The Road to Rescue by Mietek Pemper

Author:Mietek Pemper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Other Press
Published: 2018-05-15T04:00:00+00:00

After January 1944, however, Göth had to keep his violent outbursts somewhat under control, for his harsh punishments and constant abuse impinged on production quotas and decreased the profits of the SS. As arms workers of a new concentration camp, our production was now considered “crucial for victory.” Our value for the war effort increased and we were somewhat better protected from Göth’s indiscriminate acts of torture and murder. From now on, D II department was in charge and it organized the work assignments of the camp inmates. In my February 1950 deposition for Maurer’s trial, I explained what that meant in practice: “Requests, supported by written confirmation from various authorities and offices (documenting, for instance, the necessity of fulfilling the production program of the factory making the request, or its shortage of civilian workers), would be forwarded from the camp to the D II department of the Economic and Administrative Main Office in Berlin-Oranienburg on preprinted forms with several carbon copies. Receipt of the requests was confirmed by the personal signature of Gerhard Maurer, the head of the D II department. Sometimes, especially when only a small number of prisoners was involved, it was taken care of by Maurer’s deputy, SS-Obersturmführer Sommer, who in 1944 was promoted to Hauptsturmführer. The head of work details in the camp—in Płaszów it was SS-Hauptscharführer Franz Müller—organized the work brigades, assigned tasks to various prisoners, received daily receipts from the employers for the number of prisoners brought to the workplace, and carried out inspections of the premises. He also checked to make sure the prisoners were working effectively, at the jobs specified in the request, that the factory was following the regulations for preventing prisoner escapes, and that the armed escort was really overseeing the prisoners and keeping them hard at work.”73

D II department thus examined, processed, and carried out almost all matters having to do with prisoners. This was primarily the result of the fact that in 1944, all concentration camp inmates were integrated into the larger system of production for the war. It’s difficult for me to state exactly the entire scope of responsibilities of the D II department, but it was enormous.

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