Kurt Schlesinger

Kurt Schlesinger (17 December 1902 – 3 August 1963) was a German Jewish administrative director of Westerbork transit camp during World War II.

Early life

Kurt Schlesinger lived in his hometown Schmalkalden until 1939. He married Thea Francis Klein from Nuremberg in 1937. After he was threatened during the Crystal Night, the pair fled to Amsterdam on 12 January 1939, where they were quarantined until the end of the year.

Collaborator

On 6 March 1940, the couple were interned in the Westerbork transit camp, where they were initially obliged to work as miners.

In February 1942, Schlesinger was promoted to Chief Service Officer of the Jewish Security Service. His deputy was Heinz Todtmann, the head of service area I (command office). Schlesinger's main task was to administer the prisoner index and the production of the deportation lists for the transports of the Jews, Sinti, and Roma to Auschwitz, Sobibor, and the Theresienstadt. Since the first inmates of Westerbork were predominantly German Jews and therefore most of the security service as well, Schlesinger took advantage of his leadership position to protect his compatriots from deportation and to prioritize Dutch Jewish inmates for the deportation lists.

Schlesinger dressed like an "overly Prussian": He wore breeches, boots, a leather coat and an officer's cap. He regularly took money, valuables and sexual favors in exchange for protection from deportation or for a "better" deportation destination, such as Theresienstadt instead of Auschwitz. He managed the black market in the camp and ordered the deportation of competing prisoners. Etty Hillesum, a contemporary witness and Auschwitz victim, described Schlesinger as "the right hand" of the camp commandant SS-Obersturmführer . On deportation days, he and the SS guards appeared on the platform to supervise the transports. Adolf Eichmann