Sonder- und Ehrenhaft (German for "special or honorable detention") were categories of detention forpolitical prisoners inNazi Germany who held particular political value or former status. These prisoners ("Sonder- oder Ehrenhäftlinge", "special or honorable detainees") included political leaders fromNazi-occupied Europe and disgraced members of the German elite. They were treated uncommonly well, and all but a few of them survivedWorld War II.[1]
The Nazi regime classified its political prisoners into numerous categories, including
Erziehungshäftlinge, "educational detainees";
Vorbeugehäftlinge, "preventative detainees";
Protektoratshäftlinge, "protectorate detainees";
Sonderhäftlinge andEhrenhäftlinge, "special detainees" and "detainees of honor".[1]
The latter category also included the "personal prisoners of theFührer" – opponents of the Nazi regime too prominent to be killed outright, as well as people like Hitler's failed assassinGeorg Elser, who was initially kept alive with the intention of putting him on ashow trial after the war.[1]
TheSS-Reichssicherheitshauptamt, led byHeinrich Himmler, was responsible for the detention of theSonder- und Ehrenhäftlinge. It built special detention centers for these prisoners in or near severalconcentration camps. Most of these facilities were much more comfortable than the camps' normal prisoner barracks.[1]
As the war wore on, the SS increasingly requisitioned a great number of hotels,castles,palaces and mansions, and repurposed them as detention centers. These included:[1]
Several other detention centers for high-level prisoners were planned.Albert Speer was charged to rebuild theSchwarzburg castle in theSchwarzatal,Thuringia, for this purpose, but the project was eventually abandoned. Inspired by the American prison ofAlcatraz, SS officers searched theBaltic Sea coast for a suitable location of an island prison. In 1942, the SS decided to use thePakri Islands nearBaltischport (now Paldiski in Estonia) for this purpose, but German defeat at theBattle of Stalingrad put this position at risk and the project was also abandoned.[1]
The conditions under which theSonder- und Ehrenhäftlinge were detained ranged from comfortable to luxurious, depending on their status. The prisoners did not have to work, were allowed to wear civilian clothing, and ate the same food as their guards. After the war,Ernst Kaltenbrunner testified at theNuremberg Trials that the prominent prisoners at places like Hotel Ifen or Bad Godesberg received "a triple diplomat's ration, that is to say, nine times the ration of a normal German during the war, as well as a bottle ofSekt each day."[1]
Many detainees were allowed to receive visits by their family or to have their spouses live with them, and some of the highest-ranking prisoners, such as KingLeopold III of Belgium, were allowed a smallretinue of servants and followers. However, the prisoners normally had to pay for the cost of their detention.Kurt Schuschnigg, for instance, whose assets the Nazis had confiscated, was billed even for the cost of his relocation to Sachsenhausen.[1]
Horia Sima, leader of the RomanianIron Guard — detained first at Buchenwald and later Sachsenhausen. Released in August 1944 to lead a Romanian puppet government.
