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Imprisonment in Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp

Hitler viewed the explosion site after the assassination attempt and requested information on the investigation’s progress on several occasions. On December 15, 1939, Himmler gave him a new report on Elser’s interrogations. The National Socialist leaders intended to subject Elser to a show trial before the “People’s Court” after winning the war, so he was held as a “special prisoner” in the cell block of Sachsen­hausen concentration camp from 1940 on.

There, he was allocated a spacious cell and was even able to practice carpentry on a workbench. Elser was guarded day and night by at least two SS men. He made small items of furniture for his guards and also made himself a zither, which he sometimes played. Elser had absolutely no contact with other prisoners in the camp. Once a rather sociable person, Elser lived more than five years in total isolation.

Archiv des Föderalen Dienstes für Sicherheit der Russischen Föderation (FSB), Moskau
In this photo from the camp commandant Karl Koch’s album, the three windows on the far right belong to Georg Elser’s cell.

Zentralstelle im Lande Nordrhein-Westfalen für die Bearbeitung von Nationalsozialistischen Massenverbrechen, Köln, 24 Js 167/67 (Z), Band XXIV a
Plan of the Sachsenhausen cell block, drawn in 1967 by the former head of the cell block, SS-Untersturmführer Kurt Eccarius. Georg Elser’s cell is visible on the far right.
Bundesarchiv, NS 19/1447
Note by Heinrich Himmler on a meeting with Hitler, Berlin, December 15, 1939.
Schweizerisches Bundesarchiv Bern, E. 4320 (B) 1970/25
Taken between November 1939 and January 1940, this photo is the only evidence we have to date that Elser was already imprisoned in Sachsenhausen at this time.

Reproduktion Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand
Even after 1945, this was the most widely published photo of Elser. It was published with captions such as: “The most evil criminal of the century” or “The paid-for instrument—Georg Elser.” After 1945, it was very upsetting for his relatives to see reports about Georg Elser unthinkingly illustrated with this Gestapo photo.