Editor’s Note - Documentation (en) -

Niemieckie obozy zagłady i obozy koncentracyjne w okupowanej Polsce

Nawigacja

Documentation (en)

Editor’s Note

“The SS KL Auschwitz Garrison” database project is a joint project by dr hab. Aleksander Lasik, a professor of Kazimierz Wielki University of Bydgoszcz and the Krakow Branch of the Institute of National Remembrance – the Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation of Krakow. Prof. Lasik’s collection of information further to preparation of his doctoral thesis on “The SS Garrison in the KL Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1940-1945. Social and Historical Analysis” marked the beginnings of the base. The thesis was submitted for defence in the Institute of History of the Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznan.

Initially, the database was collected on index cards; from 1988, prof. Lasik used TAG word-processor. In September 1998, the database was transferred to MS Access. Initially, the card index included information only about the SS KL Auschwitz personnel. Later on, following development of historical research, those records were extended on a regular basis by adding information about other KLs staff. Consequently, prof. Lasik created a huge database of approximately 25,000 records on identified SS members, including 9,686 of related to the SS KL Auschwitz garrison.

In May 2014, having been first appointed prof Lasik an expert historian, for the Krakow Branch of the Institute of National Remembrance, the Institute acquired the base for the purpose of investigations into the crimes committed in KL Auschwitz, led by the Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation, Branch in Krakow, (the case file no.: S 78.11.Zn). In May 2015, it was decided that the database should be made available on the website of the Institute of Polish Remembrance and works started on preparing the database for publication.

The database editing works were staged in several stages. Firstly, the focus was on editing the records for the members of the SS KL Auschwitz garrison. As a result, information about 8,502 SS-manns who had served in the cap was published. An app will be available in three language versions: Polish, German and English, while the records will be bilingual i.e. the original names in German will be kept with their Polish translation added. Notably, in many cases, Polish translators often faced some challenges related to the lack of uniform rules of translating scientific (historical and specialist) terminology.

Prof Lasik prepared the database as a flat table with a set of 57 fields – columns. To enhance the clarity of the data, integrate repeating records and make the search easier, the number of the fields was reduced. It was possible through a theme-based aggregation of the data on military service records (the former records from the entries: 8. Date of Recruitment to Allgemeine-SS; 8a. Approximated Date of Recruitment to Allgemeine-SS; Notes 8a/8b; 9th Standarte Regimental Command of Allgemeine-SS; other Allgemeine-SS military units; 14 military ranks in Allgemeine-SS were all transferred o the current entry of Recruitment to the Allgemeine-SS) alongside with elimination of technical entries. At present, the database is divided into four tables showing:

  1. Personal Information, 17 cells (and columns, respectively),
  2. Judicial Documents, 3 cells,
  3. Photographs of SS Camp Personnel, 1 cell,
  4. Services in KL Auschwitz; the information contained in this table is currently verified to be published as soon as the verification work is completed.

The records collected by prof Lasik were inserted in Personal Information and Role in KL Auschwitz tables They were also standardised and completed so that they complied with the requirements for database. The principal aim of the editors’ was to create a unique entry for each specific SS serviceman and, specifically one record per person. For this reason, duplicates containing different version of personal data for one person and referrals traditionally used in paper databases were removed. However, despite our diligent work and many searches aimed at removing and/or merging records on the same person, there is still a slight possibility that the database contains doubled records on the same SS servicemen e.g. for the reason of an inconsistency in dates of birth or name spelling. We will continue by verifying the records on some SS servicemen to achieve their fullest identification possible. Furthermore, more persons will be added to the dataset for persons identified as KL Auschwitz personnel members on the basis of continued searches and investigation.

Since in the original version of the database, the data on given names of parents and mother’s maiden name had not been collected, the effort was made to add them. Currently, the database contains 703 records in the Father and 716 Mother fields, respectively. Their obvious shortcomings are that they were collected from Polish lawsuits which used Polish transcriptions of the German names. Therefore, the editors excluded those materials until some verified information from German archives is added.

In the case of Place of birth field the editors’ were adding missing diacritic marks, if any and correcting spellers. Only 164 out of the total of 3429 names of localities could not be identified. The number includes names of locations which Moreno longer exist or could not be attributed clearly to the actual places of birth of SS servicemen. Due to the shortcomings of the methods used to obtain verified information based on geographical locations, chronology and historical sources which did not allow for adopting a common criterion, our team decided to abandon the task to provide precise information about those localities. It is worth noting that some locations changed their names several times, and as they were merged into different state organisms or became a part of other towns/villages, they bear other names in different languages, respectively.

At the moment, we are verifying records on the history of military service of specific KL Auschwitz personnel members not only to collect some reliable data, but also to restore the list of SS KL Auschwitz guards who served there in specific sections and times while it was in operation.

Furthermore, we decided to add two more components to the existing database, because of its important role in the investigation process, namely photographs of SS KL guards and other documents from trials e.g. indictments and court rulings.

The photographs of SS KL personnel were obtained courtesy of the Archives of the Institute of National Remembrance, Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau of Oświęcim, Stutthof Museum of Sztutowo, National Archives of Kraków and National Archives of Katowice – Branch of Bielsko-Biala

Information about the place of storing the photographs and their numbers in the databases have been added to the database (in the field Source); however, some copies are stored in several collections. If this is the case, we only provided information about the origin of the published copy.

Typically, the photographs in the database are of a standard size which were used in ID cards. Also several group photographs were published; But is the time when they were made that is important. The database includes both photographs of the SS KL personnel in active military service and also from the after the war period. The second type shows photographs of theses KL Auschwitz guards taken by the allied law enforcement authorities before their extradition to Poland and booking photos taken for the purpose of the criminal proceedings, made by the Polish and foreign law enforcement bodies.

The latter are rather characteristic in the sense that they present the arrested SS guards with a name plaque on their fronts, dressed in German uniforms which not necessarily reflected the fact and their rank in particular. The booking photographs were scanned and made available only as en face portraits (while a booking photograph would be typically made of three frames: two profiles and one en face photographs.          

So far, we have succeeded in collecting photographs of as few as 848 identified persons, i.e. database which corresponds to approximately 10% of the database. Further 763 photographs have been gathered and used in criminal investigation; however, these are duplicates and/or different takes of the same person. The Institute of National Remembrance will focus its efforts on collecting the missing photographs of the SS crew, specifically taken during the period of their military service in WW2.

The table below shows the list of photographs by their source institution.

No

Source

Number of photograpsh

1

ADIPN w Bydgoszczy [Archive of the INR Branch in Bydgoszcz]

4

2

AIPN w Warszawie [Archive of INR in Warszawa]

128

3

AMS w Sztutowie [Archive of KL Museum Stutthof]

37

4

AN w Krakowie. Oddz. II [National Archives in Kraków. Branch II]

3

5

AN w Krakowie. Oddz. IV [National Archives in Kraków. Branch IV]

1

6

AP w Katowicach. Oddz. w Bielsku-Białej [State Archives in Katowice. Branch in Bielsko-Biała]

3

7

APMA-B w Oświęcimiu [Archives of Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum]

592

8

OAIPN w Gdańsku [Branch Archives of INR in Gdańsk]

1

9

OAIPN w Katowicach [Branch Archives of INR in Katowice]

3

10

OAIPN w Krakowie [Branch Archives of INR in Kraków]

74

11

OAIPN w Lublinie [Branch Archives of INR in Lublin]

1

12

OAIPN w Szczecinie [Branch Archives of INR in Szczecin]

1

The documents used in the criminal proceedings included in the database come from the Polish Justice.418 pdf files with the documents were published. Most of them show rulings of Polish Courts (347 pdf files).

The Table below shows the number of court rulings with reference to specific Courts.

No

Court Name

No of copied rulings

1

Wyrok Najwyższego Trybunału Narodowego [Supreme National Court]

2

2

Wyrok Sądu Apelacyjnego w Katowicach na sesji wyjazdowej w Bytomiu [Court of Appeal in Katowice, in situ trial in Bytom]

1

3

Wyrok Sądu Apelacyjnego w Krakowie [Court of Appeal in Kraków]

10

4

Wyrok Sądu Apelacyjnego w Warszawie [Court of Appeal in Warszawa]

2

5

Wyrok Sądu Najwyższego na sesji wyjazdowej w Krakowie [Supreme Court, in situ hearing in Kraków]

47

6

Wyrok Sądu Najwyższego na sesji wyjazdowej w Lublinie [Supreme Court, in situ hearing in Lublin]

2

7

Wyrok Sądu Najwyższego w Warszawie [Supreme Court in Warszawa]

7

8

Wyrok Sądu Okręgowego w Bytomiu [District Court in Bytom]

5

9

Wyrok Sądu Okręgowego w Bytomiu na sesji wyjazdowej w Lublińcu [District Court in Bytom, in situ hearing in Lubliniec]

2

10

Wyrok Sądu Okręgowego w Cieszynie na sesji wyjazdowej w Bielsku [District Court in Cieszyn, in situ hearing in Bielsko]

2

11

Wyrok Sądu Okręgowego w Gdańsku [District Court in Gdańsk]

1

12

Wyrok Sądu Okręgowego w Gliwicach [District Court in Gliwice]

2

13

Wyrok Sądu Okręgowego w Gliwicach na sesji wyjazdowej w Koźlu [District Court in Gliwice, in situ hearing in Koźle]

1

14

Wyrok Sądu Okręgowego w Katowicach [District Court in Katowice]

2

15

Wyrok Sądu Okręgowego w Krakowie [District Court in Kraków]

159

16

Wyrok Sądu Okręgowego w Lublinie [District Court in Lublin]

7

17

Wyrok Sądu Okręgowego w Łodzi [District Court in Łódź]

2

18

Wyrok Sądu Okręgowego w Nysie z siedzibą w Prudniku [District Court in Nysa, Branch in Prudnik]

1

19

Wyrok Sądu Okręgowego w Opolu [District Court in Opole]

2

20

Wyrok Sądu Okręgowego w Raciborzu [District Court in Opole]

4

21

Wyrok Sądu Okręgowego w Radomiu Wydział Zamiejscowy w Ostrowcu [District Court in Radom, Branch in Ostrowiec]

1

22

Wyrok Sądu Okręgowego w Radomiu Wydział Zamiejscowy w Ostrowcu na sesji wyjazdowej w Sandomierzu [District Court in Radom, Branch in Ostrowiec, in situ hearing]

1

23

Wyrok Sądu Okręgowego w Sosnowcu [District Court in Sosnowiec]

2

24

Wyrok Sądu Okręgowego w Szczecinie [District Court in Szczecin]

2

25

Wyrok Sądu Okręgowego w Świdnicy [District Court in Świdnica]

2

26

Wyrok Sądu Okręgowego w Świdnicy Wydział Zamiejscowy w Wałbrzychu [District Court in Świdnica, Branch in Wałbrzych]

2

27

Wyrok Sądu Okręgowego w Tarnowie [District Court in Tarnów]

2

28

Wyrok Sądu Okręgowego w Toruniu [District Court in Toruń]

6

29

Wyrok Sądu Okręgowego w Wadowicach [District Court in Wadowice]

57

30

Wyrok Sądu Powiatowego dla miasta Krakowa w Krakowie [County Court in Kraków]

1

31

Wyrok Sądu Wojewódzkiego w Katowicach [Provincial Court in Katowice]

1

32

Wyrok Sądu Wojewódzkiego w Katowicach na sesji wyjazdowej w Lublińcu [Provincial Court in Katowice, in situ trial in Lubliniec]

 

1

33

Wyrok Sądu Wojewódzkiego w Krakowie [Provincial Court in Kraków]

4

34

Wyrok Sądu Wojewódzkiego w Krakowie na sesji wyjazdowej w Tarnowie [Provincial Court in Kraków, in situ trial in Tarnów]

1

35

Wyrok Specjalnego Sądu Karnego w Katowicach [Special Criminal Tribunal in Katowice]

2

36

Wyrok Specjalnego Sądu Karnego w Krakowie na sesji wyjazdowej w Wadowicach [Special Criminal Tribunal, in situ trial in Wadowice]

 

1

Five court rulings mentioned in the above table have not been found; therefore, we decided to show scans from court repertories containing the respective records of court ruling.

No

Court Name. Case No and Date of Ruling

1

Wyrok Sądu Apelacyjnego w Krakowie, case No Kr 68/49, 11.01.1950 [Court of Appeal in Kraków - excerpt from court repertory]

2

Wyrok Sądu Najwyższego na sesji wyjazdowej w Krakowie, case No Kr K 1286/48, 06.10.1948 [Supreme Court, in situ hearing in Kraków - excerpt from court repertory]

3

Wyrok Sądu Okręgowego w Krakowie, case No VII K 1007/47, as of 13.04.1948 [District Court in Kraków - excerpt from court repertory]

4

Wyrok Sądu Okręgowego w Krakowie, case No VII K 1066/47, as of 12.05.1948 [District Court in Kraków - excerpt from court repertory]

5

Wyrok Sądu Okręgowego w Wadowicach, case No V K 93/49, as of 17.08.1949 [District Court in Wadowice - excerpt from court repertory]

Additionally, the database contains 14 indictments and other documents, e.g. rulings to discontinue a lawsuit due to deaths of the accused/suspects/prisoners, requests to discontinue/ suspend criminal investigations, excerpts from court records referring to joint sessions of the Justices behind the closed doors.

The database also provides access to 29 documents containing information about deaths of the former SS military guards in prisons (the so-called death notices) after executing of capital punishment ruled by court or due to natural causes. Further search results in the archives seem to confirm deaths of other members (56-65) from the former KL Auschwitz Schuts-Staffel personnel. In the future the database will be extended by adding newly found and collected materials documenting the facts.

The Table below shows the number of collected and copied documents by institutions which gave them to be included in the publication:

 

No

Source

Number of documents

1

ADIPN w Bydgoszczy [Archive of INR, Office Branch in Bydgoszcz]

7

2

ADIPN w Kielcach [Archive of INR, Office Branch in Kielce]

3

3

AIPN w Warszawie [Archive of INR, Office Branch in Warszawa]

9

4

AN w Krakowie. Oddz. II [National Archive in Kraków. Branch II]

32

5

AN w Krakowie. Oddz. IV [National Archive in Kraków. Branch IV]

1

6

AN w Krakowie. Oddz. w Tarnowie [National Archive in Kraków. Branch in Tarnów]

1

7

AP w Katowicach. Oddz. w Bielsku-Białej [State Archives in Katowice. Branch in Bielsko-Biała]

17

8

ASR w Wadowicach [Archives of Court of Common Law in Wadowice]

1

9

OAIPN w Gdańsku [Archive of INR, Branch in Gdańsk]

1

10

OAIPN w Katowicach [Archive of INR, Branch in Katowice]

33

11

OAIPN w Krakowie [Archive of INR, Branch in Kraków]

287

12

OAIPN w Lublinie [Archive of INR, Branch in Lublin]

12

13

OAIPN w Łodzi [Archive of INR, Branch in Łódź]

1

14

OAIPN w Szczecinie [Archive of INR, Branch in Szczecin]

5

15

OAIPN we Wrocławiu [Archive of INR, Branch in Wrocław]

8

This database needs more improvement, archive searches and collecting of some new material. At present, it does not contain many documents issued and collected abroad, in particular court rulings, and specifically those give by military courts of the Allies, which heard cases in their occupation zones as well as indictments and decisions to discontinue lawsuits and investigations by Justice of the Federal Republic of Germany, Democratic Republic of Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, and possibly the Netherlands and/or other countries. In order to obtain the materials, the Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation will seek international legal assistance through the competent authorities. Apart from that, we need to search foreign archives, including German, American, British, French and Russian chives and continue cooperation with the German Central Office of the State Justice Administrations for the Investigation of National Socialist Crimes to establish precise personal data of the SS KL personnel. It also seems reasonable to include exhibits about female guards (German: SS-Aufseherinnen) and female wireless operators (German: SS-Aufseherinnen). According to initial estimations, there may have been nearly 200 women in KL Auschwitz personnel.

The project initiating preparation of “the SS KL Auschwitz Garrison” should continue to include records on all personnel of concentration camps set up by the Third Reich. The Institute of the National Remembrance has acquired important materials to achieve this ambitious goal.

List of acronyms in Sources field

No

Acronym

Full Name

1

ADIPN w Bydgoszczy

Archiwum Delegatury Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej w Bydgoszczy [National Archive of INR in Bydgoszcz, Branch Office]

2

ADIPN w Kielcach

Archiwum Delegatury Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej w Kielcach [National Archive of INR in Kielce, Branch Office]

3

AIPN w Warszawie

Archiwum Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej w Warszawie [National Archive of INR in Warszawa]

4

AMS w Sztutowie

Archiwum Muzeum Stutthof w Sztutowie [Archive of the KL Stutthof Museum of Sztutowo]

5

AN w Krakowie. Oddz. II

Archiwum Narodowe w Krakowie. Oddział II - akt administracji państwowej ogólnej i specjalnej, sądownictwa z XIX i XX w. [National Archive in Kraków, Branch II, documents of state general and special administration, judiciary system in 19th and 20th c.]

6

AN w Krakowie. Oddz. IV

Archiwum Narodowe w Krakowie. Oddział IV - akt najnowszych wytworzonych po 1945 roku oraz akt jednostek gospodarczych z XIX i XX w. [National Archive in Kraków, Branch IV – documents after 1945 and businesses in 19th and 20th c.]

7

AN w Krakowie. Oddz.

w Tarnowie

Archiwum Narodowe w Krakowie. Oddział w Tarnowie [National Archive in Kraków, Branch in Tarnów]

8

AP w Katowicach. Oddz.

w Bielsku-Białej

Archiwum Państwowe w Katowicach. Oddział w Bielsku-Białej [National Archive in Katowice, Branch in Bielsko-Biała]

9

APMA-B w Oświęcimiu

Archiwum Państwowego Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau w Oświęcimiu [Archives of State Museum and Memorial of KL Auschwitz-Birkenau]

10

ASR w Wadowicach

Archiwum Sądu Rejonowego w Wadowicach [Archive of Court of Common Law in Wadowice]

11

OAIPN w Gdańsku

Oddziałowe Archiwum Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej w Gdańsku [Archive of INR, Branch in Gdańsk]

12

OAIPN w Katowicach

Oddziałowe Archiwum Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej w Katowicach [Archive of INR, Branch in Katowice]

13

OAIPN w Krakowie

Oddziałowe Archiwum Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej w Krakowie [Archive of INR, Branch in Kraków]

14

OAIPN w Lublinie

Oddziałowe Archiwum Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej w Lublinie [Archive of INR, Branch in Lublin]

15

OAIPN w Łodzi

Oddziałowe Archiwum Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej w Łodzi [Archive of INR, Branch in Łódź]

16

OAIPN w Szczecinie

Oddziałowe Archiwum Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej w Szczecinie [Archive of INR, Branch in Szczecin]

17

OAIPN we Wrocławiu

Oddziałowe Archiwum Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej we Wrocławiu [Archive of INR, Branch in Wrocław]

 

Developed by:

Jacek Kwilosz 

Vice President Branch Archive

Institute of National Remembrance in Kraków,

 

 

do góry