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 simpl ...

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 C ...

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 sus ...

, Neuengamme 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 and Dachau. The proposal to form mobile labor units was first floated by Hans Kammler 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, who was Reich Minister for Armament and Munitions, was closely involved with the Baubrigaden. In September 1942 Baubrigaden were deployed to Bremen,

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 language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...

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 No ...

and

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

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

References

Further reading