern wing.[6] In the southern building, the Serenadenhof, the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra have their domicile
Finally, from Nuremberg in 1944, the founding of another very small
sub-camp in Eichstätt took place. According to prisoners questioned
in1945 the situation in the SS-Garrison as well as the individual
outside working commandos and of the sub-camps established around
Nuremberg which they (i.e.the prisoners) testified as comparatively
good. They had a firm roof over their heads, seem to have been
half-fed enough and had a job that was not physically beyond any
performance limits. Murder on the part of the SS could not be
proven. In any case, debris clearance and bomb attacks have cost
some prisoners lifes. From only one of the more than ten commandos
of the sub-camp SS-Garrison, SS-Hauptscharführer Kurt Erich
Schreiber remained as a brutal individual in the memory for some the
prisoner
SS-Hauptscharführer Kurt Erich Schreiber -sentenced to 20 years jail, during the Flossenbürg Trials
. The sub-camp of the SS-Garrison was evacuated in April 1945. At
least 9 prisoners managed to escape. On April 26, 1945, most of the
prisoners arrived at KZ-Dachau. Another part of the prisoners was
probably evacuated via the KZ-sub-camp Hersbruck and then driven
towards Dachau. From there, they marched then further in a southern
direction.
The Nuremberg SS-Garrison and their facilities was used by US Units stationed there since April 1945 until 1992. After their withdrawal, the buildinsgs were administrated by the Federal German Republic. After an elaborate reconstruction, the Federal Office for the Recognition of Foreign Refugees moved into the main building. The adjoining building, where the KZ- prisoners had been housed, was demolished to make way for a parking garage. In another sub-building, the 'Z-Bau', a self- supporting cultural center took its place.
The Central Office of the Provincial Administration Authorities encouraged the process in the Nuremberger SS-Garrison, but no process took place. In the Nuremberg Memorial Culture Center, KZ-sub-camps played no role - the legacy of Nuremberg's National Socialist Regime was too exaggerated as a 'city of the Reichsparteitage' and the 'Nuremberg laws'. The story of the KZ-sub-camp of the SS-Garrison Nuremberg is, however, a part of the history of the Reichsparteigeländes and a testament to the violence of the facade of the monumental Reich-Party-Meetings, which was fascinating for many.
View: Google-
Pictures Nuremberg Rally 1934
Author German Text: Alexander Schmidt
Sources/Acknowledgements:
Wikipedia -
Der Ort des Terrors, Pages 452-Vol 2 C.H.Beck, München 2005
Translated from German by:
Stolpmann, Herbert Karl Walter
von Waldeck
Design: dean_dstolpmann@gmail.com Stolpmann, Herbert Karl Walter
von Waldeck
