4.01 - Setting up a Women’s Concentration Camp in the Monastery

Setting up a Women’s Concentration Camp in the Monastery

To introduce the description of the ‘labour camp’, the following is a reconstruction of the possible reasons for setting up a concentration camp for women in the SS rural estate of St. Lambrecht, which was established originally as a sub camp of Ravensbrück women’s concentration camp and taken over by Mauthausen concentration camp in September 1944.

The constant number of 23 female prisoners¹The survivors interviewed by me stated that all female prisoners were transferred to St. Lambrecht in one single transport. Only one Polish woman fell ill in the sub camp and was transferred back to Ravensbrück. Thereafter the number of inmates remained the same (PA, interview Hoogers-Elbertsen, Jans, 16-10-2002). The number of inmates as estimated by Seiler (and Baumgartner, who also refers to the just mentioned author) of at first 30 women should be considered correct. His information is probably based on the memories of Josef Nischelwitzer (exact quotation of sources is absent). Furthermore, contact between Nischelwitzer and the female inmates allegedly had remained limited. This former inmate was transferred back to Mauthausen in the exchange described in Chapter 3 of all inmates at the end of May/beginning of June 1943, shortly after the arrival of the female Bible Students. in St. Lambrecht women’s concentration camp indicates a purposeful and planned ‘filling’ of jobs. Various reasons can be produced for setting up the camp in May 1943.

In the first place the building activities had grown significantly as work was being carried out on the Verwalter-villa. The women’s detail presumably was intended to free the male prisoners for ‘male’ building labour. So-called ‘female’ work, such as work in the kitchen, cleaning and gardening, could efficiently be carried out by female prisoners.

Secondly there were often guests at the SS estate. Possibly women were expected to deliver a higher quality of supposedly female cleaning work. Moreover other institutes, such as the so-called Publikationsstelle Wien or the Lehrerinnenbildungsanstalt from Kainbach, gradually started occupying the rooms of the SS estate. This meant a greater need for more workers to clean the property.

Equipping the concentration camp with female prisoners from the ‘category Bible Students’ was obvious: Jehovah’s Witnesses did not require extra security guards because previous years had shown that trying to escape was out of the question for these female prisoners, as they would not do it even if given the opportunity. So, the shortage of staff in the SS may have been another reason for choosing the female Bible Students. At that time so-called ethnic Germans took on the job of surveillance in the concentration camp for men, and Schloss Lind concentration camp had to make do with Wehrmacht soldiers.

Another reason for claiming a group of prisoners consisting exclusively of female Jehovah’s Witnesses may be that they were reputed to be exemplary, conscientious workers who carried out all their work with great application. The former head housekeeper, Lore Kröll, described them in her own characteristic way as follows: ‘They were young, strong girls, some of them Dutch. They worked very hard. There were no problems. I enjoyed their company. They were always kind to me.’²PA, interview Kröll, Lore, 18-11-2002.

Lore Kröll’s statement indicates what the foremost requirement for the group of prisoners was: hard workers with no attempt at sabotage, so that no problems were to be expected.

The idea of establishing another concentration camp in the unused rooms of the former monastery after the men’s concentration camp had already been in existence for a year, likely came from the ambitious Verwalter Hubert Erhart. At that time, he was already in charge of the four great monastery properties in Styria and thereby had acquired considerable power. Because of his good contact with SS leaders, whom he entertained by grand invitations for hunting and relaxation at ‘his’ SS estates, it must have been simple for him to achieve the establishment of a small concentration camp for women. Probably the economical aspect – making a prosperous and profitable organization of the SS estate as quickly as possible – was the prime consideration for choosing to get the work done at practically no cost.

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