Fritz Suhren

Suhren joined the Nazi Party in 1928 and the Sturmabteilung (SA) at the same time.^[1] He moved over to the SS in October 1931, initially as a volunteer before going full-time in 1934.

Trained by the Wehrmacht under SS supervision, Suhren was nevertheless not used as a soldier, and instead was stationed at Sachsenhausen concentration camp in 1941.^[1] By 1942 he was Lagerführer (deputy commandant) at the camp, and in May of that year ordered camp Lagerältester Harry Naujoks to hang a prisoner who had been earmarked for execution. Naujoks refused to perform the deed. While Naujoks was able to survive the insubordination, Suhren insisted that he stand beside the prisoner on the gallows (which had been fitted with a winch in order to prolong the execution), and forced a young inmate to perform the hanging.^[2]

Suhren was commandant of the women's camp at Ravensbrück concentration camp.^[1] His policy upon taking command in 1942 was to exterminate the prisoners through working them as hard as possible while feeding them the least amount of food he could.^[3]

As commandant at Ravensbrück, Suhren had to provide inmates to Dr. Karl Gebhardt for experimentation. Suhren initially objected to this, mainly because most of the inmates at the camp were political prisoners, and he complained to the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) about the practice. However, the SS command overruled Suhren's doubts and he was forced to apologise to Gebhardt and supply him with the prisoners he demanded.^[4] Suhren later said he witnessed experiments that included exposing women to high levels of X-rays in order to accomplish sterilisation.^[5]

Near the end of World War II, Franz Göring (SS member) [de] and Benoit Musy approached Suhren to ask him to allow a convoy of women to leave the camp and go into the custody of the Scandinavian Red Cross. Suhren refused the request as it was against superior orders, although eventually Göring got the backing of Rudolf Brandt and Suhren was forced to yield.^[6]