The onset of wartime in 1939 led to a reorganization of daily life for a huge number of Germans. The lack of female companionship was already evident in the first months of the military expansion. Most of the soldiers were young men whose bodies demanded an active response to their physical needs. Nazi commanders had a deeper view of this problem, realizing that such mass dissatisfaction could have a negative effect on the general morale of soldiers and eventually lead to a decline in discipline as a whole.
The affair with military units was more or less settled by the opening abroad in the occupied territories whose female workers eagerly served Nazi soldiers. The higher ranks of the Wehrmacht breathed a sigh of relief when suddenly a note from Oswald Pohl was laid on Himmler’s desk. To encourage the best inmates, Oswald Pohl was promoted to the position of head of the SS General Administrative Office. Occupying this position, Pohl took over the management of all concentration camps. In fact, it was in the efficiency of camp management that he developed his main activities.
First of all, the SS General saw that through his innovations he could gain additional control over the prisoners. Pohl understood that male prisoners also lacked physical satisfaction, and the introduction of such incentives as allowing periodic female favors could also greatly benefit. Pohl’s ideas, described in great detail in his note, were studied by Himmler and received a positive response. Realizing that he had been given the go-ahead, Pohl began to act immediately.
In June of 1942, the first brothel of this kind was opened at Mauthausen camp. Pohl took the project seriously, calculating literally everything: the proportions of girls to the number of men, the most productive age, the number of rooms needed to keep the brothel busy around the clock, and other technical issues. Ruthless German mathematics produced the following figures: ten girls were chosen to serve between 300 and 500 men each. The calculation was based on the maximum stamina of the female body with a calculation of her capability for a certain amount of time. If the chosen girl failed to meet the plan, she was sent back to the camp.
Women were mostly brought in from the Ravensbrück camp whose main population was, in fact, women. At one time, the blood warden Maria Mandl personally handled the selection development of this system. The first experiments at Mauthausen soon began to show their positive results. Once they felt an irresistible craving for the female body, some prisoners began to display their basest qualities as well. In the reports to Pohl, there were many times more cases of slandering by one prisoner against another, reports of imminent escapes, names of instigators, and so on. At the same time, the reports recorded an increase in the efficiency of the prisoners.
Pohl was pleased; his project was more than successful. With enthusiasm, he set about creating brothels in other camps, for there was no shortage of women supplied by the obliging Maria Mandl. Hence, brothels appeared in Gusen, Buchenwald, Auschwitz, and others. Overall, ten concentration camps were staffed with such institutions. Thanks to this innovation, Pohl was even able to establish a kind of hierarchy among the prisoners. The fact is that visits to brothels were only allowed to privileged prisoners such as wardens, headmen, and the like. This was also due to the fact that the services were paid for and cost a lot for the inhabitants of the camp: two Reichsmarks.
This innovation also highlighted the particular negativity toward the Jews. The Jews were the only ones who were not allowed into the special rooms under any circumstances. It is believed that this was a personal order from Himmler, but no official documents confirming this information have been found. With the brothels, the SS tried to combat homosexuality among the prisoners. This was not because of any moral convictions—there were plenty of homosexuals among German soldiers as well—but because of practicality. Homosexuals could contract venereal diseases that were contagious. Such prisoners were subjected to forced treatment; if the result was negative, the prisoner could be shot instantly.
The documents indicate that according to various estimates, between 300 and 500 women went through a total of ten brothels in the camps. The vast majority were ethnic Germans, the rest were Poles, and there was only one Romanian woman. The situation of women, when compared with their conditions in times of peace, was horrific. Every day, each woman had to satisfy eight men, each of whom was granted 15 minutes. Privacy was out of the question; all the rooms were provided with holes through which garrison soldiers had to monitor the entire process.
Talking during the act was strictly forbidden. Before women began their duties, they underwent a meticulous medical examination followed by procedures to make them simply look good. They received shots of calcium, had their skin cleaned with special brushes, were bathed in disinfectant baths, were heavily fed, and left to sunbathe under Westlamps. The only last resort was sterilization so that the worker would not be discharged due to an accidental pregnancy.
All this was degrading and disgraceful, but for concentration camp inmates who endured even greater abuse from the Nazis on a daily basis, entering a camp brothel was almost a privilege. That they were treated far better than other prisoners is evidenced by the fact that in all the years of this system, almost all the women survived. Furthermore, some sort of ideological work was also conducted with them. Women were almost assured that if they performed their duties honestly and well for six months, they might even be released. Of course, few people believed these empty promises, but there was always hope, so the women agreed to all conditions.
Camp brothels lasted until the end of the war and were liquidated at the same time as the concentration camps. For a long time, the subject of camp brothels was a taboo, and it’s understandable. All kinds of human rights violations, including criminal forced sterilizations, would cast a tremendous shadow over modern society. But as we know, nothing lasts forever, and secrets sooner or later come to light.
In this matter too, the veil of secrecy was finally broken in 2009 by the historian Robert Sommer, who worked on the creation of a fundamental monograph on the years of existence of the camp brothels. His book, “The Camp Brothel: Forced Sex Labour in Nazi Concentration Camps,” reveals all the secrets of the establishment as well as development and conditions in these establishments. More than 450 pages provide the reader with information that was indecent for Germany at the time, listing all the names and dates.
The myths about the Nazis’ struggle against prostitution were debunked. On the contrary, the regime legalized and strengthened such structures, thus achieving two goals at the same moment: first, having its share in the business, and second, skillfully manipulating people using their physical needs. Sommer detailed allegations of forced prostitution with evidence, again portraying the leadership of the time in a negative light. The conditions were such that engaging in this shameful activity for camp inmates sometimes simply became a means of survival.
