Haidari concentration camp
The Haidari concentration camp (Greek: στρατόπεδο συγκέντρωσης Χαϊδαρίου, romanized: stratópedo syngéntrosis Chaidaríou; German: KZ Chaidari) was a concentration camp operated by the German Schutzstaffel at the Athens suburb of Haidari during the Axis occupation of Greece in World War II.[1] Operating from September 1943 until it was shut down in September 1944, it was the largest and most notorious concentration camp in wartime Greece, becoming known as the "Bastille of Greece".[2]
It was a transit camp established on the grounds of a
Establishment
Following the
Description of the camp
The camp was originally built as an army barracks which had never been finished,[8] and its structures were looted in 1941. As a result, it was in poor shape when the first prisoners started arriving at the beginning of September 1943,[5] and the situation would deteriorate further in the months to come, when the camp came under German control.[8] The camp had a roughly rectangular shape, surrounded by a triple barbed wire fence, with guard towers at every 200 m (660 ft). The camp's gate was on the western side of the fence. Most buildings were clustered on the northern half of the camp.[9] Blocks 1 to 4 were located there, built in a staggered line towards the East. These were two-storey barracks buildings, divided in two equal but separate sections, western and eastern, with separate entrances to each.[9] In addition, the north-eastern corner housed storage houses, the mess hall, the baths (Block 16), where the women's solitary confinement cells were also located, the workshops (Block 21) and the camp headquarters (Block 20). The infamous Block 15, located to the east of the headquarters, was the solitary confinement facility, with the camp guard's quarters and mess room.[9] In the south-eastern corner there was the isolated women's wing (Block 6). Under the Germans, the first floor housed Jewish women, while the second floor was reserved for Christians.[9] In total, over 300 Christian and 2,500 Jewish women passed through Haidari beginning on 7 December 1943, including heroines of the Resistance such as Iro Konstantopoulou or Lela Karagianni (executed on 5 and 8 September 1944 respectively).[10]
Under the Germans
The new German commandant, sergeant Rudi Trepte, quickly imposed a more rigid regime, with prisoners confined to their rooms in their free time, and visits were restricted to once a month.[6] Meanwhile, the camp's population began to grow: 300 prisoners from Kalamata arrived in October, and 400 were transferred from the Averof prisons in early November.[6] However, Trepte and his two Greek translators were soon arrested by the Gestapo, for reasons as yet unknown. After a few days, the camp passed under the authority of the SS,[6] and the Sturmbannführer Paul Radomski.[11]
Radomski was an "
Under Radomski, the camp inmates were put to labour in two four-hour shifts each day except Sundays. The inmates were divided into groups of 100 men, with a
An account by an eyewitness, Constantine Vatikiotis, who was arrested on 26 October 1943, describes Radomski personally executing a Jewish prisoner called Levy, in front of the other prisoners, "for attempting to escape on the day of his arrest". This execution was to serve not only as a warning to the others, but, according to post-war psychological research, to "put the inmates in constant fear of their lives".[11][15] Vatikiotis estimated that in the few months he was at Haidari some 2,000 people were executed.[11] Another 300 died as a result of torture either at Haidari or in the Gestapo headquarters at Merlin street in central Athens. These numbers included 30 women, 104 invalids, and 230 students.[15]
Radomski was relieved of his post in February 1944, after he threatened to shoot his own adjutant while drunk, and was replaced by Lieutenant Karl Fischer.[16] Fischer reversed his predecessor's policies: instead of Radomski's brutal treatment, he relied on informants and spies among the prisoners.[17] Despite the somewhat relaxed atmosphere, Fischer also oversaw the period of most activity on the camp: during spring and summer 1944, the Germans engaged in constant razzias, blockades and mass arrests in Athens,[18] and the camp's inmate population peaking at several thousands in August, barely two months before Liberation.[5] Several hundred of the people captured in these round-ups were then transported to Germany for forced labour.[19]
German reprisal policies also saw a sharp rise in executions, most famously the case of the 200 Communists who were
In March, the Germans also imprisoned several prominent politicians, whom they suspected of contacts with the British. These included the former
Jews at Haidari
Even though the Germans had already deported the Jews of
Post-war history and commemoration
Since the late 1940s, the camp has been used by the Greek Army, which established an infantry heavy weapons (ΚΕΒΟΠ) and a communications school (ΚΕΔ) on the grounds. Notably, in the 1950s, Block 15 was again used as a detention facility.
References
- ^ Muñoz (2018), pp. 112
- ^ Mazower (1995), p. 377
- ^ Mazower (1995), pp. 226-228
- ^ Mazower (1995), p. 228
- ^ a b c "Ίδρυση του στρατοπέδου" (in Greek). Haidari Municipality. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
- ^ a b c d e "Το στρατόπεδο του Χαϊδαρίου πριν από τους S.S." (in Greek). Haidari Municipality. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
- ^ "Μπλοκ 15" (in Greek). Haidari Municipality. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
- ^ a b c Mazower (1995), p. 226
- ^ a b c d "Περιγραφή των κτηριακών εγκαταστάσεων του στρατοπέδου" (in Greek). Haidari Municipality. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
- ^ "Γυναίκες στο Χαϊδάρι" (in Greek). Haidari Municipality. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
- ^ a b c d Mazower (1995), p. 227.
- ^ Mazower (1995), p. 229.
- Frankfurt am Main1986, p. 548.
- ^ "Το Χαϊδάρι στρατόπεδο των S.S. Ο ταγματάρχης Paul Radomski" (in Greek). Haidari Municipality. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
- ^ a b (in Greek) Haidari Municipality: The first execution at Haidari Archived 2008-10-08 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Mazower (1995), pp. 229-230.
- ^ "Ο διοικητής Karl Fischer" (in Greek). Haidari Municipality. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
- ^ Mazower (1995), p. 344.
- ^ Mazower (1995), p. 345.
- ^ "Η εκτέλεση των διακοσίων - Πρωτομαγιά του 1944" (in Greek). Haidari Municipality. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
- ^ Mazower (1995), p. 233.
- ^ Mazower (1995), pp. 232-234.
- ^ Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and Museum, The Holocaust in Ioannina Archived 2008-12-08 at the Wayback Machine URL accessed January 5, 2009
- ^ Raptis, Alekos and Tzallas, Thumios, Deportation of Jews of Ioannina, Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and Museum, July 28, 2005 Archived February 26, 2009, at the Wayback Machine URL accessed January 5, 2009
- ^ a b c "Εβραίοι στο Χαϊδάρι" (in Greek). Haidari Municipality. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
- ^ Mazower (1995), p. 252
- ^ "Το στρατόπεδο του Χαϊδαρίου στην ιστορική μνήμη" (in Greek). Haidari Municipality. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
Sources
- "Δήμος Χαϊδαρίου: Ιστορική Αναδρομή" (in Greek). Haidari Municipality. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
- Mazower, Mark (1995). Inside Hitler's Greece: The Experience of Occupation, 1941-44. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-08923-6.
- Muñoz, Antonio (2018). The German Secret Field Police in Greece, 1941-1944. McFarland. ISBN 978-1476667843.