The SS-Baubrigaden were a type of

subcamp Subcamps (german: KZ-Außenlager), also translated as satellite camps, were outlying detention centres (''Haftstätten'') that came under the command of a main concentration camp run by the SS in Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe. The Nazi ...

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

s that were first established in Autumn 1942. These units were usually made up of male non-Jewish prisoners—most were

Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Ce ...

or Soviets. Chances of survival were higher in these mobile units than the main camps they were attached to. The deployment of the ''Baubrigaden'' to major cities within the German Reich was the first time the German public became aware of the living conditions in concentration camps. By the end of the war there were 13 ''Baubridgaden'' made up of around 9,500 prisoners. There were around 1,000 prisoners in each ''Baubrigaden'' and it is estimated that at least 17,000 male prisoners were part of the ''Baubrigaden'' system between 1942 and 1945. The ''Baubrigaden'' were mostly made up of prisoners from

Buchenwald Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...

Neuengamme Neuengamme was a network of Nazi concentration camps in Northern Germany that consisted of the main camp, Neuengamme, and more than 85 satellite camps. Established in 1938 near the village of Neuengamme in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg, th ...

and

Sachsenhausen Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners ...

, while the ''SS-Eisenbahnbaubrigaden'' were mainly from

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

and

Dachau , , commandant = List of commandants , known for = , location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany , built by = Germany , operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) , original use = Political prison , construction ...

. The proposal to form mobile labor units was first floated by

Hans Kammler Hans Kammler (26 August 1901 – 1945 ssumed was an SS-Obergruppenführer responsible for Nazi civil engineering projects and its top secret weapons programmes. He oversaw the construction of various Nazi concentration camps before being put ...

in 1942 in a paper called ''Vorschlag fur die Aufstellung von SS-Baubrigaden'' (''"Suggestions for the Establishment of SS Construction"''). In the paper he estimated that

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...

's Friedenshauprogramm in the East—which called for the construction of settlements, camps and supply depots in the newly conquered territories—would require "a construction volume of between 20 and 30 billion

Reichsmark The (; sign: ℛℳ; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of Germany from 1924 until 20 June 1948 in West Germany, where it was replaced with the , and until 23 June 1948 in East Germany, where it was replaced by the East German mark. The Reich ...

" and 175,000 prisoners. Under Kammler's proposal, these prisoners would have formed 4,800 man labor detachments that could move between construction sites. These plans had to be revised in 1942 when the German armaments industry began to demand more labor. As fighting intensified in 1942, Himmler ordered that the SS-Baubrigaden be deployed to clean up German cities that had been destroyed in the British bombing campaign.

Albert Speer Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer (; ; 19 March 1905 – 1 September 1981) was a German architect who served as the Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany during most of World War II. A close ally of Adolf Hitler, he ...

, who was Reich Minister for Armament and Munitions, was closely involved with the Baubrigaden. In September 1942 Baubrigaden were deployed to

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population ...

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

Duisburg Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in Nor ...

and

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

to construct emergency shelters and clear rubble in the aftermath of bombings. They also had to recover dead bodies from the rubble and recover unexploded bombs. Though working conditions were poor, chances of survival were higher in the Baubrigaden subcamps because prisoners were more likely to find food. By 1943, the

Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production The Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production () was established on March 17, 1940, in Nazi Germany. Its official name before September 2, 1943, was the 'Reichsministerium für Bewaffnung und Munition' (). Its task was to improve the sup ...

determined that the diversion of workers to cleanup efforts was hurting armaments production.

References

Further reading