The Allied air war against the German Reich exacerbated the space problems of the SS Main Offices from 1943 onwards. The SS leadership responded by increasing air raid protection and relocating its authorities from the Reich capital to less endangered areas in the Gau Mark Brandenburg. From 1944, the SS also pushed ahead with the relocation of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA). Several satellite camps of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and the Theresienstadt ghetto were set up for this purpose. In March 1944, the SS assembled a labour detachment in Theresienstadt and deported a total of 378 Jewish prisoners to the community of Wulkow, 60 kilometers east of Berlin. Among other things, they had to build a large »Ausweichstelle« (alternative site) there for Office IV of the RSHA. The prisoners came into contact with employees of the main SS offices, including high-ranking Nazi functionaries. There were also points of contact between the prisoners and the civilian population of the respective villages.
The relocation of SS offices from the Reich capital during the final phase of the war represents a research desideratum. The aim of this doctoral project is to write a multi-perspective history of the SS »Ausweichstellen« and the associated forced labour camps. The focus is on the interaction between the persecuted, SS personnel and the civilian population. What consequences did this have for the prisoners? How did the rural population get on with the SS? What significance did the near end of the war and the proximity to Berlin have?
