KL – A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps
| Company type | Book |
|---|---|
| Industry | Publishing |
| Founded | 2015 |
| Founder | Nikolaus Wachsmann |
| Products | History book |
KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps is a 2015 publication authored by Birkbeck College academic Nikolaus Wachsmann.
Title
The title originates from the SS acronym KL, standing for , which translates to "concentration camp." In contrast, prisoners and others commonly used the informal abbreviation KZ, a term that gained wider usage in postwar German. According to Harold Marcuse, Heinrich Himmler strictly regulated the official Nazi abbreviation to suppress rival camps outside his jurisdiction. Wachsmann selected "KL" to capture the contemporary perception of the camp system. The book opens with an epigraph quoting Sonderkommando inmate Zalman Gradowski: "May the world at least behold a drop, a fraction of this tragic world in which we lived."
Contents
The work challenges the belief that the German populace was ignorant of concentration camps. The initial facilities established in 1933 were intentionally situated within working-class districts of Berlin to make Nazi oppression visible to the public. It further distinguishes between various types of camps, particularly contrasting conventional concentration camps with extermination camps. Wachsmann contends that concentration camps played a marginal role in the Final Solution, as the majority of Jewish victims perished through shootings, gas vans, or extermination camps rather than within concentration camps themselves. Although Jews represented most fatalities in these camps, their share of the inmate population fluctuated between 10 and 30 percent depending on the timeframe.
Employing an "integrated history" approach, Wachsmann combines broad patterns with specific exceptions to offer a multifaceted perspective. His research primarily utilizes German archival materials and emphasizes the absence of any "typical" prisoner, kapo, or guard profile.
The narrative concludes with the account of Moritz Choinowski, a Polish Jewish survivor freed from Dachau after enduring more than 2,000 days, reflecting on the harrowing experience.
Reception
Harold Marcuse described Wachsmann’s book in American Historical Review as "prodigious but eminently readable," acknowledging its importance within early-20th-century historical scholarship. Joanna Bourke praises Wachsmann’s meticulousness and depth, while Thomas W. Laqueur refers to it as "world-making history."
In The Guardian, Nicholas Lezard commends the volume as "a huge and necessary contribution," successfully blending expansive analysis with personal narratives. Keith Kahn-Harris writing for The Independent remarks that the book "renders the unimaginable evil of the camps relatable."
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