Newly-found documents reveal Nazi beast in charge of concentration camp for children lived comfy post-war life
Polish historians have discovered how the commandant of Hitler’s concentration camp for Polish children in Łódź got away with his crimes after the war and lived a cushy life until old age in Munich.
When the Red Army reached the city in January 1945, Sturmbannführer SS Camillo Ehrlich fled the camp and headed west. Since that time, little was known about his fate, other than that he moved to Berlin.
However, recently, historians from the Museum of Polish Children – Victims of Totalitarianism in Łódź discovered that he was captured by the Soviets after the war and sentenced to life imprisonment, but was eventually released by the East German authorities.
From 1958 Friedrich Camillo Ehrlich lived in Munich and published articles on forensic science.
After moving to West Germany, his conviction was quashed. He lived out his life comfortably in Munich writing how-to manuals for the German police and died in Munich on 6 June 1974 at the age of 81.
Director of the Museum of Polish Children Dr Ireneusz Maj said that he "was never held accountable for the crimes he committed against Polish children".
The historians searching for information about the commandant in Polish and German archives explained that it was difficult to find details about him because of his misspelled name.
For the entire period since the war, he has been known as Karl Ehrlich
Ehrlich also wrote a handbook for police officers on how to encourage teenagers to avoid crime.
“After the research we are one hundred percent convinced that his real name is Friedrich Camillo,” said Michał Hankiewicz, a historian at the Museum of Polish Children.
This key fact allowed the historians to reconstruct Ehrlich's post-war history.
On 29 May 1945 he was arrested by the NKVD and was held in camps in Fünfeichen and Buchenwald. In 1950 the Soviets handed him over to the East German authorities, who put him on trial along with 3400 people accused of cooperation with the Nazi regime.
The German court in Chemnitz found him guilty of involvement in the terror machine of the Third Reich, but no mention was made to his role in the camp for children in Łódź.
Ehrlich joined the Nazi Party in 1937, and became chief of the criminal police in Chemnitz. In April 1939, he joined the SS, rising to the rank of Sturmbannführer in November 1940.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment, but was only behind bars until 1956, when he was released without giving a reason. After his release, Ehrlich went to West Germany.
From 1958 he lived in Munich and published articles on forensic science. He also wrote a handbook for police officers on how to encourage teenagers to avoid crime.
In 1970, Ehrlich, by then a pensioner, was questioned as a suspect in connection with an investigation against Heinrich Fuge, who ran the sister camp for girls in Dzierżązna.
During questioning, Ehrlich denied that he had committed any crimes, claiming that he had forbidden the beating of children and that he had never seen guards with whips or lashes.
In January 1942, Ehrlich took over as head of the criminal police in Litzmannstadt, as Łódź was then called, and became commandant of the children’s camp when it opened in December 1942.
He said that he allowed children to see their families and that he always called a doctor if any of them were sick.
He maintained that only three children had died in the camp, one of them by shooting.
Friedrich Camillo Ehrlich was born on 23 February 1893 in Löβnitz, Saxony. In 1922 he married Elisabeth Oelsner, but had no children with her.
He fought in the First World War, during which he became a Lieutenant and earned an Iron Cross.
The German camp for Polish children on Przemysłowa street in Lodz operated from 1942 to 1945. It is estimated that over 3,000 children passed through it, and several hundred died.
After the war he joined the police and became a detective in Chemnitz.
He joined the Nazi Party in 1937, and became chief of the criminal police in Chemnitz.
In April 1939, he joined the SS, rising to the rank of Sturmbannführer in November 1940.
In January 1942, he took over as head of the criminal police in Litzmannstadt, as Łódź was then called, and became commandant of the children’s camp when it opened in December 1942.
Other documents found by the museum’s historians dating to November 1941 show the care the Germans took in providing comfortable conditions for their dogs.
Other documents found by the museum’s historians dating to November 1941 show the care the Germans took in providing comfortable conditions for their dogs.
Dr Maj said: “Staff showed more concern for these dogs, which needed to be provided with appropriate conditions during the winter, than for children.”
“The daily ration consisted of two slices of bread, black coffee and something that resembled soup. I can imagine that the animals referred to in the documents were better fed than the Polish children,” he added.
The German camp for Polish children on Przemysłowa street in Lodz operated from 1942 to 1945. It is estimated that over 3,000 children passed through it, and several hundred died.
