Violence and punishments
For the prisoners, everyday life in the Wulkow satellite camp was characterised by fear and violence. They were subjected to arbitrary punishments on a daily basis: continuous roll calls, food deprivation, beatings or bunker confinement. The camp commandant Franz Stuschka was primarily responsible for imposing the punishments.
In very few cases were the prisoners able to escape the abuse, as the reasons for the punishments were often fabricated. Stuschka usually gave his orders in such a way that the prisoners were not able to understand them and therefore carried them out incorrectly, or he punished them if, in his opinion, they were not working hard enough.
He abused the prisoners in his barrack, which the prisoners called the "laughing cabinet". There he beat them viciously, usually with a bicycle lock that he always carried in his boot.
In addition to the beatings, Stuschka also regularly held continuous roll calls. The prisoners had to stand outside for hours, even in freezing temperatures, with little clothing and without food. Food deprivation was a constant threat for the prisoners. It could last anywhere from one meal to several days.
For many prisoners, one of the most terrible places in the camp was the so-called bunker. The bunker was a small pit, covered with tree trunks, earth and grass, in which it was impossible to stand upright. Up to 20 prisoners were sometimes locked in the bunker - at times for several days, wearing only their underwear and without food.
In the middle of winter, Stuschka made the prisoners build a large birdcage. It was about 2 metres high, had iron bars and a wooden floor. In "less severe cases", the prisoners were locked up here in the morning and only released in the evening.
After the Stauffenberg assassination attempt, Stuschka had a gallows erected in the camp. However, no executions took place. The prisoners suspected that Stuschka was afraid of his superiors and potential consequences.
Aside from the physical and psychological injuries suffered by his victims, Stuschka was also responsible for the deaths of several prisoners, whom he had deported to concentration camps with the note "Return undesirable". Most of them did not survive.
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Be aware
The following quotes from some of the prisoners contain descriptions of the violence they experienced in the Wulkow camp