The Concentration Camp Brothel
Forced Sexual Labor under Nazi Rule
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Discover the chilling untold story of sexual forced labor in Nazi concentration camps
In his seminal work, The Concentration Camp Brothel, Robert Sommer reveals the hidden horrors of sexual forced labor within the SS camp system, a subject long overshadowed and seldom acknowledged in the discourse on the Holocaust.
Through his rigorous examination of over seventy archives and poignant interviews with more than thirty survivors, including former visitors of camp brothels, Sommer paints a vivid and harrowing picture of the atrocities committed. This book is the first to offer a comprehensive exploration of the establishment, operation, and profound impact of brothels in Nazi concentration camps.
Sommer’s research meticulously details the brothels’ integration into the concentration camp system, their role in the Nazi exploitation of bodies for control and profit, and the complex reactions of the prisoner society to these establishments. He explores the desperate survival strategies employed by the women forced into sexual labor and the chilling motivations of their exploiters.
The book also places the tragedy of camp brothels in the broader context of sexual violence under Nazi rule, making a critical connection between these acts of exploitation and the overall history of the Holocaust. This updated English edition incorporates new findings and perspectives since the original German publication in 2009, providing a more comprehensive understanding of the subject. The foreword by Annette F. Timm adds further context and contemporary analysis, enhancing the book’s relevance and depth.
A heart-stopping, stunning, and tremendously significant book. Sommer offers a brilliant and sensitive critical examination of a vast primary source base of new archival materials and a-multidimensionally-conceptually innovative analysis.---Dagmar Herzog, author of The Question of Unworthy Life: Eugenics and Germany's Twentieth Century and Sexuality in Europe: A Twentieth-Century History
A powerful argument why these brothels should be understood as an integral part of the National Socialist camp system and its racial and political ideology. Sommer manages to uncover the identity of nearly 80% of the female inmates enslaved in this system offering an unprecedented look into the journey of the victims.---Pascale Bos, author of “Barter, Prostitution, Abuse? Reframing Experiences of Sexual Exchange during the Holocaust,” The Journal of Holocaust Research and Steering Committee Member of International Research Group “Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict” (SVAC)
Myths and mystifications have obscured our knowledge about brothels in Nazi concentration camps for a long time. Sommer’s impeccably researched study establishes the relevant facts and explores motives and rationales of the planners and organizers of the brothels without losing sight of the suffering of the victimized women. A must-read for students of sexual violence, Nazi Germany, and the Holocaust.---Thomas Kuehne, Strassler Colin Flug Professor of Holocaust History at Clark University
The original German version of this landmark study swept aside many misconceptions about these forced sex workers, which had led to their stigmatization. This updated English edition is especially welcome in bringing Sommer’s research to a wider audience. It was Himmler’s far-fetched idea that the incentive of brothels would increase productivity among concentration camp workers—it did not. Although these prisoners have been excluded from historical accounts, Sommer has managed to identify by name 174 of the just over 200 women forced into this degrading labor. Particularly impressive is his meticulously researched appendix, giving detailed information about these inmates for each of the ten camp brothels that existed, in some cases with not only their nationality and age, but also their occupation before the war—few had been prostitutes. This will now be required reading for those interested in the Holocaust, the camps and the history of sexuality.---Geoffrey J. Giles, University of Florida
Robert Sommer is a distinguished historian specializing in the intersections of violence, sexuality, and human rights, with a focus on the Holocaust. He teaches at the University of Cooperative Education, Berlin, Germany. Sommer has served as a historical consultant for museums and film productions, including the BBC documentary Auschwitz: The Nazis and the Final Solution (2005).
Dominic Bonfiglio (Translator)
Dominic Bonfiglio is a translator with a background in Germanic studies and philosophy. His translations are known for their precision and clarity, making German scholarship accessible to a global audience.
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List of Tables | vii
Foreword by Annette F. Timm | ix
Preface | xvii
Introduction: Myths and Taboos | 1
1 Prostitution in Nazi Germany | 15
2 Concentration Camps and Forced Labor | 29
3 Recruitment | 58
4 Space and Organization | 77
5 Sexuality in the Camps | 98
6 The Lives of Forced Sex Workers | 114
7 Brothel Visitors | 137
8 Perception and Resistance | 148
9 The Camp Brothel: An Outpost of Nazi Biopolitics | 160
Acknowledgments | 167
Appendix: Brief Histories and Sex Worker Statistics by Camp | 169
Notes | 203
Sources and Bibliography | 317
Photos follow page 166
