I wanted to show you this early document about Dachau's KL.
If you find this interesting and there is any unclear point let me know and I will try to translate better.
Milan, April 3, 1936-XIV
To His Excellency the Chief of Police.
ROME.
Subject: Visit to german Dachau's concentration camp.
I am honoured to refer to H. E. about the visit we have done to the german concentration camp of Dachau on April 2.
The camp is 18 km far from Munich in a flat, rural locality enclosed by a high wall.
It holds about 1800 prisoners, 75% political and 25% civil.
In the camp various huts have been built up, conveniently distant from each other, used as accomodation for the prisoners.
They are separated according to their status: political prisoners isolated from civil ones, homosexuals from the others, in the same way Jews who raped Christian maidens.
However, this division can not be thoroughly respected, nor contacts avoided, because prisoners are obliged to work some hours a day and, in the place of work, they are divided depending on their professional abilities: woodworkers, shoemakers, mechanics, construction workers, gardeners.
Intellectuals are, usually, assigned to offices.
The big and equipped wood workshop is very remarkable among the camp's laboratories. Prisoners built almost every door, window and door casings and other accessories belonging to the enormous and modern barracks recently made up. They serve as accomodation for the SS-troops which have to monitor the prisoners. There is another entrance for these barracks besides the one in the camp.
Prisoners are brought here for an indefinite period of time, they are freed after a just lapse of time regolated upon their behaviour and after the Camp Commander (an SS superior official) and Munich's Chief of Police spoke their minds out.
Prisoners receive no wage by the Reich, which only provides to their subsistence, that is fairly good, according to the quality of the soup that has been delivered during our visit (a plentiful bowl of soup with potatoes, bread and chopped meat), to the physical appearance of the prisoners (rather well nourished) and to the little number of people settled in the infirmary (less than 10 with 1800 prisoners in the camp).
As I mentioned, vigilance and discipline are keeped by SS-troop-divisions, armed with rifles and machine-guns. In some turrets with a higher point of view there are machine-guns ready to be used whether it will be needed. These weapons are conveniently disposed in order to control every spot of the camp with cross-fire and repress every revolt they could stir up.
A wire fence along the high wall contributes to avert any desertion, thanks also to electric power supplied to it during the night.
Prisoners display an outstanding discipline. They show, even in this special way of life, the characteristics and the temperament of the race. They almost resemble troop-divisions when they march on, even though they are only moving from the huts to their work place or simply to the kitchens to get their food portion.
It has to be noticed a sort of hierarchy among the prisoners: on a prisoner has been bestowed the task of keeping order in the hut and communicating news to SS-officers and NCOs sent for inspection.
Prisoners can not get out of the camp in any way and they can not be visited by anybody.
Prisoners have got typical red painted stripes on the back of their jackets and on the external sides of their slacks, near the thigh. They are clearly signs made up to discern them in the distance and avoid mixing up with vigilant soldiers.
In the camp there is even an outlet where well-off prisoners can buy food defined, in amount, by well determined limits.
There is even a library which allows books and some permitted newspapers to be read.
There is, eventually, a large pool where prisoners can soak during the summer.
On the occasion of german elections, that took place on March 29, political prisoners of Dachau have been allowed to vote, commune prisoners were forbidden. About 1300 votes: 1269 "yes", 4 spoilt votes and the remnants are "no".
Dachau's supervisors have underlined the detail of the adverse votes, although they were an unimportant amount, declaring them to be searched among the jewish elements: free vote in captivity.
Respectfully yours,
Chief Commissioner of P.[ublic] S.[ecurity]Tommaso Petrillo
Source:
ACS (State Central Archive), Min. Int., Dir. Gen. di P. S., Segreteria del capo della polizia, fasc. Visita del Capo della Polizia in Germania (1936) as quoted in Renzo De Felice, "Storia degli ebrei italiani sotto il Fascismo", Einaudi, Torino, 1993, pagg. 249 and 553-554.
This document is part of a larger one which deals with the meeting between Arturo Bocchini (Chief of Italian Police) and Himmler in Germany in march-april 1936. It is not directly connected with the Holocaust, but I reckon it interesting.
I don't think the Germans had any interest in supplying propaganda to italian allies in 1936 providing prisoners a larger amount of soup. Very interesting the reference to the library, the pool and the outlet, even if I can't understand if it was an official or unofficial thing.
.
