Privilege of the Politicals
KZ Sachsenhausen was built in 1936 just northwest of Berlin. Due to its location in proximity to the capital of the Reich, the camp had a unique population of prisoners. First and foremost, the camp was a political prison for enemies of the Reich. In the camp, the largest demographic of prisoners were communists and political dissidents. Notable prisoners include Kurt Schuschnigg, the chancellor of Austria before Anschluss, Yakov Dzhugashvili, Stalin’s son, and Martin Niemöller, the Lutheran priest who wrote the poem, “First they came for the socialists...” (Heitzer 491). Fortunately for them, the so-called “red triangles” were treated with distinct levels of privilege in comparison to the other demographics of the camp--Jews, homosexuals, Roma, and eastern Europeans. One such prisoner was Odd Nansen, a wealthy Norwegian arrested for working with a resistance movement. His personal diary attests to the conditions he experienced in Sachsenhausen and the privileges he was awarded. In no way is this analysis mitigating Nansen’s suffering as a prisoner; rather, it is taking into account the power structures in the camp to better understand Nazi persecution.
As an “Aryan,” Nansen was subjected to less harsh treatment in the camp, and he was even given special commodities. He notes in his diary that “In many ways the Norwegians are on a special footing, have certain advantages that others haven’t, are more respected than other nationalities, perhaps along with the Dutch—and of course the Germans themselves. I suppose the reason is that we are Germanic—and that we receive parcels of ham, sausage, sugar, cigarettes and butter” (Nansen 400). Whereas the other prisoners in the camp only survived off of soup and bread, the Norwegians were given meat, butter, and cigarettes. Not only were these important for survival, but they could be traded for other supplies on the prisoner black markets. Nansen describes the luxury of these items in a chilling passage in which dying Ukrainians would line up outside the Norwegian block every day to get the last scraps of meat or cigarette butts (Nansen 414). The privileges of the Norwegians were ostensibly well known to the rest of prisoners, demonstrating a clear hierarchy of inmates.
Additionally, the Norwegian prisoners were allowed rations and mail from the outside world, which shows their fortunate position in the camp. Nansen received frequent letters from his wife, updating him about life in Norway, and he was permitted to write her back (Nansen 486). More notably, the SS permitted the Norwegian and Swedish Red Cross to send food and supplies, such as herring and marmalade, to the Norwegian prisoners (Nansen 434). Then, in February 1945, the Swedish Red Cross evacuated the majority of the Norwegians, leaving the rest of the prisoners to face the fatal death marches to the camps in the north (Nansen 507). This ostensible bias towards the Norwegian prisoners is a shocking attestment to the prisoner power structures.
Another interesting point to analyze about the political prisoners is their innate biases and prejudices against the poorer and less privileged in the camp. Nansen attests to this fact through his oftentimes apathetic view of the less fortunate. For example, he gives a denigrating description of the müselman--the near-death “walking corpses.” He writes, “They are the most pitiful and dismal gang I have ever seen, walking around in their striped, grimy rags and scrabbling with greedy, shameless fingers between one’s feet, down on the ground among pine needles and filth, after refuse which they stuff eagerly into their caps or—if those are filled up—their pockets.” (Nansen 409-410). This account appears to lack any semblance of sympathy for the prisoners about to die, and it can be inferred that this is due to his privileged status as a Norwegian. The next week, a man was shot right outside his block, and he wrote, “I must admit that it made no great impression on me. Why should it? I didn’t know him” (Nansen 414). It is possible this is also due to his fortunate status, or maybe it is evidence that after being surrounded by death for so long, one becomes accustomed to it. Regardless, Nansen’s testimony provides interesting insight into one of the most privileged demographics of Sachsenhausen--the Norwegian red triangles.
Unlike the politicals, the fates of other prisoners were much different. From 1939-1939, the population of the camp was mostly political prisoners, but once the war began, the purpose of the camp shifted to meet German war needs. Not only did Sachsenhausen become a central location for armaments production, but it also became a part of the Final Solution and a Soviet POW camp. In 1941, the camp’s largest mass murder occurred. 13,000 Soviet POWs from the eastern front were shot within a ten-week period (Heitzer 492). Then, in 1943, a gas chamber was built in the complex to facilitate the quicker execution of prisoners, mainly Jews, in the camp (Heitzer 492). Of the 200,000 prisoners in Sachsenhausen between 1936 and 1945, about half would die from starvation, execution, or disease.