Oswald Pohl - Concentration Camp Administrator

Concentration Camp Administrator

In June 1939 Pohl became chief of both the Hauptamt Verwaltung und Wirtschaft ("main bureau administration and economy", part of the SS) and the Hauptamt Haushalt und Bauten ("main bureau budget and construction", part of the Reich's ministry for the interior). On 1 February 1942, both institutions were combined into the SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt (SS-WVHA, "SS main bureau for economic administration") with Pohl in charge. In this function, Pohl oversaw the organization of the concentration camps, deciding on the distribution of detainees to the various camps and the "rental" of detainees for slave labour until 1944. The exploitation of the captives rested on the Nazi principle of "destruction by labour". Pohl also directed the processing of the remains of the murdered Jews, and was directly involved in the management of the 1944 extermination of the Hungarian Jews. Late in 1944, control of the concentration camps was removed from Pohl, with the Rüstungsministerium (ministry of armament) taking over; at the same time, the responsibility for construction was also taken away from the SS-WVHA. Pohl remained in charge of the administration of the Waffen-SS for the remainder of the war.