The „Fall Grün“

While working on many biographies, it became apparent that Jewish men were transferred from Dachau concentration camp to Buchenwald on September 22 and 23, 1938. The fact that the transports carried out by the SS were part of international policy was made clear by an unexpected piece of information from the archives of the Buchenwald Memorial.
‘The background to this was the Nazi plan for the military conquest of the neighboring CSR. The military planning ran under the code word “Fall Grün” (case “Green”). Of course, the fact that the war did not come to pass is no credit to the Western “policy of appeasement”: the war became obsolete because Great Britain and France gave the Nazis a free hand against the Czech Republic.

Peter Dehn, February 2024.

The failure of “appeasement”

On November 5, 1937, Hitler announced his war plans[1] Wikipedia about the historical events surrounding the „Fall Grün“ and the Sudeten crisis, the Hoßbach-Protokoll, retrieved Jan 20, 2024. to selected military officers and the Foreign Ministry. First of all, Austria and Czechoslovakia – the predominantly German-speaking Sudeten region – were to be annexed. Military planning for an attack on the CSR began shortly afterwards under the code word “Fall Grün”.

The world had just approved the “Anschluss” of Austria on March 28, 1938 through inaction. Hitler now saw himself at an advantage for the destabilization and imminent conquest of the CSR. Nazi propaganda stoked nationalism and claimed that the German minority in the CSR had to be protected from foreign domination and should therefore be brought “home to the Reich”. “We must therefore always demand so much that we cannot be satisfied” Hitler[2] Helmuth G. Rönnefarth: „Die Sudetenkrise in der internationalen Politik: Entstehung – Verlauf – Auswirkung“, 2 Bde., Steiner, Wiesbaden 1961, vol. 1, p. 219, Wikipedia about the Sudenten crisis, ibid. advised his political henchman in the Sudeten region, Konrad Henlein.

Hitler on course for conquest

In May 1938, Hitler confirmed his war course[3] Klaus Sator: „Das „Münchener Abkommen von 1938 und die Zerschlagung der Tschechoslowakei.“ In: Wissenschaftliche Dienste des Deutschen Bundestages, Aktueller Begriff Nr. 30/2013, 27.9.2013, (German), ibid. – again internally: “It is my unalterable decision to smash Czechoslovakia in the foreseeable future by military action.” He relied on further escalation as propaganda justification. Among other things, Poland and Hungary were persuaded to make territorial claims against the CSR. Provocative speeches by Hitler and Goebbels encouraged Henlein’s entourage to set up paramilitary units and launch an uprising, which failed.

At the same time, international negotiations began in August. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain met with Hitler several times in September. The Czech Republic felt threatened and ordered general mobilization. A few days later, on September 26, 1938, Goebbels publicly threatened the Czech Republic with war for the first time. Another three days later, the heads of government Hitler, Mussolini, Chamberlain and, for France, Daladier met. They agreed the Munich Agreement[4] Wikipedia about the Munich Agreement (German), retrieved Jan 20, 2024. on September 30. The Czech government, which – like its ally the Soviet Union – was not wanted at the negotiating table, was forced to cede a fifth of its territory to Germany and thus lost a quarter of its population. This is why the agreement is often referred to as the “Munich Dictate”. Poland and Hungary also used the agreement to annex areas of the CSR. The Czech Republic was thus broken up with British and French help and a democratic state became the vassal of a dictatorship.

Chamberlain and Daladier now performed as angels of peace. “I believe it is peace for our time[5] This bold statement copied a comment made by the US politician Disraeli in 1878. See Wikipedia, retrieved Jan 20, 2024.“, Chamberlain boasted on his return to England with this borrowed slogan.

Peace for just half a year

The Munich Agreement proved to be a farce after just six months: on March 15, 1939, he implemented his plan from May 1938 and allowed the Wehrmacht to march into the Czech Republic. The rest of the Czech Republic remaining after the annexations by Germany, Poland and Hungary was defenceless and the army was disarmed without resistance. The following day, the area was annexed by the Nazi Reich as the “Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia[6] Cf. German Federal Archive about the Munich Agreement, retrieved Jan 20, 2024.” with the appearance of partial autonomy.

The display of the Nazi Reich’s foreign policy dominance, which was accepted by foreign countries, ultimately turned Chamberlain’s strategy of “appeasement” into a strategic failure. Chamberlain and Daladier’s prostration before the German and Italian fascists delayed the start of the war by eleven months at most: on September 1, 1939, Hitler justified the attack on Poland and thus the start of the Second World War with a propaganda lie. Dictatorially ruled Slovakia[7] Wikipedia about Slowakia (German), retrieved Jan 20, 2024., founded by Nazi allies, was also involved on the side of the aggressors from the very beginning.

So much for the historical background to the “Fall Grün”.

From Dachau to Buchenwald

The Nazis flanked the military planning of the “Green Case” with preparations to put prisoners and members of the opposition from the Czech Republic behind bars. Due to its proximity to the neighboring country, the Dachau concentration camp was evacuated. “The non-Jews who remained in Dachau were housed in tents outside the camp. The camp was evacuated. Nobody knows for whom,” recalled prisoner Bruno Heilig[8] Bruno Heilig, „Menschen am Kreuz, Berlin 1948. Quoted from Harry Stein „Juden in Buchenwald 1937 – 1942“, Hrg. Gedenkstätte Buchenwald 1992, p 31. (German)..

After obvious tests on September 16 and 19, 1938 with 70 and 30 Jewish prisoners, two large transports with 1,200 Jews were sent from Dachau to Buchenwald on September 22 and 1,095 Jews on September 23. Franz Lebrecht[9] Lebrecht, Franz, „Bericht über Erlebnisse während der Zeit des Dritten Reiches, - u.a. aus 4 Konzentrationslagern“ (Report on experiences during the time of the Third Reich, - including 4 concentration camps; German) from April 10, 1960, to Wiener Library, London, p 16. places this in the context of the Czech crisis and reports on the transportation of September 22, 1938:

“… on which we were not allowed to sleep, but either had to point our heads to a certain spot on the ceiling or move our heads up and down, sing songs or rest our arms on the floor of the carriage.”

Heinz Dehn, Leon Gottlieb and Ernst Friedlich were among the almost 2,000 men sent on the transport on 22 and 23 September 1940. Franz Lebrecht described the reception in Buchenwald as follows: “A criminal, at that time one of the camp elders, named Richter (a former steel helmets man whom I knew from Lichtenburg), who was found to be an informer, chased us into the barracks and beat us.”

The proportion of Jewish prisoners among the 10,488 Buchwald inmates rose to 3,124 by the end of September. “Whereas until September 1938 every ninth prisoner was Jewish, this now affected every third,” summarises Harry Stein[10] Harry Stein, ibid..

The suddenly much higher occupancy rate led to overcrowding. Stein describes the situation:

“The Jewish prisoners from Dachau were crammed into totally overcrowded barracks. There was a lack of everything in these barracks. There were not enough tables, chairs and beds. Each double bunk was occupied by three men. Dozens slept on the floor night after night. The criminal block elders of the Jewish barracks tried to control the chaos by shouting and beating, but this had the opposite effect.”

The political prisoners help

Most of the now 2,395 Jews in Buchenwald were political prisoners[11] Cf. Thüringer Staatsarchiv NS4 BU 17 137, quoted from Stein loc.cit, page 33.. Of the 4,012 men who were detained on November 10, 1938[12] Not including the 9,845 "Aktionsjuden" arrested on November 10, who were deported to Buchenwald. 10,911 men were taken to Dachau, the number of "Aktionsjuden" sent to Sachsenhausen is estimated at 6,000. retrieved Jan 20, 2024. not far from the Goethe and Schiller city of Weimar,as “political prisoners” 1,955 were Jewish.

The solidarity of the political prisoners[13] Stein loc.cit., page 35. is ultimately also a chapter of resistance against the criminals and the Nazis who launched them into camp functions. Stein writes about the solidarity of the political prisoners:

“The German political Jews arranged the beds in their barracks so that five men could sleep in three bunks. This simple measure, which the criminal block elders had not been able to do, visibly eased the situation. (…) Even here it became clear how important it was for the life of the Jewish prisoners in the camp that political prisoners from their ranks took over the functions of block elders and room attendants.”

In addition, 434 “police prisoners” were brought from Vienna to Buchenwald on September 25. The majority of this group were not Jews, but mainly Austrofascists, who were housed in a separate barrack.

… not to surrender …

The Dachau Jews were treated no differently to the Jews who had already been imprisoned in Buchenwald concentration camp. “They were also assigned to heavy labor detachments and were particularly harassed and mistreated,” Stein estimates. However, he also points out that political opposition to Nazi rule “was a source of strength that made them morally more resilient. It was not primarily decisive which individual political views fed this source. What was essential was that they had a motive not to surrender[14] Stein ibid, page 36..”

However, the men who were imprisoned solely because of their Jewish ancestry fared much worse, as the Austrian Jew Bruno Heilig[15] Heilig, page 120, quoted from Stein loc.cit., page 36/37. noted:

“These people are in a terrible state of mind. (… In contrast to the political prisoners, they …) never thought about fighting, they went about their business, paid their taxes, played cards in the coffee house, slept with their wives and politics was for them newspaper reading. Now, all of a sudden, they have become suffering heroes of politics. They were uncomprehending, stunned by this fate.”

The Jewish musicians Fritz Löhner-Beda and Hermann Leopoldi probably also had this realisation in mind. With their Buchenwald Song[16] Background, lyrics and a recording of the Buchenwald Song on the Buchenwald Memorial website, retrieved Jan 20, 2024., they also gave support to the discouraged and passive. It says, among other things:

Keep pace, comrade, and do not lose courage,
for we carry the will to live in our blood
and in our hearts, our hearts faith.

And in the chorus:

Oh, Buchenwald, we neither lament, nor complain,
and whatever our future may hold,
we still want to say “yes” to life,
because the day will come: then we will be free!

Read what Franz Lebrecht reported on everyday life in Buchenwald concentration camp. Leon Gottlieb wrote a manuscript about his experiences “Two years in Nazi concentration camps“.

Footnotes