Columbia concentration camp
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Columbia concentration camp (also known as Columbia-Haus) was a Nazi concentration camp situated in the Tempelhof area of Berlin. It was one of the first such institutions established by the regime.
Development
[edit]Originally called Strafgefängnis Tempelhofer Feld the building, which contained 134 cells, 10 interrogation rooms and a guardroom, had been built as a military police station but fell empty in 1929.[1] However as soon as the Nazi Party came to power the building, which by then was known as Columbia-Haus, was made into a prison, with 400 inmates held by September 1933.[1]
The prison, initially staffed by both Schutzstaffel and Sturmabteilung members,[2] was largely unregulated until 1934 when it was placed under the command of Walter Gerlach[1] and his adjutant Arthur Liebehenschel. Run as a prison by the Gestapo, it was notorious in the city for the torture meted out to its detainees, most of whom were Communists, Social Democrats, or Jews,[3] including the rightist Max Naumann who spent time as an inmate.[4]
From 27 December 1934 the prison was administrated by the Concentration Camps Inspectorate. On 8 January 1935 Reinhard Heydrich announced that Konzentrationslager Columbia was to be adopted as the official name, in preference to Columbia-Haus.[1]
Personnel
[edit]Many leading perpetrators of the Holocaust saw service in Columbia early in their careers. Notable amongst these was Karl Otto Koch, who was appointed commandant in 1935.[5] At lower levels camp guards included Richard Baer, Max Kögel[6] and Theodor Dannecker.[7]
Closure and legacy
[edit]The camp was closed in 1936 to make way for the expansion of Berlin Tempelhof Airport.[8] After its August closure the remaining prisoners were moved to the new facility established at Sachsenhausen.[9]
A motion was passed by Tempelhof district city council to lay a plaque on the site of the camp.[10] The memorial was installed in 1994.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d David Pascoe, Airspaces, Reaktion Books, 2001, p. 177
- ^ John Michael Steiner, Power Politics and Social Change in National Socialist Germany: A Process of Escalation into Mass Destruction, Walter de Gruyter, 1976, p. 60
- ^ Klaus P. Fischer, Nazi Germany: A New History, Constable, 1996, p. 274
- ^ Robert S. Wistrich, Who's Who in Nazi Germany, Routledge, 2001, p. 177
- ^ Tom Segev, Soldiers of Evil, Berkley Books, 1991, p. 152
- ^ Tom Segev, Soldiers of Evil, Berkley Books, 1991, pp. 72; 191
- ^ Yaacov Lozowick, Hitler's Bureaucrats: The Nazi Security Police And The Banality Of Evil, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005, p. 30
- ^ Pascoe, Airspaces, p. 176
- ^ Charles W. Sydnor, Soldiers of Destruction: The SS Death's Head Division, 1933-1945, Princeton University Press, 1990, p. 19
- ^ Jennifer A. Jordan, Structures of Memory: Understanding Urban Change in Berlin and Beyond, Stanford University Press, 2006, p. 159
52°29′1″N 13°23′57″E / 52.48361°N 13.39917°E
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