Prostitutes of the camps "Das KZ Bordell"

[LCJohn9]

Hi
Id like to create a discussion on this topic as it is not commonly spoke about when discussing Nazi Germany and WW2.
Many camps had a brothel (at least one building) which were authorised by Himmler to function as incentive for the Sonderkommandos who worked there.
The idea was allegedly concocted with a strong belief that if the forced labourers were able to use the prostitutes during certain times of the day/night, then productivity in the camp would increase or at least maintain good function and boost morale (even potentially stopping outbreaks of homosexuality).
The women were supposedly NOT Jews or undesirables but German women who were convicted prostitutes or petty 'criminals' and also Slovaks and other nationalities from within the camp.
They were 'cleansed' by doctors and had many privileges that other inmates of the camps certainly did not have.
A story also goes that if a female inmate was chosen to work in the brothel, the other inmates would get jealous and administer a beating of there own to deter the Nazis from selecting her in the future.
They were also forced to have abortions and some inmates even volunteered to become prostitutes due to the extra privelages they would get, seeing it as a better life for themselves in the camp, as an alternative.

[Wordsworth]

A recent documentary on Auschwitz that aired on the American Heroes Network (and has previous aired on The Smithsonian Channel) did include a segment on the brothel in that camp. It did not include information on abuse by other inmates, but implied they were housed in other areas. I have no doubt, however, that many died anyway.

[wm]

It's rather untrue they succumbed to malnutrition (not with all the gifts they were given by prisoners), or other illnesses (their health was regularly monitored by camp doctors). They were paid for their work - 45pf. for a 20 minutes session, 5pf. was for their madam, the state received 1.50DM.
They were outside the local (camp) jurisdiction, and they exploited it fully, for example Mauthausen-Gusen they used to hurl obscenities at the SS-men, and even the camp commandant - with impunity.

[hucks216]

These are the remains of the camp brothel at Mittelbau-Dora.

[hucks216]

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[LCJohn9]

Wonderful pictures hucks, did you take them yourself?
Survivors had stated that they were horrified when it appeared they had 'survived' the ordeal of their incarceration, only to be be at the mercy of the red army during 'liberation'.
Further abuse most certainly followed for some.

[hucks216]

Wonderful pictures hucks, did you take them yourself?
..

Yes I did. I was at the camp last November.

[LCJohn9]

Amazing, thank you for sharing.
Prostitutes were rarely treated with respect and were constantly degraded/abused on the streets even before incarceration.
But yes, they would certainly have had many privelages over regular prisoners.

[hucks216]

The first image shows the main gate at Auschwitz I. The building you see behind it on the left is Block 24 which is where the camp brothel was located.

[hucks216]

Block 24 (Photos taken first week in September 2016)

[wm]

Amazing, thank you for sharing.
Also prostitutes were rarely treated with respect and were constantly degraded/abused on the streets even before incarceration.

As far as I know the women were volunteers from female concentration camps. Some of them were prostitutes, some weren't. The SS-men weren't even allowed touch them, they had their own overseers - usually the madam.
The weren't abused - their rooms had peep-holes, an SS-man was there all the time to ensure no abuse took place and to punish the offenders (and to prevent non-missionary positions).
There were 4 session max per woman in summer, 5 in winter. Germans could only visit German women, and they weren't "available" to others.
Pregnancies weren't problem, they were terminated by camp doctors (basically the best in Europe, at least in Auschwitz).
Maybe they were abused in smaller camps, I don't know, but not in the largest like Auschwitz or Mauthausen-Gusen.

[LCJohn9]

Thank you for your reply.
My mistake, yes your right it appears the prostitutes were off limits to the SS and used solely by Sonderkommandos.

[LCJohn9]

If the prostitutes (convicted or volunteers) were only used by forced labourers and were closely monitored, who serviced the SS guards?
They had their own 'facilities' but has anyone got information about this?

[wm]

Their facilities were called wives, they lived with their families.
The Wehrmacht and the SS (from 1942, officers only if I'm not mistaken) had their own brothels but they were for those serving far from home.

[LCJohn9]

Just because they had wives doesn't mean they didn't use prostitutes, wether away from home or not.