In the very early years of the Nazi regime, it was by no means set in stone that the concentration camp system would become a permanent feature of life in Nazi Germany. But by 1935, the political advantage and utility, which the concentration camp system gave to the Nazis, was crystal clear. It had been extremely effective in emasculating their enemies. Opposition from Communists, Social Democrats, journalists, royalists, trade unionists, Jewish lawyers and others had been ruthlessly dealt with in the first wave of arrests in the immediate aftermath of the Nazis coming to power.
Some politicians such as the Reichsstatthalter for Bavaria, Ritter von Epp, argued for a reduction in the number of concentration camp prisoners, as they were burdensome on state finances. However, Hitler and Himmler recognised that the concentration camps were a potent political weapon. They had already been used with devastating effect to deal with rebels and dissenters to Nazism; additionally, they could be used for propaganda with reports carefully disseminated into the domestic and foreign press, in a form that would highlight the supposedly favourable conditions within the concentration camp. Articles were published stressing how hard physical work, combined with a robust lifestyle based loosely on military lines, could be used to rehabilitate citizens back into Nazi Germany.
Plate 2: Propaganda photograph from December 1933 portraying Dachau prisoners playing sport (courtesy of the Hoffman Archive, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek)
Plate 3: Propaganda photograph from June 1933 of prisoners building a swimming pool at Dachau Concentration Camp (courtesy of the Hoffman Archive, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek)
Despite the propaganda reports, the very mention of the name Dachau struck fear into many Germans. This short poem from 1935 highlights their attitude:
Lieber Herr Gott, mach mich stumm
Das ich nicht nach Dachau komm
[Dear God, make me dumb
That I may not to Dachau come.] 21
As Hitler’s foreign policy brinkmanship brought the prospect of war ever closer, the concentration camps were reorganised with Hitler giving the all clear for the camps to be financed out of the national, rather than state budget.22 The impact of this decision was reflected at Dachau Concentration Camp in 1937 and 1938 when a process of demolition and rebuilding was undertaken.
The old stone barracks of the former German Works were demolished and replaced with 34 new barracks, built by the prisoners. The accommodation capacity at Dachau was effectively doubled so that it could now incarcerate thousands of additional prisoners.23
The rebuilding was completed on 15 August 1938. In the period between 1933 and 1942, before the huge influx of foreigners from all over Europe, prisoners had their own individual bunk space, a cupboard where they could store a few personal belongings, and the barrack blocks were equipped with stoves.24
Plate 4: Newspaper propaganda report regarding Dachau Concentration Camp November 1936 (courtesy of the Hoffman Archive, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek)
Some privileged prisoners were also allowed to send two letters a month to friends or relatives in the outside world.25
Rebuilding also meant that there was now a huge SS complex at Dachau, which included the caserns of the SS Regiment Upper Bavaria and the SS motorcycle battalion ‘N’ along with a training camp for the SS. After the outbreak of the war the SS complex at Dachau grew further and included a vast warehouse for the entire SS, a hospital, factories producing clothing and offices dealing with the pay and personnel administration for the SS Death’s Head divisions.25a
The organisational model for the concentration camps in the Third Reich had been settled as far back as 1936, when the Inspectorate for Concentration Camps issued an order, defining the different sections of the camps and their responsibilities. They were divided into five sections; the Commandant’s Office, the Political Section, the Protective Custody Camp (prisoner camp), the Administration Department and the Camp Doctor’s Department.26 Prisoners incarcerated in the protective custody camp occupied one section of the five comprising the concentration camp.