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There was an excellent foreman in an iron foundry near Oranienburg. I spoke with him and told him I would get him out of the concentration camp. He is still around, and you can check with him about this story. I personally wrote to Kaltenbrunner to get approval for his release. Kaltenbrunner answered that it was impossible to release this man because he was a former Communist. That illustrates how hard it was to do anything.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner#60

DenialBureaucracyPersecutionBarriersResistanceTestimony

About this quote

What does it mean?
The speaker claims to have tried to save a foreman from a concentration camp but was blocked by Kaltenbrunner due to the man's political past.
In plain terms
Political status made it nearly impossible to get someone released from the camp.
What can you take from it?
Bureaucratic barriers were severe regardless of personal intervention.

Where it applies

  • negotiating releases
  • dealing with regimes
  • personal appeals

Putting it to work

  • appealing to officials
  • documenting efforts
  • tracking outcomes

Questions to consider

  • How do we verify such rescue attempts?
  • What limits existed for internal rescuers?

Another view

The claim relies on the speaker's word without independent verification of the letter or reply.

More from Ernst Kaltenbrunner

  1. Indeed, it was not until after the assassination of Heydrich in 1942 and the appointment of the subservient Kaltenbrunner in his place as head of the RSHA, of …

    Permalink to quote #59
  2. As far as I remember, he was there two, three, or four times. At any rate, during the last months of the war I saw him two, three, or four times. Kaltenbrunner…

    Permalink to quote #61
  3. I have no knowledge of Kaltenbrunner's becoming particularly prominent in the public eye. I heard the name Kaltenbrunner for the first time when he appeared as…

    Permalink to quote #58

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