Falstad concentration camp
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[edit] History
Falstad concentration camp was a prison camp in Levanger, Norway, used mostly for political prisoners from Nazi-occupied territories. Originally built as a government boarding school in 1921, it was put to use by the SS and renamed SS-Strafgefangenenlager Falstad in August 1941. The camp was liberated in May 1945, after which it was renamed to Innherad and used as a prison and work camp by the Norwegian authorities for accused and convicted traitors. Today it is a museum and research center on human rights in general and political prisoners in particular.
[edit] Use
The Gestapo ran the camp primarily as a facility for political prisoners from German-occupied areas. Altogether people of 13 nationalities were imprisoned at Falstad. Most were from Norway, the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Denmark, and Poland. Although a few remained in the camp for longer periods, most were quickly sent to camps in Germany or Poland, or to the main concentration camp in Norway, Grini.
The camp was also used as a transit camp for deportation of Norwegian Jews to Auschwitz. 47 Jewish men were imprisoned at Falstad at one point or another. One, Ephraim Wolff Koritzinsky, died of cancer at Levanger hospital on May 15, 1942. At least eight were murdered at Falstad,
The main characteristic of the camp was forced, hard, and largely meaningless labor. Degradations and abuse were commonplace, particularly under the administration of SS-Hauptscharführer Gogol and Hans Lambrecht, a prison guard known among the prisoners as Gråbein (Grayleg)—an appellation used in reference to wolves.
[edit] Executions
The camp commanders used the nearby forest (Falstadskogen) as a site for extrajudicial executions of prisoners of war, and executions following show trials of political and Jewish prisoners.
The first executions took place on 7 March 1942, when Olav Sverre Benjaminsen, Abel Lazar Bernstein, David Isaksen, Wulf Isaksen, and David Wolfsohn were shot. All of these, except Benjaminsen, were Jewish. In June, 1942, Ljuban Vukovic, a Yugoslavian prisoner of war, was made the first grave digger for the forest.
On October 6, 1942, the Nazi authorities imposed martial law on sections of central Norway, and at least 170 non-Norwegian prisoners and 34 Norwegian political prisoners were executed in the forest (Falstadskogen) just south of Falstad.
On November 13, 1942 Moritz Abrahamsen, Kalman Glick og Herman Schidorsky, all Jewish, were executed. On February 16, 1943, Toralf Berg - a resistance fighter - was executed. During the summer of 1943, a change in the command of the camp led to improved conditions for the remaining prisoners.
Throughout all this, more than 150 unnamed prisoners of war were also shot in the forest. During May 4th and 5th 1945, the camp authorities sought to exhume and hide the bodies of their victims, sinking about 25 in the fjord near the camp.
Efforts to find, exhume, identify, and bury the victims are ongoing. The original estimate of 202 dead is considered low.
Much research remains to be done to uncover the specifics and nature of Nazi atrocities committed at Falstad.
[edit] Commanders and officials
- There were six camp commanders of Falstad during the war: Paul Schöning, Paul Gogol, Scharschmidt (first name uknown), Werner Jeck, Georg Bauer and Karl Denk. None of these was prosecuted for war crimes in Norway, though Denk may have faced trial in Germany for unrelated charges.
- Gerhard Flesch, Kommandeur der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD Trondheim 1941 to 1945 was sentenced to death during the Legal purge in Norway after World War II
- Walter Hollack, Gestapo officer who acted as "prosecutor" during the tribunals in 1942. Was sentenced to a life term of hard labor, but was pardoned in 1953 and deported on 22 June that year.
- Hans Roth, section leader and for a short period of executive officer, noted for his proclivity for beating up prisoners. Was sentenced to 15 years at hard labor, but was pardoned and deported June 16, 1950
- Oscar Hans, leader of the Sonderkommando and the commander of the firing squads that killed prisoners. Was originally sentenced to death, but this was commuted by the Norwegian supreme court. Was expelled and deported to Germany on December 10, 1947.
- Josef Schlossmacher, Gestapo official in Trondheim. Incriminated in several aspects of the executions at Falstad, but charges against him were dropped.
- Julius Nielson, Gestapo official who played an active role in capturing and sending prisoners to Falstad. Was sentenced to death and executed in Trondheim July 10, 1948.
