SECRETS OF SEXUAL FORCED LABOUR IN NAZI CONCENTRATION CAMPS
I have vivid memories of a school trip to
Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Oranienburg, 35 kilometres north
of Berlin:
the crematories, the so-called ‘Station Z' built for the extermination of
prisoners in 1942, the infirmary... I have no recollection, however, of the
camp brothel.
Robert Sommer's latest book The
Concentration Camp Bordello: Sexual Forced Labor in National Socialistic
Concentration Camps (Das KZ-Bordell) provides, however, for the
first time a comprehensive study of this dark, hushed-up and largely ignored
chapter of the history of Nazi Germany. Sommer is a cultural studies scholar
based in Berlin.
His study will be published in July by Schoningh Verlag, Paderborn. It is the result of a nine-year
project based on the study of archives, concentration camp memorial sites and
interviews with historical witnesses.
It is often believed that the Nazi regime
forbade and fought prostitution. Sommer's research reveals, however, the
existence of brothels in Nazi concentration camps and of a network of
state-controlled brothels, which operated across half of Europe,
especially after the outbreak of the Second World War. There existed brothels
in the concentration camps of Sachsenhausen, Dachau,
Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Mittelbau-Dora and
Mauthausen.
The first concentration camp brothel was
founded in Mauthausen in Austria
in June 1942. Heinrich Himmler had allegedly visited the camp in May 1941 and
ordered the construction of a brothel. The construction of brothels in forced
labour camps was part of a rewards scheme in an attempt to increase labour
productivity. Himmler extolled the benefits of providing ‘the hard-working
prisoners with women in brothels' in a letter to Oswald Pohl, the SS officer in
charge of the concentration camps, on March 23rd, 1942. At the time of the
opening of the brothel in Mauthausen, it is estimated that approximately 5,500
prisoners worked in the camp. By the end of 1944, over 70,000 forced laborers
worked in the complex. The SS recruited 10 women for Mauthausen, which
signified between 300 and 500 men per prostitute.
Buchenwald
prisoners' brothel opened on July 11th 1943. A total of ten ‘Sonderbauten' or ‘special
buildings' are believed to have been built in concentration camps between 1942
and 1945. Estimates reveal that some 200 women worked in Nazi camp brothels. Over
60% of them were of German nationality. No Jewish women were employed in the
brothels for ‘racial hygiene' reasons.
There has been considerable debate over
the extent to which these women volunteered. Many women were lured by false
promises that they would be released afterwards. The suggestion that some women
volunteered may be one reason why former brothel inmates continue to be
stigmatised and why the existence of camp brothels has been largely ignored. For
some women, however, working in the brothels was the key to their survival. Lieselotte
B. was a prisoner at the Mittlebau-Dora camp. She was quoted in an article on
the website of Der Spiegel:
Sommer's research indeed shows that those
employed in the brothels had a greater chance of escaping death in the camps. Almost
all of the women forced into prostitution survived. Very little is known,
however, about what became of them and most of them never spoke about their
experiences.
His research has also inspired a
travelling exhibition entitled ‘Camp brothels - forced sex work in Nazi
concentration camps' which is due to tour several memorial sites next year.
The article on the website of Der Spiegel includes
further testimonies as well as a photo gallery.
For further
information on the attitudes of the Nazi state towards women, read our article Women and the
Nazi State
http://historytodaymagazine.blogspot.com/2009/06/secrets-of-sexual-forced-labour-in-nazi.html
AGIC promotes creating the history of civil society and those initiations by studying womanవblic activity in the end of XIX - the beginning of XX centuries. The collection of the visual evidences and oral reminiscences allows not only to recalled the events, become utterly absorbed in the atmosphere that reigned at that time but also to comprehend, understand how and what efforts were demanded for establishing of Caucasus womenghts. The information collected here will serve also as a supporting material for teachers, historians and researchers working in the sphere of womand gender problems. They will get an opportunity of using these unique documents as historical references, visual and oral evidences.
In Azerbaijan by initiative of the President Ilham Aliev in accordance with Presidential Decree dated by 6 of February 2006 State Committee on Family, Women and Children issues has been established. Chairwoman of the Committee is Mrs. Khidjran Guseynova. She is the professor of the Baku State University and the first woman- the doctor of political sciences in Azerbaijan