Z B L Ä T T E R L BB LL ÄÄTT TT EE RR EXTRA A ZUM LAND F The Osthofen Concentration P Camp Memorial One of the first National Socialist concen- May 1933. In the small rural town of - tration camps in the Reich was officially Osthofen near Worms, a concentration set up by Dr. Werner Best, who had been camp was established for the ”People’s responsible since 13th March 1933 as State of Hesse” (Rhinehesse, Starkenburg, “State Commissioner for the Police in Upper Hesse). Any individuals taken into D Hesse”, by way of an implementing regu- police custody for political reasons and lation of the “Reichstag Fire Order” of 1st whose period of detention was to last a week or more were to be taken there. N A L N I E H R Outside view of the Osthofen concentration camp memorial Previous history Best had forced Schäfer to resign from Best, who had a PhD in law and who, the Hessian parliament on account of after the “Seizure of power” in Hesse on non-disclosed previous convictions and 6th March, was initially appointed special submission of a false doctorate diploma. commissioner for the Hessian police. From In the spring of 1933, at the instigation of July 1933 he was responsible, as state po- Best, Wilhelm Schäfer was taken into pro- lice chief, and was considered within his tective custody. Schäfer was even tempo- party as an expert in combating political rarily accommodated in the Osthofen con- opponents and on security issues. As early centration camp. When Schäfer’s body as the 5th August 1931, at a meeting of was discovered near Neu-Isenburg in July leading Hessian National Socialists, inclu- 1933, Best was linked to the murder. “His ding the deputy Gauleiter, Wassung and ineptitude” in this affair gave his oppo- the Offenbach district leader and econo- nent, the Gauleiter Jakob Sprenger, the mics expert, Wilhelm Schäfer, the then excuse, in autumn 1933, to dismiss Best junior barrister, Best had announced his from the Hessian police service. plans as to what measures were to be taken by the NSDAP after a take-over of The publication of the text known as the power. According to the recorded scena- “Boxheim document” after the place where rio, Best assumed it was produced caused great waves in that a communist Hesse and throughout the Reich for a attempt to topple short time. Best was suspended from the the government state service and proceedings were initia- would be thwar- ted against him for high treason. ted. “In order to rescue the people” armed National Socialist groups The “Datterich”, a weekly publication for Hesse, published a caricature on 4th December 1931 would have to which dealt critically with the “Boxheim seize power and Document.” declare a state of Source: Hessian State Archive, Darmstadt emergency. “SA, territorial reserve Werner Best units etc., “were to in the mid thirties be given unlimited Source: Hessian state executive powers. archive, Darmstadt “Resistance will be punishable by death as a matter of cour- se”. Those who did not hand in their weapons within 24 hours were likewise to be shot as well as any members of the public service who took part in strikes or acts of sabotage. For this purpose, mili- tary courts were to be set up. Several meetings about this issue took place at the Boxheimer Hof near Bürstadt/ Lampert- heim, not far from Worms, involving the tenant, Richard Wagner. Wilhelm Schäfer handed over the document to the Hessian police. This was an act of vengeance. 2 However, this was overruled in October tion, created the bases for the “seizure of 1932 for lack of evidence. Finally, this power” in Hesse and the takeover by Best affair attracted Hitler’s attention to the of the key positions in the police for “com- young notary whose further career in the bating opponents” and issues of security. SS was continually advanced. The establishment of the Immediately after his appointment as Chief Osthofen concentration camp of Police in Hesse, Best was able to put Why Osthofen? Why did Best decide on his ideas of “fighting opponents” into prac- the community of just 5000 inhabitants as tice. To do this he could avail himself of the site for the only state concentration the emergency measure overruling essen- camp for the entire ”People’s State of Hesse”, tial basic rights, which was quickly pas- with its seat of government in Darmstadt? sed by the Reich president von Hinden- burg on 28th February 1933, the day fol- Certainly the situation regarding the trans- lowing the Reichstag’s fire. With the lega- port links of the town, positioned as it lised restrictions on personal freedom was on the railway line with direct connec- contained in this measure, widespread tion to the main road between Mainz and arrests were made allegedly to “protect Worms, was at least acceptable. The pro- people and state”. ximity to the industrial town of Worms with its high proportion of workers may The wave of arrests that followed through- also have played a part, because the town out the Reich put hundreds of the most was, after all, considered as a “red strong- well known communist functionaries un- hold” before 1933. On the other hand, der lock and key even before the Reichs- the fact that the Osthofen NSDAP had tag elections scheduled for the 5th March. already created a fait accompli there at Several functionaries of leftist parties and the beginning of March was probably the of the trade unions were, however, also more decisive factor. arrested. Finally, this so-called “Reichstag fire order” was used as the excuse to On 6th March, just one day after the confiscate the Reichstag mandates of the Reichstag elections, which had given the German communist party (KPD) after the NSDAP in Osthofen a distinctly better elections. The elections, which gave rise to result compared with the Reich average, twelve years of dictatorship and tyranny at 52.8%, the local protagonists of this involving violent crimes, the extent of which party had imprisoned practically the enti- had been inconceivable up until to that re SPD parliamentary group without any time, can therefore, in no way be descri- legal basis, in the now empty, former bed as “free”. paper factory. The factory was owned by a Jewish manufacturer from Osthofen. At The result of the Reichstag election and the time of its official opening on 1st May the ”Reichstag fire Order”, § 2 of which also 1933, the camp had been in existence permitted intervention in Länder legisla- for almost two months. This outside view of the concentration camp could be bought as a picture postcard at the camp and posted. 3 At least 250 people, the majority from by the National Socialists for propaganda Osthofen, Worms, Alzey and the surroun- purposes. Thus, the Hessian regional ding area had already been taken to the press, which had already been tamed, concentration camp as early as March and then celebrated the release of 115 priso- April either on foot or in collective trans- ners from the Osthofen concentration ports on lorries. camp on 1st May as a “special surprise”. Many of them were re-arrested on the Even at the beginning of April 1933 Best, 2nd May following the crushing of the in reply to an enquiry from the Social trade unions and were transported to Democratic “Mainzer Volkszeitung" had Osthofen. his office officially deny knowledge of the existence of a concentration camp in Ost- hofen. On 20th April, however, he instruc- Reporting by the press ted his newly created “central police head- As early as its weekend edition on 22nd/ quarters” - the independent political poli- 23rd April 1933, the “Niersteiner Warte“ in ce, which had been separated out from a well-illustrated whole page article under the general police and expanded in terms the heading “Approved school and cor- of personnel and their authority - as well rectional institution in Osthofen”, reported as all district offices, to deliver a total of in detail even though heavily glossed 100 prisoners to Osthofen, according to a over, on the concentration camp. At the set formula. For this campaign of arrests, beginning of May, at the invitation of the essentially workers, but no functionaries Hessian State Press Office, representatives or “repeat cases” were to be handed over. of the press inspected the Osthofen con- At the end of the day, these men were centration camp. In the days that follo- intended to be released again only a few wed, the population in all parts of Hesse days later on 1st May, on the “day of and beyond were able to read the official national work and reconciliation”, which version of the meaning and purpose of was stage-managed throughout the Reich this camp and of the conditions prevai- Alzey, spring 1933: Nazi oppo- nents are transported on lorries accompanied by regular and special police to the nearby Osthofen concentration camp. Source: private 4 ling there. Press reports followed on a cealed abroad. The protest notes handed daily basis of raids, house searches, arrests over through the foreign embassies resul- and removals to Osthofen. Even for rail ted in release in the case of the Worms passengers, the existence of the camp Jew, Resch, on account of his Polish citi- was made clearly visible by the huge let- zenship. In other cases as with Mieren- ters of the inscription on the building. dorff, the protests were rejected by the “There (is) still plenty of room in Osthofen” Germany embassy. becomes the familiar slogan. Even in his carnival speech at the Mainz carnival on Camp management and guards 18th November 1933, Seppel Glückert By his order of 1st May, Best appointed warned against “the Worms region“.