Guarding: Camp SS and Luftwaffe

The Melk subcamp was commanded by a small group of around 30 men of the Camp SS. The SS man Anton Streitwieser was Lagerführer (Head of Camp) for the first few weeks. He was quickly replaced in May 1944 by Julius Ludolph, who remained in this function until the evacuation of the camp in April 1945. There were repeated cases of abuse of prisoners by Julius Ludolph and other SS men from the camp leadership during roll calls, which took place on the parade ground at the beginning and end of every working day. While the camp administration consisted of only 20 to 30 men of the Camp SS, there were around 500 soldiers of the Luftwaffe, the air force of the Nazi German military, responsible for guarding the exterior of the camp. Officially, they were not allowed to enter the protective custody camp. The Luftwaffe soldiers carried out their duty as guards in the watchtowers situated around the protective custody camp, along the cordon of sentry posts, and with the various labour detachments. They also accompanied the labour detachments from the camp to their workplaces and back. The work of the guards often included physical assaults on prisoners or shooting those ‘trying to escape’ – these were in fact often deliberate killings.