Category:Dachau (subject)

KZ Dachau (see Holocaust Children Studies)

The Schwanger Kommando

The Schwanger Kommando was a group of seven pregnant, Hungarian Jewish women imprisoned in one of the Kaufering sub-camps of Dachau in December 1944. Though pregnant women and their babies were almost never permitted to survive, this group was allowed to bear their children, possibly as a bargaining chip for their SS overseers to use when the Allies conquered Germany. They were forced to work in the prisoners’ laundry. Despite appalling sanitary conditions and the lack of food and heat, all seven mothers gave birth to healthy babies between February and April 1945, with the assistance of Jewish dottor Erno Vadasz (M / Hungary, 1890-1957). As late as 13 March 1945, the head SS camp physician issued an order for the mothers to be transferred from Dachau to the Bergen-Belsen death camp. Thankfully the order was not carried out. The last baby he delivered was born one day after demolition of the crematorium, on April 29, 1945. All seven mothers (and their babies) were liberated in Dachau by the American Army, in satisfactory condition, in May 1945.

(1) Pictured left to right are Eva Schwartz (Eva Fleischmannovà) with her daughter Maria; Dora Loewy (Dora Löwy) and her daughter Szuszi; Boeszi Legmann (Elisabeth Legmann) with her son Gyuri; Suri Hirsch (Sara Grün) with her son Yossi; Miriam Schwarcz Rosenthal (Miriam Rosenthal) with her son Laci (Leslie); Magda Fenyvesi (Magda Schwartz) with her daughter Judit, and Ibolya Kovacs (Ibolya Kovács) with her daughter Agnes. [@USHMM]

(2) Pictured from left to right are: Ibolya Kovacs with her daughter Agnes; Suri Hirsch with her son Yossi; Eva Schwartz with her daughter Maria; Magda Fenyvesi with her daughter Judit; and Boeszi Legmann with her son Gyuri. Not pictured are: Dora Loewy and her daughter Szuszi; and Miriam Schwarcz Rosenthal and her son Laci (Leslie). [@USHMM]