F01_P08: Concentration Camp Dachau established, 1933, attestation of service
1933 September 16, Front side - Document attesting to Josef Haff's performance as a guard.
Tan paper (brightness of scan blows out proper appearance of the archive) with typed text in German using black ink. Cursive handwriting in German using black ink is present as well. At the top left corner, a purple overprint stamp from the Wachtruppe at Dachau. At the bottom center, a purple overprint stamp from the Wachtruppe at Dachau depicting the Reichsadler symbol in the center. A purple stamp dated September 16, 1933 is present at the bottom right. Below is a signature in pencil. The foundation is promptly working to update the scans.
Name/Title
F01_P08: Concentration Camp Dachau established, 1933, attestation of serviceEntry/Object ID
2007.1.8.aScope and Content
1933 September 16, document attesting to Josef Haff's performance as a guard.Context
Dachau, located 15 kilometers from Munich in Bavaria, was the Nazis’ first major concentration camp, built on the site of an abandoned World War I munitions factory. Heinrich Himmler announced its creation at a March 20, 1933, news conference. The first prisoners – Communists and Socialists – arrived on March 22. At the beginning, Dachau had a capacity for 4,000 inmates. By September 1944, the prisoner population had grown to about 100,000. Dachau was the only camp that lasted for the entire 12 years of the Third Reich; it was liberated by the United States Army on April 29, 1945. On May 5, 1933, Josef Haff, who had been a Nazi since 1929, wrote to his family as he sipped beer during his mid-day break on his third day of duty as a concentration camp guard. He found life at the camp to be pleasant. The picture side of his postcard is a view of the Amper valley from the south, with the Würm river canal flowing past the west side of the prison compound. Below is an official document attesting to Haff’s satisfactory service as a Dachau guard from May 3 to September 16, 1933. According to Kevin Ostoyich, Michael Lippert signed Josef Haff's assessment. Not even a year later, Lippert and Theodor Eicke shot and killed Ernst Röhm, the leader of the Sturmabteiling (SA). More specifically this occurred during the Night of the Long Knives, the overtaking of the SA and premeditated assassination of Röhm on June 30-July 1, 1934.Collection
Nazi Scourge I: Primary ExhibitionCategory
Notice
Philatelic Material