A Study in Philatelic Usage
of the Term Schutzhaft
The term Schutzhaft (protective custody) has fascinated me since I began to collect mail from the Holocaust. It is evident from the preprinted or handwritten return addresses on concentration camp mail that this word is used in several different ways. This term, as well as the other mailing instructions, convey the impression that the inmate is being held for his or her own protection and that all his needs will be met at the camp.
Most of the camp postal regulations read as follows:
- Each protective prisoner can receive and send to relatives two letters or two cards a month. Letters to prisoners are to be legible and written in ink and can contain 15 lines on one side of normal paper. Only 5 postal stamps of 12 pfg. are permitted in one letter. Anything else is prohibited and will be sequestered. Post cards have to have 10 lines. Picture postcards are not permitted.
- Sending money is permitted.
- Newspapers are permitted and can be received at the camp.
- Packages are not permitted because prisoners can buy everything in the camp.
- Applications for dismissal from the camp to the camp administration are in vain.
- Permission for conversations or visits with prisoners are basically not permitted.
However, “protective custody” did not protect the inmate from possible harm. Rather, this is just one of many Nazi euphemisms, “expression[s] intended to be less offensive, disturbing, or troubling than the word or phrase [they] replace[s].”
Nazi euphemisms played an important role in the dehumanizing process of the Holocaust. Ultimately, the “Jewish problem” was solved through the “Final Solution,” a euphemism for extermination. Terms such as euthanasia and mercy death cloaked the murders of the handicapped (who were designated unworthy of life). Obviously these murders were committed for racial reasons—and not to ease suffering. Special treatment in euthanasia installations meant killing by poison gas.
History of the Schutzhaft
“Protective custody” of regime opponents did not mean protection from danger, but rather unlimited incarceration without trial. A cruel deception and irony also marked the infamous camp entrance signs: Arbeit macht frei (Work will set you free) (Mary Harran. 2007. The Holocaust Chronicle: A History in Words and Pictures. Lincolnwood, IL: Publications International, page 215).
In Rudolf Hess’s autobiography, he noted that “Within a few weeks of his coming to power in 1933, Hitler introduced what was called Schutzhaft, or protective custody, into the legal system. Under this provision, anyone who showed any signs of active opposition to the new regime could be kept under restraint and supervision, and during the next six years, thousands of Germans were thrown into concentration camps for what was euphemistically called “treatment.” Many of them never regained their freedom” (Constantine Fitzgibbon, Rudolf Hoess, and Joachim Neugroschel. 2000. Commandant of Auschwitz: The Autobiography of Rudolf Hoess. World Publishing Company, page 13).
Justice Robert Jackson, in his cross examination of Hermann Göring during the “Trial of the Major War Criminals, 3/18/46” asks the question: “Protective custody meant that you were taking people into custody who had not committed any crimes but who, you thought, might possibly commit a crime?” Göring replied, “Yes. People were arrested and taken into protective custody who had not yet committed any crime, but who could be expected to do so if they remained free.” (UMKC Law School: Transcript. “Cross Examination of Hermann Goering: 3/18/46″ http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/nuremberg/Goering1.html).
Central to gaining and maintaining hold of power in Germany was suppression of the opposition. From the beginnings of the regime, the Nazis understood the importance of ridding themselves of anyone who spoke out against them (The Nizkor Project. “Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression. Vol. I, Ch. XI. The Concentration Camp. The Beginning of Protective Custody (Part 2 of 5). http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/imt/nca/nca-01/nca-01-11-camps-01b.html). As soon as Hitler became Chancellor, he issued the Presidential Emergency Decree of 28 February 1933. This was precipitated by a deliberately set fire that gutted the Reichstag on the same day. On The same night, the blame was officially laid on the Communists (Hermann Mau and Helmut Krausnik. German History 1933-45. London: Oswald Wolff).
This decree was the basis for Schutzhaft, which gave the Nazis the power to imprison people without judicial proceedings. The Presidential Emergency Decree became more permanent with the Enabling Act of March, 1933, which “legally” provided the Reich with the means to arrest and incarcerate any regime opponents. Those arrested were put into protective custody and sent to one of the newly established concentration camps.
Initially the Nazis used this decree to arrest and incarcerate any and all political opponents, union organizers, or any other opponents to the new regime who spoke out against the Nazis. After the Kristallnacht pogrom in November 1938, the Nazis began to arrest Jews and send them to the concentration camps, also as protective prisoners.
Schutzhaft in the Postal System
Now that we’ve seen the order of events leading up to the Schutzhaft or “protective custody” legislation, I would like to show how this term is expressed in the postal system and on postal immersions.
The covers that use the term protective custody can be divided into three groups. The first grouping shows the term preprinted in the paragraph format as part of directions to the sender and camp regulations. The second grouping shows the term preprinted in the return address. The third set of illustrations shows the handwritten term Schutzhaft in the return address.
Preprinted in Camp Regulations
The paragraph style of postal instructions were used on many of the concentration camp cards and envelopes. The written instructions attempt to demonstrate that the camp restrictions were not bad, and that the prisoner, who was incarcerated for his own protection, has everything he or she needs. We see the progression of the mailing directions from a brief paragraph style early in the Nazi regime to a lengthier version in the later course of the Reich.
The following example shows the paragraph-style instructions indicative of mail from the first concentration camps established by the Nazis. This card was mailed three months after the opening of Dachau Concentration Camp on March 22, 1933.
Concentration Camp Dachau
Excerpt from the camp regulations:
Protective prisoners may receive 1 package of underwear every month up to 10 lbs. (food, smoking materials, etc., are excluded). In addition, one letter and one postcard are permitted. Nonobservance of the rules will result in confiscation. Visitation is not permitted.
The Camp Commander
The second example is a preprinted numbered list of postal regulations found on stationery from the camps. The following example, from Auschwitz, indicates six regulations.
The first instruction uses the word Schutzhäftling: Jeder Schutzhäftling darf im Monat zwei Briefe… (Each protective prisoner may receive two letters per month…)
Preprinted In Return Address
In this second style, the term Schutzhäftling is used in the preprinted return address. Again, the format gives the recipient of the letter or card the impression that the person is incarcerated for his or her own good.
The following cover, from Camp Stuthoff, shows the term Schutzhäftling below the write-on line for the person’s name. There is also a hand-written P indicating that the inmate was of Polish descent.
The next cover is from Camp Buchenwald. Once again, below the name write-on line is the term Schutzhäftling. The name in the return address indicates the writer is Jewish; it contains the Isr middle name. This is a very rare specimen of Jewish mail from the concentration camps.
Handwritten in Return Address
The final style of covers are those that include the handwritten word Schutzhäftling.” In these cases the prisoner has labeled him- or herself as a “protective prisoner.” In some cases, the writer went a step further and indicated his nationality or race.
The cover below shows the handwritten term. The number 5 in the lower left indicates shows a parcel receipt card with the hand-written word Schutzhäftling in the return address.
This cover shows the handwritten “Schutzhäftling” in the return address of the envelope.
In the cover below, in addition to the handwritten Schutzhäftling, we see the designation Pole which indicates that the sender of the letter is of Polish
nationality.
Finally the cover below shows the same handwritten Schutzhäftling, but with the added designation of Jude (Jew).
