NAZI PRISON CAMPS TO BE PERMANENT; Building Going On at Dachau to Convert Institution From a Revolutionary Makeshift. - The New York Times
NAZI PRISON CAMPS TO BE PERMANENT; Building Going On at Dachau to Convert Institution From a Revolutionary Makeshift.
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DACHAU, Bavaria, July 26.-The educational concentration camps of Nazi Germany apparently are destined to become permanent institutions, designed to crush in the bud any opposition and teach the misguided the only true national religion. This is evident at Dachau, Bavaria's big concentration camp, where considerable construction is going on that is to convert the camp from a revolutionary makeshift to an established "Nazi college." Among the new construction work is a prisoners' hospital where everything is spic and span from the dentist's chair to the operating room, a new mess hall for the guards, who have heretofore been forced to eat in their living rooms or in the open, although the prisoners have a vast, clean dining hall and a new big swimming pool, to be used alternatively by the prisoners and the guards.
Keeping Men Busy a Problem.
According to Commander Eicke the biggest problem of the concentration camp is one common to many penal institutions, namely, to find enough work to occupy all the prisoners.
"Ordinarily only half the prisoners are employed at any one time,' Herr Eick told your correspondent, and Deputy Commander Lippert added that the average working week for the prisoners was approximately twenty hours. Both insisted that the prisoners welcomed work as a relief from monotony and said they did not remember a single case of refusal to work."
On one point both commanders were vague, namely, the problem of how they kept discipline among the prisoners. both insisting "the men keep discipline among themselves,' but Herr Lippert also explained that some of the privileges granted to the other prisoners were denied to the unruly and they were forced to work beyond hours.
"The spirit of the men is satisfactory now," Commander Eicke declared. "It was not so in the beginning. Then political rivalries were still hot and there was some trouble, but not now any more."
Herr Lippert assured your correspondent that "the Communists often tell us that if they had won and had put us in concentration camps we would not have fared so well.”
"For instance, recently some Communists were brought in here who had attacked a transport of our men in which I participated," he added. "They badly injured some of us and one of our men lost an arm. When they arrived here they feared for their lives and did not trust the place for weeks. Now they are grateful."
Asks About Shootings.
It is necessary to point out here that the Nazi leaders have issued frequent stern warnings against the mistreatment of prisoners, which may have helped to improve the situation. But remembering notices in the press of prisoners being shot "while trying to escape" and mindful of persistent rumor in Munich that seven men have been shot at Dachau, the correspondent asked what the truth was.
"We have had two deaths here." Commander Eicke replied. "One prisoner attacked a guard with a knife and was shot down. Another, a Major who had been spying in our ranks for the reaction, killed himself in his cell here.'"
This revealed that besides the barracks there were disciplinary cells, which, however, were not shown to the correspondent.
The correspondent requested permission to talk with the prisoners themselves. Herr Lippert explained that ordinarily this was prohibited and that even the guards were allowed to speak to the prisoners only on matters of duty. Nevertheless he consented to call an intelligent-looking bearded man whom the correspondent picked out from a group lined up before the canteen. The man came on the run and stood at attention. Introducing himself as a representative of an American newspaper, the correspondent asked whether he had any complaints.
Has No Complaints.
"No, I haven't any complaints,' the prisoner replied. "Of course, there are two things that trouble us: we don't know how long we...