NEW BOOK: COMMANDERS OF AUSCHWITZ

Discussions on books and other reference material on the WW1, Inter-War or WW2 as well as the authors. Hosted by Andy H.
Post Reply
User avatar
Jeremy Dixon
Member
Posts: 3590
Joined: 06 Oct 2002, 13:19
Location: England

NEW BOOK: COMMANDERS OF AUSCHWITZ

#1

Post by Jeremy Dixon » 01 Jan 2005, 19:09

My new book COMMANDERS OF AUSCHWITZ. The SS Officers who ran the largest Nazi Concentration Camp 1940-1945.

This title is due out in late February 2005 and will be published by Schiffer. It contains a brief history of the camp and the bulk of the book details the career of 162 SS officers that served at Auschwitz. Approx 250 pages with 138 b/w photographs, some rare.

Below is one of the officers featured in the book.

Hans AUMEIER
SS-Sturmbannführer


Lagerführer of Auschwitz I from 16th February 1942 until 18th August 1943

SS#: 2 700
NSDAP#: 164 755

Ranks:
SS-Unterscharführer – December 1931
SS-Oberscharführer – 11th November 1932
SS-Hauptscharführer – 20th April 1933
SS-Untersturmführer – 20th April 1934
SS-Obersturmführer – 15th September 1935
SS-Hauptsturmführer – 11th September 1938
SS-Sturmbannführer der Waffen-SS – 9th November 1944

One of the most important men at Auschwitz being deputy to the commandant, he was very different from many SS officers; he was completely uneducated and almost illiterate. Hans Aumeier was born on 20th August 1906 in the small town of Amberg, Germany, where he attended elementary school for 4 years and then secondary school for just 3 years. In 1918 he left school without any qualifications to take up an apprenticeship as a turner and fitter in a local rifle factory, following his own father’s career. In 1923 he left the small factory in Amberg and began work with a larger factory in Munich. In 1925 he tried to join the Reichswehr but failed and returned to the rifle factory in Munich, but he couldn’t settle and after taking up similar positions in other factories in Berlin, Bremen and Cologne he became unemployed. Throughout the period between 1926 and 1929 Aumeier moved from one job to another, and was in and out of employment, taking part-time work and summer jobs in order to survive. He was an early member of the Nazi Party, joining in December 1929, and in 1931 he joined the SA and was soon employed as a driver at the SA headquarters in Berlin. Later in December 1931 he was transferred to the SS where he worked in the garage as a driver, and was on the staff of Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler. He had now found a job he liked and the discipline of the SA and SS suited Aumeier well, he felt he belonged, although he wanted to be a soldier.

On 15th January 1934 he was assigned to the SS-Totenkopfverbande5 joining the 1st “Oberbayern” Totenkopf Unit and was employed as an instructor for new recruits. By the end of November 1934 he had been promoted to SS-Untersturmführer and was made a Platoon Leader. He remained at Dachau for sometime training new recruits, and was promoted to SS-Obersturmführer the following November. In April 1936 he was transferred to the 4th “Ostfriesland” SS-Totenkopf Regiment which was responsible for guarding Esterwegen concentration camp. In December 1936 he was transferred to Lichtenburg concentration camp where he served as a Company Commander with the 2nd “Elbe” SS-Totenkopf Regiment. In the spring of 1937 he was transferred to 12th Guard Company in Weimar who were responsible for guarding the Reich’s Interior Ministry. In January 1938 he returned to Dachau and continued training new guards, in November 1938 he was promoted to SS-Hauptsturmführer.

On 1st August 1938 he was assigned to Flossenburg concentration camp where he acted as head of Department III, where he remained until the end of January 1942, even though he had requested twice for a transfer to a Waffen-SS frontline unit, on both occasions these requests were refused.

On 1st February 1942 he was transferred to Auschwitz concentration camp and was appointed as head of Department III, and named Schutzhaftlagerführer at Auschwitz I, where he remained until 16th August 1943. It was during this time at Auschwitz that Aumeier made a name for himself, he was responsible for many draconian methods, including tortures, beatings, and executions. On 19th March 1942, 144 women were shot at the execution wall in the courtyard of Blocks 10 and 11 on Aumeier’s orders; then again on 27th May 1942 he was present at a mass execution of 168 prisoners who were shot in the same manner.6 On 18th August 1943 Aumeier was found guilty of corrupt practices within the camp and as a result was transferred from Auschwitz on the personal orders of Commandant Hoess.

According to an interrogation report Aumeier stated that in May-June 1943 while still attached to Auschwitz he was ordered to report to the Higher SS and Police Leader “Ostland”, SS-Obergruppenführer Friedrich Jeckeln7. He was attached to the SS Construction Brigade of 5th SS Panzer Corps; this unit was responsible for building fortifications in the area Oranienbaum-Leningrad and was under the command of Organisation Todt. Aumeier would command a Jewish construction unit of some 7,000 men with orders to construct, and then establish a concentration camp in the area of Vaivara for Jews. After he was dismissed from Auschwitz he returned to Vaivara as commandant and remained there until August 1944, when the camp was evacuated and all his prisoners were made the responsibility of the commandant of Stutthof concentration camp. On 20th August, Aumeier reported back to Jeckeln and found himself attached to a Police Battalion part of “Kampfgruppe (Battle Group) Jeckeln”, situated near Riga. Here Aumeier took part in his only frontline engagement with the enemy, his unit attempted to attack the island Osel but was unsuccessful, what part he played in this attack is unclear.

In October 1944 shortly before the surrender of Riga he was ordered to report to SS-Gruppenführer Gluecks8 at Oranienburg. He took this opportunity to ask Gluecks if he could return to his old unit at Dachau so he could visit his family, his request was granted, but he was taken ill with an old eye injury and was sent to hospital; and remained there until January 1945. When he was finally discharged he reported back to Oranienburg and was asked whether he wanted to go to Norway to become commandant of a new concentration camp at Mysen. He asked for leave to see his family but this time it was refused and he was told to report to SS-Sturmbannführer Max Pauly, 9 immediately who would brief him. On 22nd January he arrived in Oslo met Pauly and was told he had to supervise the building of a camp to house approximately 3,000 prisoners to be used in slave labour. It seems that Aumeier managed to build this camp and his treatment of the prisoners was very different from that of how he treated the prisoners at Auschwitz. He worked closely with the Norwegian Red Cross and even let them into the camp; perhaps he was thinking of possible war crime trials after the war? On 7th May 1945 Aumeier opened the camp and let the prisoners go free, by the next day the camp was empty.

On 11th June 1945, Aumeier was arrested at Terningmoen camp, he was still in full SS uniform without forged papers and admitted almost immediately his name and rank in fact he hid nothing. He was interrogated by US intelligence officers at Akershus Prison in August 1945. In 1946 he was extradited to Poland to face trial as a war criminal along with 39 other members of the SS staff of Auschwitz-Birkenau, before the Supreme National Tribunal in Cracow. The trial lasted from 25th November to 16th December 1947, and Aumeier stated that if he was found guilty and sentenced to death he would “die as a “Sundenbock” (scapegoat) for Germany”. He told the court that he had never killed anyone at Auschwitz and neither had any of his men and denied knowledge of the gas chambers. On 22nd December Aumeier was sentenced to death, and he was hanged on 28th January 1948 in Montelupich Prison, Cracow.
Attachments
0764321757.jpg
0764321757.jpg (233.2 KiB) Viewed 1010 times
Last edited by Jeremy Dixon on 13 Jan 2005, 21:13, edited 1 time in total.

Boby
Member
Posts: 2762
Joined: 19 Nov 2004, 18:22
Location: Spain

#2

Post by Boby » 01 Jan 2005, 21:13

Really GREAT WORK!!

Regards!


TH Albright
Member
Posts: 346
Joined: 07 Mar 2003, 14:37
Location: Arlington, VA

#3

Post by TH Albright » 05 Jan 2005, 20:15

Great work Jeremy!! I would like an autographed copy of your book when it comes out...this is the sort work that needs to be done on this subject.

User avatar
Jeremy Dixon
Member
Posts: 3590
Joined: 06 Oct 2002, 13:19
Location: England

#4

Post by Jeremy Dixon » 14 Jan 2005, 00:01

Photograph of front cover of my book now added at the top of this link. Book now featured in Schiffers new Spring 2005 catalogue.

Jeremy Dixon

Ludger
Member
Posts: 1383
Joined: 14 Jul 2003, 17:07
Location: Oer-Erkenschwick / Germany

#5

Post by Ludger » 17 Jan 2005, 17:18

Hi Jeremy,

congretulations for your essay about Aumeier.

Two things in addition:
From 15.11. - 13.12.1945 he was a defandant in the Dachau-Trial (Case No. 000-50-2: US v. Martin Gottfried Weiss et al) where he was sentenced to death.
On 03.05.1947 he was extradited to Poland.

Greetings from

Ludger

Researcher
Member
Posts: 889
Joined: 29 Apr 2002, 20:21
Location: Nottingham, England

#6

Post by Researcher » 21 Jan 2005, 00:11

Jeremy,

Best of luck with the new book.
Can you tell me if you have the post war details (including dates of death) of the SS men featured in the book?

Regards
Researcher

User avatar
Jeremy Dixon
Member
Posts: 3590
Joined: 06 Oct 2002, 13:19
Location: England

#7

Post by Jeremy Dixon » 21 Jan 2005, 00:13

Yes in most cases I have post war trials and dates of death.

thank you

SniperPilot
Member
Posts: 15
Joined: 07 Aug 2004, 02:58
Location: Alexandria, VA

#8

Post by SniperPilot » 28 Jan 2005, 03:58

Jeremy,

Looks like an excellent book, looking forward to buying it when it comes out. On Amazon, the book is listed as being published in May 2005, is that correct?

Thanx for the information on Aumeier. I have a book to Johann Schwarzhuber (on his birthday in 1942), and one of the signatures is Aumeier's (then the 1. Schutzhaftlagerfuehrer). Here's a pic of the dedication page:
Attachments
Copy (3) of SS Book Inscription.jpg
Copy (3) of SS Book Inscription.jpg (203.89 KiB) Viewed 867 times

kelty90
Member
Posts: 171
Joined: 11 Mar 2002, 15:04
Location: Hampshire, England

For British buyers

#9

Post by kelty90 » 28 Jan 2005, 18:08

The US price for this book is $59.95.
The UK price is £49.95 = $90.00
So, see my note about buying Schiffer books from the UK - basically save yourself money by buying from Amazon US.
Note that $59.95 = about £33.00...so save around £10-15 by buying from the US.

User avatar
Jeremy Dixon
Member
Posts: 3590
Joined: 06 Oct 2002, 13:19
Location: England

COMMANDERS OF AUSCHWITZ

#10

Post by Jeremy Dixon » 28 Jan 2005, 19:24

Good point about US price.

IF ANY forum MEMBER WANTS A COPY THEY CAN send me a private message and I will send them a copy for:

£39.00 + postage to the US ****SIGNED COPY
OR £45.00 to the UK post free SIGNED COPY


The book is due out in late February in the US and mid March in the UK.

JEREMY DIXON

The book you ahev signed by Schwarzhuber and Aumeier excellent thanks for showing me.

Post Reply

Return to “Books & other Reference Material”