Katarzyna Okoniewska

The aim of the article is to present the functioning of the dental offi ces in the concentration camps KL Stutthof in Sztutowo and KL Auschwitz in Oświęcim. The state of knowledge about dentistry at Stutthof camp is inadequate, because it has not been properly elaborated. In the concentration camps, both the doctor and the dentist, were almost not associated with medical help. A dental offi ce was established in KL Stutthof in November 1941 when Ernst Wedel arrived, in Auschwitz much earlier and the fi rst founders were polish prisoners, who always tried to help the most sick people, but the chiefs were SS-Sturmbannführer dr Karl Teuber and SS-Hauptsturmführer dr Willy Frank. The main tasks of the dentist was to take care of the SS staff and prisoners, but only the camp’s crew was surrounded with full medical care.

The article presents a short analysis of sources, confi rming that the SS-personnel were treated even when the case of tooth diseases was very serious, but when it comes to the prisoners, they could have tooth removal or sometimes jaw surgery. The most important task was to keep the records of prisoners with artifi cial teeth made of gold and other precious metals. After prisoners death, the doctor removed his teeth out and then melted down so that it could fi nally be sent to Goldverwaltung.  

A history of the concentration camps is related with huge hunger. It was a hunger that was constantly in the psyche and managed the life of the prisoners. Food rations were calculated to let the prisoner survive in the camp for a maximum three months.
The food was monotonous and defective. Based on the memories of the prisoners and reports of the Soviet Commission, it is known that the food was prepared from the worst quality of products, e.g. bread was on the basis of fl our mixed with sawdust, what totally changed the structure, the loaf was clayey, often moldy, and that was the main cause of bloody diarrhea, cheese or marmalade were contaminated or spoiled, the same situation was with the other products. Prisoners tried to fi ght for each additional portion of food. Prisoners stole food, and that was severely punished – in many cases food was taken away for few days, what accelerated their encounter with death.
As a result of prolonged hunger, the body has undergone irreversible changes.The first stage of the disease is a state of nutritional deficiency, which is mainly characterized by losing weight, because the body uses its own fat stores (so called compensation). The second stage is hunger. The body exhausts its own nutritional and energy reserves, and after using them consumes protein bodies, causing tissue damage.
In my article, I would like to explain how hunger affected the body. What happened to organism? What happened to the psyche? Which group of prisoners was the most vulnerable to the destruction of the body? The analysis is based on the source material kept in the Archives of Museum Stutthof in Sztutowo and specialist literature.