Fritz Suhren
| Fritz Suhren | |
|---|---|
| Born |
10 June 1908 Varel, Kingdom of Saxony |
| Died | 12 June 1950 (aged 42) Sandweier, Baden-Baden, Germany |
| Allegiance |
 Nazi Germany
|
| Service/branch |
 Schutzstaffel
|
| Years of service | 1931–1945 |
| Rank | SS-Sturmbannführer (Major) |
| Commands held | Ravensbrück concentration camp |
Fritz Suhren (10 June 1908 – 12 June 1950) was a German SS officer and Nazi concentration camp commandant.
Suhren joined the Nazi Party in 1928 and the Sturmabteilung at the same time. He moved over to the SS in October 1931, initially as a volunteer before going full-time in 1934.
Trained by the Wehrmacht under SS supervision he was nevertheless not used as a soldier and instead was stationed at Sachsenhausen concentration camp in 1941. By 1942 he was Lagerführer (deputy commandant) at the camp and in May of that year ordered camp Lagerältester Harry Naujoks to hang a prisoner who had been earmarked for execution. Naujoks refused to perform the deed and, whilst Naujoks was able to survive the insubordination, Suhren insisted that he stand beside the prisoner on the gallows (which had been fitted with a winch in order to prolong the execution) and forced a young inmate to perform the hanging.
He was later commandant of the women's camp at Ravensbrück concentration camp. His policy upon taking command in 1942 was to exterminate the prisoners through working them as hard as possible and feeding them as little as possible.
As commandant at Ravensbrück, Suhren had to provide inmates to Dr. Karl Gebhardt for experimentation. Suhren initially objected to this, mainly because most of the inmates at the camp were political prisoners, and he complained to the SS-Reichssicherheitshauptamt about the practice. However the SS command overruled Suhren's doubts and he was forced to apologise to Gebhardt and supply him with the prisoners he demanded. Suhren would later state that he had witnessed experiments that included exposing women to high levels of x rays in order to accomplish sterilisation.
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