Theodor Eicke

Theodor Eicke
Theodor Eicke
	SS Division Totenkopf
Battles/wars	World War I; World War II Battle of France; Operation Barbarossa; Third Battle of Kharkov †;
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves

Theodor Eicke (17 October 1892 – 26 February 1943) was a senior

Nazi era. He was one of the key figures in the development of Nazi concentration camps. Eicke served as the second commandant of the Dachau concentration camp from June 1933 to July 1934, and together with his adjutant Michael Lippert, was one of the executioners of SA Chief Ernst Röhm during the Night of the Long Knives purge of 1934.^[1]

He continued to expand and develop the concentration camp system as the first Concentration Camps Inspector.

In 1939, Eicke became commander of the

Second World War on the Western and Eastern fronts. Eicke was killed on 26 February 1943, when his plane was shot down during the Third Battle of Kharkov

.

Early life and World War I

Theodor Eicke was born on 17 October 1892, in

middle-class family. His father was a station master described as a German patriot. Eicke was an underachiever in school, dropping out at the age of 17 before graduation. Instead he joined the Bavarian Army (23rd Bavarian Infantry Regiment at Landau) as a volunteer, and then was transferred to the Bavarian 3rd Infantry Regiment in 1913.^[2]

Upon the start of

infantryman, and for his bravery during the war was awarded the Iron Cross Second Class.^[2] Despite being decorated, Eicke spent most of the conflict behind the lines as a regimental paymaster.^[3]

Late in 1914, Eicke's commander had approved his request to temporarily return home on leave to marry Bertha Schwebel of Ilmenau on 26 December 1914, with whom he had two children: a daughter, Irma, on 5 April 1916 and a son, Hermann, on 4 May 1920.^[4]

Following the end of the First World War, Eicke remained as an army paymaster now in service of the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic, until resigning from the position in 1919.^[5] Eicke began studying at a technical school in Ilmenau, but was forced to drop out shortly due to a lack of funds. From 1920, Eicke pursued a career as a police officer working for two different departments, initially worked as an informant and later as a regular policeman.^[6] Eicke's police career was ended in 1923 due to his open hatred for the Weimar Republic and his repeated participation in violent political demonstrations.^[5] He found work in 1923 at IG Farben in Ludwigshafen and remained there as a "security officer" until 1932.^[7]

SS career

Nazi activism, early SS membership, and exile

Eicke's views on the Weimar Republic mirrored those of the

Reichsführer of the SS.^[5]

In early 1932, his political activities caught the attention of his employer IG Farben, who subsequently terminated his employment. At the same time, he was caught preparing bomb attacks on political enemies in

fascist state under the rule of Benito Mussolini, and Eicke was entrusted by Himmler with running a "terrorist training camp for Austrian Nazis" at Lake Garda, and once even had the privilege of "showing Italian dictator Benito Mussolini around."^[10] On 28 October 1932, he officially met with Italian Fascists in the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the March on Rome, at the newly erected Bolzano Victory Monument.^[11]

Return to Germany

In March 1933, less than three months after

SS-Wachverbände (Guard Unit).^[16]

Development of concentration camp system

Eicke was promoted on 30 January 1934 to SS-

disciplinary and punishment regulations for detainees.^[18] Uniforms were issued for prisoners and guards alike, and it was Eicke who introduced the infamous blue and white striped pyjamas that came to symbolize the Nazi concentration camps across Europe.^[19] The uniforms for the guards at the camps had a special "death's head" insignia on their collars. While Eicke's reforms ended the haphazard brutality that had characterized the original camps, the new regulations were very far from humane: heavy-handed discipline, including death in some cases, was instituted for even trivial offenses.^[20] Eicke was known for his brutality, detested weakness, and instructed his men that any SS man with a soft heart should "... retire at once to a monastery".^[8]^[21] Historian Nikolaus Wachsmann asserts that while it was Himmler who established the "general direction for the later SS camp system," it was Eicke who "became its powerful motor."^[22] Eicke's antisemitism, anti-bolshevism, as well as his insistence on unconditional obedience towards him, the SS, and Hitler, made a positive impression on Himmler.^[21] By May 1934, Eicke had already styled himself as the "inspector of concentration camps" for Nazi Germany.^[23]

Arbeit Macht Frei ("Work sets you free") slogan commonly featured at Nazi concentration camps.
48°16′06″N 11°28′01″E / 48.268347°N 11.466865°E

Night of the Long Knives

In early 1934, Hitler and other Nazi leaders became concerned that

Inspektion der Konzentrationslager (Concentration Camps Inspectorate or CCI).^[28]^[29] Himmler also promoted Eicke to the rank of SS-Gruppenführer in command of the SS-Wachverbände. As a result of the Night of the Long Knives, the SA was extensively weakened, and the remaining SA-run camps were taken over by the SS.^[30]^[31] Further, in 1935, Dachau became the training center for the concentration camps service.^[8]

Camp inspector

In his role as the Concentration Camps Inspector, Eicke began a mass reorganisation of the camps in 1935. On 29 March 1936, the concentration camp guards and administration units were officially designated as the

Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp, opened in 1938.^[8] Sometime in August 1938, Eicke's entire supporting staff was moved to Oranienburg (near Sachsenhausen) where the Inspektion office would remain until 1945.^[36] Nonetheless, Eicke's role as the person designated to inspect concentration camps placed him within the framework of Heydrich's SD secret state police; whereas his command of the Death's Head units, made him accountable to the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) of the SS.^[36] All regulations for SS-run camps, both for guards and prisoners, followed the model established by Eicke at the Dachau camp.^[17]

SS Division Totenkopf

SS Division Totenkopf in the Soviet Union
in 1941.

At the beginning of

SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt (SS Economic and Administrative Department; WVHA) also under Pohl.^[41] Therefore, the entire concentration camp system was placed under the authority of the WVHA with the Inspector of Concentration Camps now a subordinate to the Chief of the WVHA.^[42] Pohl assured Eicke that the command structure he had introduced would not fall to the jurisdiction of the Gestapo or SD. The CCI and later Amt D were subordinate to the SD and Gestapo only in regards to who was admitted to the camps and who was released, and what happened inside the camps was under the command of Amt D.^[43]

The SS Division Totenkopf, also known as the Totenkopf Division, went on to become one of the most effective German formations on the

pillaging of Soviet villages.^[47]

Death

Eicke was killed on 26 February 1943, during the opening stages of the

Zhitomir in Ukraine.^[50] Eicke's body remained in Ukraine, where it was likely bulldozed by Soviet forces, since it was customary for them to destroy German graves.^[51]

Awards

Iron Cross (1914) 2nd Class^[52]
Clasp to the Iron Cross (1939) 2nd Class (26 May 1940)
Iron Cross (1939) 1st Class (31 May 1940)^[53]
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
- Knight's Cross on 26 December 1941 as SS-Gruppenführer and Generalleutnant of the Waffen-SS and commander of SS-Division "Totenkopf"^[54]
- 88th Oak Leaves on 20 April 1942 as SS-Obergruppenführer and General of the Waffen-SS and commander of SS-"Totenkopf" Division^[55]
Wound Badge in Silver^[56]

References

^ Kershaw 2008, p. 312.
^ ^a ^b Mitcham & Mueller 2012, p. 261.
^ Gilbert 2019, p. 16.
^ Mitcham & Mueller 2012, pp. 261–262.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Hamilton 1984, p. 261.
^ Mitcham & Mueller 2012, p. 262.
^ Sydnor 1977, p. 5.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e McNab 2009, p. 137.
^ Sydnor 1977, p. 6.
^ Wachsmann 2015, p. 58.
^ Obermair 2017, p. 93.
^ Longerich 2012, pp. 152–153.
^ Evans 2003, p. 344.
^ Longerich 2012, p. 153.
^ Padfield 2001, pp. 128–129.
^ Padfield 2001, p. 129.
^ ^a ^b Evans 2005, p. 84.
^ Rees 2017, p. 78.
^ Childers 2017, p. 320.
^ Evans 2005, pp. 84–85.
^ ^a ^b Hamilton 1984, p. 263.
^ Wachsmann 2015, p. 57.
^ Wachsmann 2015, p. 84.
^ Kershaw 2008, pp. 306–309.
^ Dams & Stolle 2014, pp. 14–15.
^ Gilbert 2019, p. 19.
^ Stein 1984, p. 8.
^ Rees 2017, p. 83.
^ Longerich 2012, pp. 174–175.
^ Kershaw 2008, pp. 308–314.
^ Evans 2005, pp. 31–35, 39.
^ Buchheim 1968, p. 258.
^ Breitman 1991, pp. 66–67.
^ Koehl 2004, p. 146.
^ Koehl 2004, p. 147.
^ ^a ^b Sofsky 1997, p. 31.
^ Stein 1984, pp. 33–34.
^ Sydnor 1977, p. 52.
^ Mitcham & Mueller 2012, p. 266.
^ Broszat 1968, p. 461.
^ Weale 2012, p. 115.
^ Koehl 2004, pp. 182–183.
^ Williams 2001, p. 51.
^ McNab 2009, pp. 66–68, 73.
^ Sydnor 1977, pp. 94–95.
^ Cooper 2004.
^ Sydnor 1977, p. 295, fn.
^ Flaherty 2004, p. 146.
^ Ripley 2004, p. 59.
^ Mitcham & Mueller 2012, pp. 271–272.
^ Mitcham & Mueller 2012, p. 272.
^ Sydnor 1977, p. 4.
^ Thomas 1997, p. 149.
^ Fellgiebel 2000, p. 171.
^ Fellgiebel 2000, p. 59.
^ Miller 2006, p. 296.

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Military offices
Preceded by SS-Standartenführer Hilmar Wäckerle	Commander of Dachau concentration camp 26 June 1933 – 4 July 1934	Succeeded by SS-Oberführer Alexander Reiner
Preceded by none	Commander of SS Division Totenkopf 14 November 1939 – 6 July 1941	Succeeded by SS-Obergruppenführer Matthias Kleinheisterkamp
Preceded by SS-Obergruppenführer Georg Keppler	Commander of SS Division Totenkopf 21 September 1941 – 26 February 1943	Succeeded by SS-Obergruppenführer Hermann Prieß

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