During
World War II, the
GermanLuftwaffe staffed dozens of
concentration camps, and posted its soldiers as guards at many others. Camps created for the exploitation of
forced labor for armaments production were often run by the branch of the Wehrmacht that used the products.[1] The Wehrmacht also posted about 10,000 soldiers to concentration camps because of a shortage of guards in mid-1944, including many from the Luftwaffe.[2]
Camp operations
By the end of the war, 2,700
Luftwaffe soldiers worked as guards at
Buchenwald and its subcamps.[3] The main camps of Flossenbürg[4] Mittelbau-Dora,[5] and Natzweiler had many Luftwaffe guards.[6]
In late 1943, a Luftwaffe salvage yard (
German: Zerlegebetrieb) opened halfway between
Auschwitz II-Birkenau and
Auschwitz I. About 1,300 prisoners at a time were forced to work salvaging parts from Luftwaffe and
Allied aircraft that had been damaged beyond repair. These prisoners were supervised by Luftwaffe personnel and guarded by the
SS. Although many of the Luftwaffe personnel smuggled letters or provided food for the prisoners, their commanding officer, a Luftwaffe major, was known for beating prisoners with an aluminium pipe. The prisoners were housed at Birkenau and forced to march to the Zerlegebetrieb each morning; they were exempt from work if the temperature dropped below −15 °C (5 °F). Most were Polish or Soviet POWs; the latter were known for their frequent escape attempts. Because of the valuable items that could be found while dismantling the aircraft, prisoners frequently tried to smuggle them back to Birkenau to trade for necessities. The death rate was high because of the harsh working conditions and workplace accidents.[7][8] A factory for anti-aircraft weapons at
Monowitz was staffed by Luftwaffe guards.[9][10] The Luftwaffe also provided
flak units to protect Monowitz factories from air attack.[11] By early 1944, there were 1,000 Luftwaffe guards at Auschwitz.[12]
Luftwaffe guards had a reputation for being slightly less brutal than the SS, in several cases attempting to improve the conditions for prisoners.[13][10] Nevertheless, Luftwaffe personnel also frequently mistreated prisoners.[14] For example, Luftwaffe technicians in several places forced prisoners to defuse or otherwise handle
unexploded bombs.[15] Luftwaffe soldiers reportedly executed prisoners during a
death march,[16] and tortured and murdered prisoners at Wiener Neudorf, a subcamp of
Mauthausen concentration camp.[1] For the latter crimes, Ludwig Stier, the Luftwaffe captain in charge of the Luftwaffe soldiers at the camp, was sentenced to death by a US military court in 1947 and executed.[17]
Natzweilersubcamps: Cochem-Bruttig,[46] Erzingen,[47] Hailfingen airfield, where almost 200 prisoners died,[48] Neckarelz I and II,[49] and Mannheim-Waldhof[50]
Skriebeleit, Jörg (2007). "Leitmeritz". In Benz, Wolfgang; Distel, Barbara (eds.). Flossenbürg: das Konzentrationslager Flossenbürg und seine Außenlager [Flossenbürg: Flossenbürg Concentration Camp and its Subcamps] (in German). Munich: C. H. Beck. pp. 169–175.
ISBN9783406562297.