Bequest Klaus Dylewski

The bequest Klaus Dylewski was given to the Fritz Bauer Institute by his daughter in 2013. Klaus Dylewski was born in Finkenwalde in the district of Stettin in Upper Silesia on May 11, 1916. His family self-identified as Polish. His father was a miner. After graduating from high school in 1935, he began studying aircraft engineering at Gdansk Technical University but quickly changed to mechanical engineering. For the time being, he did not complete his studies. During the increasing tensions between the German Reich and Poland, he joined the SS-Heimwehr Danzig in 1939. After its incorporation into the SS-Totenkopf-Division, in 1940, Dylewski was transferred to another division and took part in the invasion of France. In early September 1940, eventually, he arrived at the newly established Auschwitz concentration camp where he remained stationed for four years. At first, he belonged to the SS guards, later he became an investigating officer in the Political Department of the Lagergestapo due to his knowledge of Polish. In this capacity, he was involved in interrogations, torture, and shootings. During his service in Auschwitz, Dylewski married and continued his studies in mechanical engineering while on leave of absence for several months. After being promoted to SS-Oberscharführer, he was seconded to the SS-Führungsstab Hersbruck near Nuremberg in the summer of 1944. As head of the department, he worked on the construction of an underground engine factory for pursuit planes. Prisoners from the Flossenbürg subcamp Hersbruck were used as forced laborers there. After the end of the war, Dylewski went into hiding and worked undetected with farmers in Bavaria and in a nursery in Hamburg. In 1948, he resumed his studies under a false name, now at East Berlin's Humboldt University. After completing his studies, he worked as a technical instructor in the GDR and Dusseldorf. Beginning in 1952, he worked under his real name as an expert for materials inspection at the Technical Supervisory Association (TÜV) in Dusseldorf. Starting in 1959, the Frankfurt public prosecutor's office investigated him and he was remanded in custody in 1959, 1960/1961, and 1964, in some cases for only a few months. At the proceedings against Mulka et al., the so-called First Frankfurt Auschwitz TriaI in 1963, he was put on trial for participating in selections and shootings. In 1965, he was sentenced to five years in prison. However, he was released in 1968, even before the sentence became final. He continued to work in Cologne as a graduate engineer and died in Hilden on April 1, 2012. After description, demetallization, and filing, the bequest Klaus Dylewski contains one archival unit with a total volume of 0.02 running meters. During indexing in August 2023, the processor Inga Steinhauser completely reorganized the holding. The structure conceptually follows the "rules for the description of personal papers and autographs" (RNA, Regeln zur Erschließung von Nachlässen und Autographen). The bequest consists exclusively of a "correspondence"("Korrespondenzen") section. It contains correspondence between Dylewski and his lawyers Hans Laternser and Fritz Steinacker during the First Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial. Furthermore, the section holds correspondence between Dylewski and the former Auschwitz prisoner Nikolaus Klymyshyn from the years 1964 to 2001. These letters mainly deal with personal matters but above all with clarifying the murder of various Ukrainian prisoners. In addition, the collection contains letters from Hagen University and the historian Hans-Ulrich Wehler. The bequest Klaus Dylewski can only be inspected with the prior permission of the donor.