Customer Reviews

The Camp Women: The Female Auxiliaries Who Assisted the SS in Running the Nazi Concentration Camp System (Schiffer Military History)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is a strange book, with no mention of how these women supported one another other than a photo or two of them relaxing together (and I myself have more interesting photos of that from a copy of a 1946 Yank newspaper!), no interviews, no diaries, no mention of whether they testified in post-war trials for or against one another, no mention of what defense their attorneys put up, no mention of the kind of lives those not convicted of anything then lived out, a photo of Himmler inspecting their unit with nary a word of what he said, and virtually no quotes from any of the women themselves. This book almost make one wish someone like David Irving, who might be expected to be prejudiced in their favor but would also certainly have seriously delved into these womens' lives, had written it....

While there are 2 or 3 very brief essays in this book, the vast majority of pages consist of a roster of women who helped run the Nazi concentration camps. I gave this item only 2 stars in part because the title should more accurately reflect this. If you want extensive narrative you'll need to look elsewhere.

The bulk of this book is an endless list of women's names possibly emplyed as Aufseherins by the SS in the Concentration camps. Added to that is a nice essay about these women and some pictures.

Could use a lot more work.

Not worth the money. The only thing you learn is how little is known about the women guards

"Camp Women" turned out to be nothing more than a roll-call list of names
with a few photographs thrown in. There was very little in the way of any
relevant narrative or biographical discussion. The brief description given
on-line never mentioned this critical detail, in short, I think I could've
been better informed by Amazon. com.

There is very little information readily available about the women who worked as either Lagerfuhrerin or Aufseherin in the concentration camps. Daniel Brown provided a good base for the next historian to pick up the trail and the field is wide open.

The SS destroyed or hid many records pertaining to the camps and the majority of the female camp guards had no desire to speak about their experiences. This leaves the historian with the task of also playing detective in that he or she will have to investigate these women individually to find documentation (letters, journals etc.) or some relative willing to cooperate. Added to the complications of researching this topic is the fact that the camp survivors rarely knew the real names of their overseers, which also made criminal prosecution very difficult.

"The Camp Women" provides resource material that would take months for other writers to track down. It would probably not be reading material for the general public, but I found it very useful.

I was disappointed with this book. Nowhere does the advertising for the book mention that its simply a roll call of names of those women who chose this life. I was expecting some information ABOUT the women themselves, before, during and after their service as camp guards. I agree with several other reviewers - it leaves a lot to be desired.

Large format hardback from Schiffer: blue/grey cloth over hardback boards in dustjacket. 2.75 pounds.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword
Introduction

"Recruitment, Training, Duty and Judgment" (essay) pp. 14-24
"The SS Overseers (Aufseherinnen): The Camp Women - Personal Files (list of data) pp. 25-234
"Assignments, Ranks, and Assorted Pertinent Data" (original documents, Examination Questions for employment, background information on the women, postwar sentencing) pp. 235-248
Bibliography (3 pp)
5 pp of Maps
24 pp of photos
Index