Heuberg

General

In early March, 1933, the Nazis transported recently arrested political opponents to the small town of Stetten a.k.M. in the Heuberg district. These prisoners were housed in an empty military training facility. By May, 1933, the camp had grown to over 2,000 prisoners. By the end of December, 1933, the last of the prisoners had been either released or transferred to other facilities, and the camp was closed. During its nine month existence, about 15,000 prisoners passed through the camp. As a historical aside, this facility was used to house the "Indian Legion" from December, 1944, to March, 1945. The "Indian Legion" was a group of captured Indian soldiers fighting for the British in North Africa who agreed to fight for the Nazis. See Indian Legion Stamps and Postal History.

Philatelic Materials

Below is a thumbnail of a Lordahl Type Sn lettersheet from Arnold Hamann dated May 28, 1933. The lettersheet also bears a Lordahl Type SC1 special cachet. In the letter, the prisoner complains of sleeping on boards for nine weeks which indicates that he must have arrived on an early transport to the camp. According to Lordahl, this item is one of the earliest examples of concentration camp mail and is the only reported example of a Heuberg inmate letter. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Philatelic Materials" in the left frame to return.

References

Erik Lordahl, German Concentration Camps 1933-1945, History and Inmate Mail (2000). Referred to as Lordahl.

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