Birkenau Wehrpass
Due to the numerous requests from other forum members to post the WP now, here it is.
In June 1944, approximately 500 old or partially disabled soldiers of the Wehrmacht who were no longer suitable for front line duty, were transferred to the KL Auschwitz complex. After a few weeks initial training in guard duties, they were given uniforms and inducted into the Waffen-SS.
Here we have a WP of one of the above. In Mar '42, Army Gefreiter Wolfgang Ehrke was sent to the Russian front with his unit. He remained on the Russian front until he was hospitalised in Feb '44, with 1st degree frostbite to both feet. After medical treatment, Ehrke was graded as being fit for garrison duty only which resulted in him being transferred to 4./SS-Totenkopf Sturmbann KL Auschwitz II (Birkenau). In Oct '44, he was transferred to 6./SS-Totenkopf-Wachbataillon KL Sachsenhausen.
Although having served at Birkenau for only 4 months, he was there during the busiest killing period the camp had ever seen. For 2 months, in the summer of '44, over 400,000 Hungarian Jews were murdered in Birkenau. During this period, the facilities were so stretched that the 4 previously de-commissioned gas chambers in Bunker II (The White House), were re-introduced to assist in the excess gassings. The SS also had to revert to outdoor cremation pits to cope with the disposal of the victims. The continual stench of burning bodies day and night would have made this a very unpleasant posting for Ehrke.
Ehrke also served there during the Sonderkommando revolt in Krematorium IV on 7 Oct 1944, and if he was not on sentry duty at that time, would most certainly have been mobilized to assist in suppressing the revolt.
It was this revolt that led to the dismantling of the gassing facilities and eventual transfer of troops from Auchwitz.
According to Lasik, a total of 11 guards were transferred to KL Sachsenhausen from KL Auschwitz in late 1944, followed by a further 358 in '45. It looks like Ehrke was one of the initial 11.
Due to the numerous requests from other forum members to post the WP now, here it is.
In June 1944, approximately 500 old or partially disabled soldiers of the Wehrmacht who were no longer suitable for front line duty, were transferred to the KL Auschwitz complex. After a few weeks initial training in guard duties, they were given uniforms and inducted into the Waffen-SS.
Here we have a WP of one of the above. In Mar '42, Army Gefreiter Wolfgang Ehrke was sent to the Russian front with his unit. He remained on the Russian front until he was hospitalised in Feb '44, with 1st degree frostbite to both feet. After medical treatment, Ehrke was graded as being fit for garrison duty only which resulted in him being transferred to 4./SS-Totenkopf Sturmbann KL Auschwitz II (Birkenau). In Oct '44, he was transferred to 6./SS-Totenkopf-Wachbataillon KL Sachsenhausen.
Although having served at Birkenau for only 4 months, he was there during the busiest killing period the camp had ever seen. For 2 months, in the summer of '44, over 400,000 Hungarian Jews were murdered in Birkenau. During this period, the facilities were so stretched that the 4 previously de-commissioned gas chambers in Bunker II (The White House), were re-introduced to assist in the excess gassings. The SS also had to revert to outdoor cremation pits to cope with the disposal of the victims. The continual stench of burning bodies day and night would have made this a very unpleasant posting for Ehrke.
Ehrke also served there during the Sonderkommando revolt in Krematorium IV on 7 Oct 1944, and if he was not on sentry duty at that time, would most certainly have been mobilized to assist in suppressing the revolt.
It was this revolt that led to the dismantling of the gassing facilities and eventual transfer of troops from Auchwitz.
According to Lasik, a total of 11 guards were transferred to KL Sachsenhausen from KL Auschwitz in late 1944, followed by a further 358 in '45. It looks like Ehrke was one of the initial 11.
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