It’s interesting how research can lead you to unexpected discoveries. While looking into one topic, I stumbled upon something even more compelling: the photograph above. It’s an identification photo from the Herzogenbusch Concentration Camp, aka Vught concentration camp, in the Netherlands, depicting prisoner Martinus T. Barbier taken by the camp photographer on January 20, 1944. Barbier was born on January 22, 1914, in The Hague.
As I delved further, I came across the name of one of Herzogenbusch’s commandants: Karl Chmielewski. His eventual fate struck me as either deeply ironic or perhaps a form of poetic justice.
Karl Chmielewski (July 16, 1903 – December 1, 1991) was a German SS officer notorious for his extreme cruelty as a concentration camp commandant during World War II. His brutal actions earned him the moniker “Teufel von Gusen” or “Devil of Gusen.”
Early Life and SS Career
Born in Frankfurt am Main, Chmielewski initially pursued careers as a sculptor and in advertising but failed to establish himself. In 1933, he joined the SS and subsequently the Nazi Party. He served in Heinrich Himmler’s office before being transferred to the Columbia concentration camp in 1935 and then to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp in 1936. By 1938, he was promoted to Untersturmführer and became part of the Schutzhaftlagerführung, the ‘Protective custody’ units of the SS-Totenkopfverbände.
Roles at Gusen and Herzogenbusch Concentration Camps
From 1940 to 1942, Chmielewski, then a Hauptsturmführer, served as Schutzhaftlagerführer at Gusen concentration camp, where he developed a reputation for extreme brutality. He then became the first commandant of the newly established Herzogenbusch concentration camp in the Netherlands. During his tenure, he was known for ordering the drowning of prisoners in buckets of water during inspections and was accused of using prisoners’ skin to make items such as wallets and book bindings, actions reportedly forbidden by Nazi authorities.
At the end of 1942, he was appointed camp commander of the Herzogenbusch concentration camp. Ten months later, he faced charges from an SS court for embezzling valuables and sexually assaulting female prisoners. In the summer of 1944, he was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison, subsequently sent to the Dachau concentration camp as a prisoner. He survived the war and liberation while serving as a camp elder in the Allach satellite camp. Afterward, he went into hiding under a false identity. However, when he attempted to remarry, his assumed identity was uncovered, leading to his arrest. In 1961, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for his direct involvement in the murders of 293 individuals. Chmielewski died in 1991, 12 years after being released from prison.
Chmielewski’s corruption (including stealing diamonds from prisoners) led to his arrest by an SS court.
Sources
https://www.gusen-memorial.org/de/Das-Konzentrationslager/Die-SS/Der-Lagerfuehrer-Karl-Chmielewski
https://www.nmkampvught.nl/multi/english/
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/karl-chmielewski
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Chmielewski
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