OBERFRANKEN and UNTERFRANKEN CAMPS

Following the March 9, 1933, Nazi takeover of Bavaria, the police established at least 10 small “protective custody” camps in the northern Gaue of Oberfranken and Unterfranken (after 1935: Mainfranken). In Oberfranken, the Coburg local prison, Hof an der Saale state court prison, and Straubing penitentiary became camps, in addition to the Bayreuth (St. Georgen) workhouse, Bamberg Wilhelmsplatz state court prison, and Hassenberg women’s prison. In Unterfranken, the Aschaffenburg, Hassfurt, Schweinfurt, and Würzburg local prisons had protective custody camps. Aschaffenburg, Coburg, Hassfurt, Hof, Schweinfurt, Straubing, and Würzburg confined more than 600 detainees in March 1933. According to the Bamberg state prosecutor’s memorandum to the Bavarian Justice Ministry, March 11, 1933, Bad Kissingen’s local prison may also have held detainees, but additional information is needed to verify this claim.1 In June 1929, Coburg elected the first Nazi-dominated government in Germany. Since 193...