March, 1945 air photo of Sachsenhausen camp (triangle shaped) in Oranienburg suburb 10 kilometers north of Berlin center, where criminal and political prisoners were housed from 1938 to 1945. The Camp Administration building (white circle) was the central command office for ALL work and detention camps in Germany and the occupied territories.

In 1945 and '46 over 200,000 East Germans between 12 and 18 were arrested by the Soviets because of their intelligence and natural leadership traits, with which they could have organized resistance to the oppressive Soviet regime. Each was brutally interrogated and observed for a few weeks.

Tens of thousands who displayed leadership traits were forced to sign confessions for non-existent crimes, or were convicted of being members of the non-existant "Werewolfs", and were then executed in the Soviet style of a single shot into a bowed head. One of those was the 16 year-old schoolboy Manfred von Loewenstern shot on May 30, 1946 with another man.

After 1990 graves with many thousands of bodies were excavated from the area just outside the top corner of the triangle-shaped camp (see above air photo). Before more known graves were unearthed, work was halted by the government.

Seven 15 to 18 year old Sachsenhausen inmates in 1945. One had been arrested at his wedding. Most were interrogated and then Military courts gave them 10 years to life (average 25 years) in German or Russian work camps for invented crimes such as "carrying a weapon", or "planning to rehabilitate Nazi ideas".

From 12 East German and Russian camps controlled by the Soviet Military Police, 95,000 died from 1945 to '50, including 5,000 of the 10,000 sentenced under the age of 14. Most never returned from northern Russian camps.

As in the Ukraine, Poland, the Baltic States, and other countries the Soviets invaded, their first objective was to execute or jail all young men who could possibly organize resistance to their terror regime. This was started in East Germany in 1945 and was not scaled down until 1950.

The 3-level building had over 150 offices and rooms which stored the records of all inmates at German controlled detention camps. Copies of all camp transactions were sent to this building, including each inmate's medical history, work detail, and death record, as well as lists of inmates who were transferred from eastern camps like Auschwitz to German camps ahead of the Soviet advance.

In 1943 and '44 the British were intercepting messages to and from the building, and therefore knew what was occurring in each camp. (DIE INSPEKTION DER KONZENTRATIONSLAGER - 1938-1945. By JOHANNES TUCHEL. Pub. 1986, By: Stiftung Brandenburgische Gedenstaetten-Schriftenreihe Nr 1).

In 1945 all records were shipped to Moscow. So the Soviets have detailed records of all inmates who were sent to, lived in, and died in every German operated camp in Europe and Poland, including Auschwitz, Majdanek, and Plaszow.

Auschwitz Death Books:

Records gave names, camps, and records of deaths for inmates at Auschwitz and all other camps across Europe. It is possible the 'Auschwitz Death Books', released by the Soviets in 1990, originated from the building, for copies of all camp deaths were stored here.

The Camp Administration building has been restored and is now used as Oranienburg's taxation office, with a small part used as a public exhibition hall.

Number of inmates in 5 of the largest camps - January 1 to 15, 1945: (From book in Administration Building museum, shows Germans kept records of all inmates to the end of the war.):

1. Auschwitz and Birkenau:
Male = 15,813; female = 18,703; total = 34,516
(Over 1/2 had been either released or moved west to German camps)

2. Monowitz Industrial work camps:
Male = 33,200; female = 2,036; total = 35,236
(Over 1/2 had been either released or moved west to German camps)

3. Buchenwald:
Male = 63,189; female = 24,210; total = 87,399

4. Neuengamme:
Male = 38,858; female = 9,984; total = 48,842

5. Sachsenhausen:
Male = 47,665; female = 13,214; total = 60,879

Total inmates: male = 508,126; female = 198,522; male & female = 706,648

Guard ratios:
For each 20 inmates was 1 guard.
For each 10 male guards was 1 female guard.

"From August 2, 1938, until the end of the Third Reich this building housed the INSPECTION OF CONCENTRATION CAMPS (IKL). The IKL was the central administration of all concentration camps within Germany and in the occupied territories. The inspectors received all their orders directly from SS Reichsfuehrer and Chief of the German Police Heinrich Himmler."

"The SS-officials decided where the prisoners were housed, what clothing and food the prisoners received, how they were punished, exploited and killed. They decided over life and death of hundreds of thousands."

"The building was used by the Red Army from 1945 until 1950 when it was taken over by the Kasernierte Volkspolizei of the DDR [a paramilitary force later converted into the National Peoples Army of DDR]. Until 1990 it was a barracks for soldiers of the DDR army. In 1993 the Foundation Brandenburgische Gedenkstätten (Memorials of Brandenburg) opened an exhibition about the IKL in this building. Because of its three wing shape, it is called the T-building."

Inmates were allowed to listen to their radio, go to the camp library, read, write or play games. National Socialist newspapers were available. The following were forbidden because they disturbed other inmates: betting, singing, whistling, forming groups of more than 3 people, and playing noisy games outside other's barracks or going into other's barracks.

Inmates could receive as much money from relatives as they wanted but they had to put it in the camp bank and were allowed 15 Reichmarks per week. All transactions were with TALONS and not cash. Betting was forbidden but they could spend their money in the camp shop.