The Camp
When referring to Hinzert, literature seems to repeat a certain concept over and over again. In testimonies and encyclopedic descriptions alike, the camp seems to inspire a feeling of uniqueness, the kind that a word such as “however” inspires. Most concentration camps were placed in Eastern Europe, however Hinzert was placed in western Germany, near the border town of Trier. Concentration camps are often known for having held Jewish prisoners, mostly Eastern European Jews, however, Jews were rare in Hinzert. In the present times, enough testimonies and documentation have been recollected in order to understand the workings behind most camps, however Hinzert still seems to be hiding an abundance of names and stories. It bleeds a sense of secrecy and debauchery, as little is known about the past or destiny of those assigned to it, other than the complete certainty that they were helplessly under the Nazis’ unforgiving hand. When being studied from the outside, based on decrees and organizational concepts, the camp has an aura of being shapeshifting entity, of having blurry borders. And yet, for its prisoners, it was very much a physically solid nightmare and its legal backbone need not be known to understand its purpose.
Hinzert was founded in 1938, but in 1939 it burned down and was rebuilt. In its early stages, it acted as a dual-purpose camp: one section was led and administered by the police and was dedicated to the detention of OT workers – those building the West Wall and the autobahn – who had “breached discipline.” (Browning et.al, 2009, p.824) This broad term included actions such as expressing disagreement towards National Socialism and behaving violently towards their superiors. (Browning et.al, 2009, p.824) The other section of the camp was a SS special camp. Those who had performed more severe or multiple acts of defiance could be transferred to this special section for further disciplinarian practices.
As Himmler announced the Reich-wide transition from police camps to concentration camps, Hinzert added even more variety to its stream of prisoners. It continued to have a police-mandated section, as it still held prisoners sent from the prison in Trier. However, it started to receive political prisoners and other “special prisoner groups.” (Browning et.al, 2009, p.824) Slowly, the weight of the camp’s population started to shift from the former category to the latter two. And so the camp started to grow, under the direction of both the Trier’s Stapostelle prison and the SS. The guards were part of those trained by the SS specifically for the supervising of concentration camps, and yet the interrogation force in the camp was Gestapo. It became a sort of hybrid, a mix of power from the local police, the SS and the Gestapo, holding all sorts of prisoners which all had only one thing in common: they were considered a threat that had to be removed from German civilization.
The Germans at Hinzert were part of some different prisoner categories: OT work shy police prisoners, asocials – which included political prisoners such as leftists –, criminals, and Foreign Legionnaires of German origin. This last category was held exclusively at Hinzert after the occupation of France, and the purpose was “‘strict’ reeducation including punishment by severe labor or – in the case they were qualified for military service – to be recruited for the Afrika Korps.” (Browning et.al, 2009, p.826)
The rest of the prisoners were of an incredible variety of nationalities and backgrounds. The biggest group of prisoners were NN “Night and Fog” prisoners, which were taken to the camp starting on May 29th, 1942. The NN Decree was issued as a method of pacifying the occupied territories’ resistance and sentenced “all and any hostile action against the German occupiers.” (Hassall, 1997, p.54) Those who were categorized as NN were secretly taken and kept uncommunicated for as long as they were in German hands, hence its name. Its purpose was to use uncertainty and doubt to induce fear into the families and followers of those who were taken, as they could not rely on neither the fire of vengeance for their death nor the hope of saving them. These were mainly French, Belgian and Dutch.
The Luxembourgers were another big part of the camp’s population. The majority of them were arrested for refusing to collaborate with the Germans during their occupation.
The E-Polen were another category very unique to Hinzert. These were Polish men “who had had illegal sexual relationships with German women.” (Browning et.al, 2009, p.826) If they were handsome, had Nordic features and acceptable Germanic descent, and possessed what the Germans would call “a very favorable character”, (Browning et.al, 2009, p.826) they would be sent to a special section of the camp in which they would attempt to become “re-Germanized.” If they were successful, they would be allowed to somewhat rejoin civilization if they married a German woman.
The rest of the prisoners were a very small number of Jews, POWs who had refused to work, hostages, escapists and others that fit under the very loose term of “asocials.”
The camp was surrounded by a forest on one side, with a road leading to the town of Hinzert and an abandoned railway another side. It contained several wooden buildings used as the prisoners’ barracks, one of which was used as a quarantine room in which the prisoners stayed the very first week after their admittance to Hinzert. Another wooden structure was used as a dining area, and some other structures held the Medical Centre and other necessary installations. A big center barren space was used for early morning exercises and the daily body inspections. Aside from that, there was not much more than a few buildings that served as the SS officer’s and Gestapo’s offices and a “pool” of water that contained the emergency storage for the camp. The whole space was surrounded by a tall fence secured with double barbed wire at the top, and multiple watchtowers at which guards were positioned with armed weapons at their disposal, ordered to shoot anyone making at attempt at escape. There was also a small prison within the camp, in which the measures were notoriously harsher, and to which the prisoners would be assigned in solitude only for short periods of time. The SS barracks were separate from the camp.
Hassall, Peter. "Night and Fog Prisoners". Rage University. 1997. https://web.archive.org/web/20170717110244/http://rageuniversity.org/PRISONESCAPE/TRUE%20PRISON%20ESCAPES/CHANNEL%20ISLAND%20POW.pdf
Wiesel, Elie, Doris L. Bergen, Christopher R. Browning, David Engel, Willard A. Fletcher, Peter Hayes, Michael R. Marrus, and Nechama Tec. “HINZERT MAIN CAMP.” In The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945: Ghettos in German-Occupied Eastern Europe, edited by Geoffrey P. Megargee, 823–46. Indiana University Press, 2009. www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt16gzb17.26