Bruno Brodniewicz
{{Short description|German prisoner in the Auschwitz concentration camp}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Bruno Brodniewicz
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = July 22, 1895
| birth_place = Poznań, Province of Posen, Kingdom of Prussia (now Poland)
| death_date = April 15-16, 1945 (aged 49)
| death_place = Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, Lower Saxony, Germany
| death_cause = Lynching
| nationality =
| other_names = Bruno Brodniewitsch
Black Death
Czarna śmierć
| occupation = Criminal
| years_active =
| known_for = Being the first Lagerälteste (camp elder) at the Auschwitz concentration camp
| notable_works =
}}
Bruno Brodniewicz (also spelled BrodniewitschTill Bastian: Auschwitz und die ‚Auschwitz-Lüge', S. 33) born 22 July 1895 in Posen,Hans Günther Adler: Auschwitz; Europ. Verlag-Anst., 1962; S. 170 was a German prisoner in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Brodniewicz was the first Lagerälteste (camp elder),[http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-40351796.html DER SPIEGEL 6/1979: Niemand kommt hier raus], retrieved 25 October 2012 carrying prisoner tag number 1. He was lynched on April 15–16, 1945, in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
Life
As a convicted criminal, Brodniewicz was transferred to a concentration camp during the late summer of 1934. He was held temporarily in the Lichtenburg concentration camp.Herbert Diercks: Ausgegrenzt. "Asoziale" und Kriminelle" im nationalsozialistischen Lagersystem, Edition Temmen, 2009, S. 102 Brodniewicz was one of the first 30 prisoners, defined as the so-called 'professional criminals', who, on 20 May 1940 accompanied by the roll call officer Gerhard Palitzsch from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp were taken to the newly established concentration camp at Auschwitz.
Brodniewicz was the first camp elder of the main camp of Auschwitz and remained in this position until 1942.Der Ort des Terrors Band 5, S. 287 He wore prisoner tag number 1 and was considered "Black Death" (Czarna śmierć) in the camp. As one of the "Greens" (so-called because their uniforms bore the green triangle identifying them as criminal prisoners), Brodniewicz was considered relentlessly brutal and is believed to have been responsible for the deaths of many fellow inmates. He decisively influenced the camp atmosphere in what was to become a reign of terror. Brodniewicz had illegally hidden gold and other valuables in his parlour, which the SS found after fellow inmate Otto Küsel (inmate No. 2) tipped them off. Brodniewicz was then sent to the punishment bunker in late December 1942 or early January 1943 and was replaced as the camp elder.Hermann Langbein: Menschen in Auschwitz; Frankfurt am Main, 1980; S. 181
Brodniewicz then became camp elder in the Roma camp at Auschwitz, in June 1943 in the Jaworzno concentration camp, a sub-camp of Auschwitz. From April 1944 he was held in the satellite camp Eintrachthütte, then from September 1944 in the satellite camp Bismarckhütte.Angaben aus: Wolfgang Benz, Barbara Distel (Hrsg.): Der Ort des Terrors. Geschichte der nationalsozialistischen Konzentrationslager. Bd. 5: Hinzert, Auschwitz, Neuengamme. C.H. Beck, München 2008, S. 185, S. 287. After Auschwitz was evacuated in January 1945, Brodniewicz was transferred to the Woffleben subcamp, where he also held the position of camp elder. He was last held in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. After the Bergen-Belsen camp was liberated on 15 April 1945, he and other functionaries were presumably lynched by fellow inmates for his crimes.Sven Langhammer: [http://digital.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/download/pdf/1817214?name=Ausg%2012006 Die polizeiliche Vorbeugungshaft in Preußen von 1933 bis 1937 am Beispiel des staatlichen Konzentrationslagers Lichtenburg in der Provinz Sachsen], in: Rundbrief der landeseigenen Gedenkstätten in Sachsen-Anhalt, Ausgabe 1, 2006 - Themenheft: Neue Forschungen zum KZ-System auf dem Gebiet des heutigen Landes Sachsen-Anhalt, S. 33 u. f.
Literature
- Hermann Langbein: People in Auschwitz. Univ. of North Carolina Press, 26 April 2004
- Hermann Langbein: People in Auschwitz. Frankfurt am Main 1980
- Reni Rieger: Emil Bednarek - prisoner in Auschwitz . Grin Verlag 2008
- Wolfgang Benz, Barbara Distel (ed.): The place of terror. History of the Nazi concentration camps. Volume 5: Hinzert, Auschwitz, Neuengamme. CH Beck, Munich 2007, {{ISBN|978-3-406-52965-8}}.
- Till Bastian: Auschwitz and the 'Auschwitz Lie' mass murder and falsification of history. CH Beck 1997, {{ISBN|3-406-43155-0}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://skepticism-images.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/images/jreviews/Bruno-Brodniewicz.jpg "Prisoner photograph of Bruno Brodniewicz'']
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brodniewicz, Bruno}}
Category:Auschwitz concentration camp prisoners
Category:Sachsenhausen concentration camp prisoners
Category:Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp personnel
Category:20th-century German criminals
Category:People from the Province of Posen
Category:German people who died in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Category:Polish people who died in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp