Forgotten Horrors
The Nazi sub-camp system
Innsbruck
Innsbruck
Image of the camp according to Dachau KZ blog
According to Dachau KZ blog, Innsbruck I served the Reich Road Construction Office (Reichsstrassenbauamt) while Innsbruck II was located at Fulpmes-Neustift, mentioned in records of the International Search Services dated 10th October 1942. The village of Neustift is 30 kilometres distant from Innsbruck, situated in the Stubai Valley. This was to be the location of an SS High Mountain School for the Alpenkorps. SS-Obersturmbannführer Eberhard von Quirsfeld was tasked with the construction of the school. The camp was liberated on 4th May 1945.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopaedia of Camps and Ghettoes (page 321) locates Innsbruck near near the town of Bor, naming the commander as Zaslos Nagy. The undernourished prisoners were engaged in railway constructon. The Bor area was evacuated by the Germans and Hungarians in September 1944, but Waffen SS troops committed a series of massacres resulting in the deaths of around 1,200 Jews, the remainder ending up in Austrian concentration camps, such as Flossenburg, in November 1944.
Innsbruck II consisted of 30-60 prisoners who worked in the SS-Hochgebirgsschule at Neustift. Dachau KZ blog mentions that it was the only camp named by witnesses in subsequent investigations, going to say that the prisoners were accommodated in an existing empty barrack located 50 metres way from a newly established training barracks. These barracks had been erected two years previously on behalf of the Reich Road Construction Office (Reichsstrassenbauamt) in order to house workers engaged on building the proposed Cross-Alpine Connecting Highway (Queralpen-Verbindungsstrasse) which was never actually constructed.
There were ten to twelve guards consisting of older ethnic Germans from Siebenbürgen, some of whom had been wounded previously. Guards and prisoners lived in the same barrack, the prisoners accommodated in three smaller rooms with barred windows. There was a high turnover of commanders. Dachau KZ blog suggests this was due to the commanders being rather easy going. In late 1942, the commander was Friedrich Pötter who is mentioned as being fairly humane in his treatment of the prisoners. He was replaced by SS-Obercharführer Arnold. SS chief officer Wicklein took over from 27th January 1943 to 13th June 1944, having previously served in the guard company at Dachau and then as commander of the sub-camp at Munich-Freimann. Karl Raush took over in 1944 and the last commander was SS subordinate leader Otto Dertinger. Prisoner accounts often mention SS-Unterscharführer, EWolf, described as a 'rabble rouser'.
Initially, there were about 60 male prisoners. These were usually reduced to around 20-30 prisoners during the winter and returned to around 60 in the following spring. Karl Wagner was appointed as Kapl on 13th October 1942, continuing in this role until April 1943 and succeeded by Hugo Jakusch until the liberation of the camp in May 1945.
The first task completed by the prisoners was the construction of the High Mountain School, accommodation barracks, parade ground and an ammunition depot. Thereafter, they worked as carpenters, electricians, bricklayers and boot-makers for the Hochgebirgsschule. They were paid for this work by the SS-WVHA, Department C (Building Management).
The camp was unfenced and the prisoners were also allowed to work, under guard, in the village, often receiving food gifts from the villagers. A kitchen, possibly an army field kitchen was made available and the prisoners could also use the school's dental and medical facilities.
Two prisoners were killed, this being subjected to criminal proceedings in 1963 and 1973, but without a successful guilty verdict being passed. Josef Scheiblecker was shot on 19th August 1943 for having been found in the apartment of a woman in the village. A second prisoner was shot following an attempted escape by two prisoners in February 1945. Of these two, one was killed in an avalanche. The other hid in the village but was discovered and was shot before he could be transported to Dachau.