Heinrich Schäfer

Heinrich Schäfer

Born on 2 January 1902 in Marburg – executed on 6 June 1944 in Frankfurt am Main

On 27 February 1934 the Criminal Police arrested Heinrich Schäfer and took him into »preventive police custody«. The 32-year-old was accused of being a »career criminal«. The accusation was based on offences which in some cases had been committed years previously. The mostly short prison sentences for these offences had long been served. At the time of his arrest, Heinrich Schäfer was living with his family at »Am Krekel«, a settlement of barracks-style housing for the homeless in Marburg. People often ended up living in this accommodation because they were no longer able to pay their rent.

The Criminal Police (Kriminalpolizei, »Kripo«) is a regular police division in charge of investigating crimes. In the National Socialist state its tasks additionally included the surveillance and persecution of »community aliens« (»Gemeinschaftsfremde«). People deemed »career criminals« or »asocials« by the Criminal Police were placed under systematic surveillance and were detained indefinitely.  
It was up to police officers to decide what was to be considered »asocial behaviour«: the slightest deviation from the norm could lead to imprisonment.

Labelled a »career criminal«

Barackensiedlung »Am Krekel« in Marburg
Barracks-style dwellings at »Am Krekel« in Marburg: well into the post-war period, this housing settlement was characterised by cramped living conditions and basic sanitary facilities.
Source: Stadtarchiv Marburg, Signatur: StadtA MR, S 3/5, 3869
Barackensiedlung »Am Krekel« in Marburg
Barracks-style dwellings at »Am Krekel« in Marburg: well into the post-war period, this housing settlement was characterised by cramped living conditions and basic sanitary facilities.
Source: Stadtarchiv Marburg, Signatur: StadtA MR, S 3/5, 3869

For the Criminal Police, Heinrich’s outward appearance and manner stood in contrast to his family’s miserable living conditions. They considered him too well-dressed for someone in receipt of welfare. The police saw this as evidence that he was supporting himself and his family through theft. They found no evidence of him having committed a crime. Nonetheless, they labelled him a »career criminal«.

Auszug aus dem »Kriminellen Lebenslauf« von Heinrich S.
February 1934, Excerpt from the »criminal curriculum vitae« of Heinrich Schäfer
Source: Arolsen Archives

Schäfer is a workshy character who, however, is always dressed in the finest clothes, which he has acquired solely through dishonest means using the proceeds of his crimes. He is known here as a career criminal because he lives almost exclusively from the proceeds of his crimes. In his circle of acquaintances, he is nicknamed the »baron«.

Schäfer is currently in receipt of welfare; he does not receive a pension. The Criminal Police officers Herrmann, Pohle and Heyer can provide statements on his overall behaviour and conduct.

Heinrich Schäfer was supposed to sign a statement at the police station to confirm that he was being detained as a »career criminal«. However, he refused. He rejected the accusation that he was a »career criminal« who did not work and supported himself solely through theft.

Eröffnungsverhandlung gegen Heinrich S. bei der Polizei Marburg
Record of the initial questioning at Marburg police station in March 1934: the detective sergeant noted that Heinrich Schäfer »refuses to sign as he says he is not a career criminal«.
Source: Arolsen Archives
Heinrich S. verweigert die Unterschrift unter dem Dokument der Eröffnungsverhandlung
Record of the initial questioning at Marburg police station in March 1934: the detective sergeant noted that Heinrich Schäfer »refuses to sign as he says he is not a career criminal«.
Source: Arolsen Archives

Form C.

Duplicate:
Marburg-Lahn, March 6, 1934.

The mayor as local police authority

Initial questioning.

VThe electrical fitter Heinrich Wilhelm Schäfer,
born on 2 January 1902
in Marburg-Lahn,
most recent address in Marburg-Lahn,
am Krekel 3 1/2 (street and house number), was brought in for questioning

and declared:

Today I was informed that on the basis of the Decree of the Prussian Ministry of the Interior – II C II 31 no. 356/33 – (13 November 1933) and II C II no. 22 37/34 (10 February 1934),

on February 27 1934

I have been placed in preventive police custody because I am to be considered a career criminal according to the abovementioned decrees

read aloud, approved, signed
signature refused because he says he is not a career criminal

happened as above
signed Dieterich,
detective sergeant
(official title)

Certified:
Detective sergeant

His refusal to accept the label »career criminal« made no difference. In March 1934 the police incarcerated him in Lichtenburg concentration camp; he was subsequently confined in the concentration camps at Esterwegen, Sachsenhausen and Flossenbürg.

After Heinrich Schäfer had spent nearly five years in concentration camps, the »preventive custody« order was revoked in January 1939. Like all other former camp prisoners, prior to his release he had to pledge »never to speak about the concentration camps«.

Entlassungserklärung von Heinrich S. gegenüber der Kommandantur in Flossenbürg. Ein Transkript des Dokuments findet sich im nächsten Abschnitt.
January 1939: statement of release sent to the headquarters of Flossenbürg concentration camp
Source: Arolsen Archives

Floßenbürg concentration camp
Headquarters

Declaration.

I, Heinrich Schäfer, in preventive custody,
born on 2 January 1902 in Marburg/Lahn,
resident in Marburg/ a.d. Lahn, 3 ½ Am Krekel,
hereby declare:

  1. I will never write or say anything in opposition to the National Socialist state or its institutions.
  2. As soon as I become aware of any actions against the present state, the Nazi Party (NSDAP) or its sub-divisions, I pledge to report these immediately to the police.
  3. I neither contracted an illness nor suffered an accident in Floßenbürg concentration camp.
  4. I am aware that I am not permitted to speak about the set-up of the concentration camp.
  5. The items confiscated after my arrest have been returned to me.
  6. I am not entitled to claim damages, nor will I do so.
  7. I was not subjected to any coercion while submitting this declaration.
  8. I am aware that upon my return to Marburg/Lahn I am to report immediately to the Marburg/Lahn Criminal Police.
  9. I have also been instructed to refrain from drinking alcohol for a period of four weeks.

Floßenbürg, January 24 1939.

H. S.
Signature.

Office that ordered the release:

Heinrich Schäfer returned to his family in Marburg. In the years that followed he worked as an assistant stoker at Marburg Regional Psychiatric Hospital. However, despite being a free man, he remained under police surveillance. 

On 30 September 1943 the Marburg Gestapo arrested Heinrich Schäfer. According to the files he had broken the Law Against Malice Towards the State (the »Heimtückegesetz«) and acted in opposition to the National Socialist state.

Heinrich Schäfer was executed on 6 June 1944 in Frankfurt am Main for »undermining military morale«. He was just 42 years old.

In 1949 his wife Ida and their daughters sought compensation. However, it was not until 1958 that they were awarded a compensation payment and a monthly pension. The deciding factor was, however, not Heinrich Schäfers period of incarceration in concentration camps but his supposed violation of the Law Against Malice Towards the State On this basis the authorities recognised him as a political opponent of the National Socialist regime.

The SD (Security Service of the Reichsführer SS) was established in 1931 by Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler as the intelligence service of the SS (Schutzstaffel). Its task was to gather information on political opponents and oppositional movements within and outside the National Socialist circles. From 1934, the SD became the intelligence service of the NSDAP. It was subordinated to Reinhard Heydrich, who merged the SD with the security police (Gestapo and Kripo) into the newly formed Reich Security Main Office in 1939.

The Criminal Police (Kriminalpolizei, »Kripo«) is a regular police division in charge of investigating crimes. In the National Socialist state its tasks additionally included the surveillance and persecution of »community aliens« (»Gemeinschaftsfremde«). People deemed »career criminals« or »asocials« by the Criminal Police were placed under systematic surveillance and were detained indefinitely.  
It was up to police officers to decide what was to be considered »asocial behaviour«: the slightest deviation from the norm could lead to imprisonment.

The Nazis established the »Secret State Police« (Geheime Staatspolizei, abbr. Gestapo) to combat political opponents. It was also instrumental in the persecution of minorities. Gestapo officials did not require a court warrant to search apartments or to detain people, send them to concentration camps or murder them. They tortured people under interrogation to force confessions out of them. In the occupied territories members of the Gestapo participated in mass shootings and other crimes. 

Authorities were already using the term »workshy« prior to 1933. For the Nazis it was a derogatory term for the unemployed, whom they accused of not wanting to find work. These people received no assistance from the state; instead, the welfare authorities made them perform heavy manual labour and the police imprisoned many of them in concentration camps. In 1938 alone the police arrested more than 10,000 »workshy« people. The Nazis considered a »workshy« disposition to be hereditary and a danger to the »national community« (»Volksgemeinschaft«).