On Himmler’s orders, the SS constructed a new camp in Lublin from autumn 1941. Now known as Majdanek, it was the most easterly concentration camp at the time. Although Majdanek later became a Holocaust camp, it was not built as a camp for Jewish prisoners. Early on, the aim was to use Soviet prisoners for slave labour, forcing them to colonize the occupied region for German settlers. But the SS only made slow progress. In 1942, the camp was still a building site. Although the following document should be read with caution – it was written by Commandant Karl Otto Koch on 2 August 1942 after a mass escape of Soviet POWs, which Koch tried to blame on others – it still highlights the poor conditions in Majdanek.
Lublin [Majdanek] concentration camp is being constructed under the most difficult conditions. It cannot be compared in any respect with a concentration camp in the Old Reich. Bearing in mind the […] building regulations, the camp can as yet be built only on a provisional basis. This circumstance is determined in particular by the prevailing shortage of building materials, the lack of skilled tradesmen and the poor transport situation. Another factor making things particularly difficult is that we have very few guards. Those we have come in the main from Lithuania and do not speak German. There are also some SS men who have been classed as suitable only for garrison duties because of various physical ailments. The commandant’s staff is made up mostly of reservists who are not familiar with how to run a concentration camp properly, are to some extent indifferent and, despite the effort expended on them, cannot get the hang of it.
Source: Bundesarchiv Berlin, SSO, Koch, Karl, 2.8.1897
Translation: Lesley Sharpe and Jeremy Noakes