From a reformatory to a concentration camp
The first record is his handwritten curriculum vitae. This is the most personal of the documents in the file. The text is very stilted. Wilhelm Zorichta evidently produced it under duress. At the time, in autumn 1943, he was in Herzogsägmühle workhouse for itinerants. He had been admitted there on police orders.
Source: Archiv Diakonie Herzogsägmühle
Curriculum vitae of the
reformatory resident Wilhelm Zorichta
I, Wilhelm Zorichta, from 94 Kronprinzenstr. in Hindenburg, [was] born on 31 May 1920. I started primary school in Hindenburg at the age of six. I left school at the age of fourteen after the third year. My father’s name is Boris and he was born on 4 October 1899; he is a metalworker by profession. My mother’s name is Julia, née Roskott(?); she was born on 12 April 1898. I was admitted to Grottkau reformatory at the age of 14. I was discharged again after 3 weeks. After that I went to work for a farmer on three occasions, each time for half a year. When I was 18 I was put back in correctional education. At 19 I was discharged from the reformatory. Then I worked in construction. On 9 November 1940 I was put in the police prison in Hindenburg. [I was there] up until 20 January 1941. On 20 January [1941] I was admitted to Moringen youth protection camp. I was in the youth protection camp from 30 January 1941 until 30 September 1943. Then I came here.
This is my complete curriculum vitae.
Wilhelm Zorichta
Some three years previously the Welfare Office” data-bs-content-id=”popover-id-5613″ aria-label=”Youth Welfare Office – Glossary term”>Youth Welfare Office had described Wilhelm Zorichta as a »vagabond« and a »workshy layabout«. His occasional spells in work did not appear to suffice. In the letter reproduced here, the Youth Welfare Office in his home town recommended police measures after the reformatory was obliged to discharge him at the age of 19. The police subsequently assigned Wilhelm to Moringen youth concentration camp as an »asocial minor«.
Source: Archiv Diakonie Herzogsägmühle
The mayor of Hindenburg/ Upper Silesia
(Youth Welfare Office)
To
the Criminal Police
in Hindenburg, Upper Silesia
My reference: 46.Z.1
October 23, 1940
The young labourer Wilhelm Zorichta, born on 31 May 1920, from Hindenburg, 94 Kronprinzenstrasse, is an incorrigible, workshy layabout. From 20 June 1938 to 27 May 1939, he was housed in the reformatory in Grottkau. This correctional education was necessary because he shirked every form of work assigned to him. He loitered around and posed a threat to children. Zorichta incited children to smoke and made indecent suggestions to them. After his release from the reformatory, Zorichta fell back into his bad ways. For no good reason, he gave up an agricultural job assigned to him. He only worked occasionally and on a casual basis. He has no steady employment, but instead leads a vagabond life. After asking the local employment office to place him in work, I was informed that Zorichta had ignored repeated orders to report to the employment office and could therefore not be assigned work. As the young man concerned is over the age of 20, the Youth Welfare Office is unable to apply for correctional measures to be imposed.
I therefore request that you initiate police measures against Zorichta.
p.p.
signature
Wilhelm Zorichta’s father wrote to Moringen camp several times to request his son’s release. He stated that he and his wife were reliant on their son’s assistance; they were deaf and he could communicate on their behalf. Zorichta’s father also pledged that his son would lead an »orderly life« under his supervision. However, his requests were dismissed and Wilhelm Zorichta remained in the camp.
Source: Archiv Diakonie Herzogsägmühle
Hindenburg, May 19,1942
To the
head of the youth protection camp
in Moringen/Solling
My son, Wilhelm Zorichta, born on 31 May 1920, has been in the abovementioned camp for 1 year and 4 months. I request my son’s release with reference to the reasons below:
Reasons:
I, the boy’s father, am deaf-mute, as is my wife, and we require outside help, that is, at present I have to ask strangers to do all my shopping for me. It would be appropriate to release my son who has the power of speech and could do my shopping for me after work. As his father, I hereby sign to confirm that I assume the authority for ensuring that he returns to an orderly life. I request that you send me a certificate of my son’s conduct. In anticipation of your kind support of my petition, with German greetings,
Bruno Zorichta
Hindenburg
Kronprinzenstr. 94
In youth concentration camps male and female physicians carried out experiments on the young inmates and wrote reports on them. Their aim was to establish an archive at the Institute for Criminal Biology (KBI). These scientists assumed that »asocial behaviour« was hereditary.
Source: Yad Vashem, Dachauer Effekte
Current address: Moringen, August 18, 1943
KB1.
To Dept. 3b
Re: Zorichta, Wilhelm, born on 31 May 1920
The camp management’s recommendation that the reformatory pupil Wilhelm Zorichta, aged 23, who has been rejected as unfit for military service, be transferred to Herzogsägmühle workhouse for itinerants, can now be approved. Please refer to my statement of 8 June 1942. Zorichta was put in correctional education in 1938. His parents have been living in Hindenburg poorhouse for 10 years. The feebleminded youngster was admitted to the youth protection camp 2 ½ years ago for severe waywardness. Here it became apparent that constant care and support and ordered circumstances were all that he required to live an exemplary, crime-free life.
Also in future, Zorichta will require guidance, supervision and motivation. Under favourable circumstances he will then turn out to be a useful worker. If he should relapse in this open labour facility, a lengthy spell in a workhouse would be recommended.
signed Dr. Ritter
Berlin, September 4, 1943
Reich Criminal Police Office
Log. no. Jug. 509/40 Dept. 3b
Order for systematic police surveillance
Wilhelm Zorichta, born on 31 May 1920 in Hindenburg, was released from Moringen youth protection camp on 1 October 1943.
Zorichta is to be transferred to the workhouse for itinerants in Herzogsägmühle in Bavaria. On the basis of the decree of the Reich and Prussian Ministry of the Interior, dated 14 December 1927-S-Kr.3 no. 1682/37-2098, he will be placed under
systematic police surveillance.
He will be subject to the following conditions:
1) he must adhere to the rules of the workhouse in every respect,
2) he may not leave Herzogsägmühle workhouse for itinerants without authorisation.
p.p.
signed Wieking.
Wilhelm Zorichta was always subject to the scrutiny of others – whether the physician Robert Ritter or the Youth Welfare Office. By the age of 23 he had spent his entire life in institutions and camps. The files give no indication of his state of mind or concerns.
For those deciding on the future course of his life, what mattered was whether he could be considered a »useful worker«. This is why Wilhelm Zorichta was sent to Herzogsägmühle workhouse for itinerants. Despite reports describing him as »a good-natured lad«, he was not granted release.
While at Herzogsägmühle he was absent from work on two occasions without authorisation. As a result, Munich Criminal Police had him sent to Dachau concentration camp in spring 1944. The camp management registered him as an »asocial« and as such he was required to wear a black triangle on his clothing. Six months later Wilhelm Zorichta was assigned to Rabstein, a subcamp of Flossenbürg concentration camp. The transport list dated 3 September 1944 contains the last known record of his name. Wilhelm Zorichta’s subsequent fate is unknown.
Source: KZ-Gedenkstätte Flossenbürg / Signatur: AGFI S.33.841 und Gedenkstätte Yad Vashem / Signatur: Yad Vashem M.8.ITS/BD 6/Roll 4
Source: KZ-Gedenkstätte Flossenbürg / Signatur: AGFI S.33.841 und Gedenkstätte Yad Vashem / Signatur: Yad Vashem M.8.ITS/BD 6/Roll 4
[…]
246. AZR RD. 24376 Zorichta Wilhelm 31.5.20 Hindenburg
[…]
The Youth Welfare Office was a public welfare institution with the task of supporting children and teenagers in need, along with their families. Yet the Nazis specified who was to receive support. In order to access the necessary information about the families, the Youth Welfare Office worked closely with the welfare office and the National Socialist youth organisations. If children or teenagers came to the attention of the authorities, the Youth Welfare Office could apply for them to be placed in corrective education.
Welfare refers to assistance and care provided to other people. Its public institutions included youth welfare offices and health authorities as well as general welfare offices. The tasks of the welfare offices included providing financial assistance to the unemployed. The Nazis excluded certain groups from welfare because they were not considered part of the »national community« (»Volksgemeinschaft«). These groups included Jews or people deemed »workshy« and »asocial«.
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«).