Lageranordnungen

Lageranordnungen are formal regulations issued for the management and operation of camps, including prisoner camps, labor camps, and, in historical contexts, concentration camps. The term combines Lager (camp) and Anordnung (instruction/order). In German-language sources, such orders lay out the organizational structure, duties of staff, and the legal framework for daily camp life.

Content commonly covered by Lageranordnungen includes the camp hierarchy (commandant, guards, and subordinate staff), routines and work allocation, food supply and medical care, housing and hygiene, movement controls, rolls calls, and procedures for entrance, security, and punishments. They also regulate contact with the outside world, such as mail, visitors, and censorship, as well as rules concerning the possession of personal items and the use of facilities.

In the Nazi era, Lageranordnungen functioned as instruments of control within the concentration camp system. They complemented decrees and the broader racial and security policies of the regime, detailing how prisoners were organized into blocks, work details, and political or criminal classifications. They established the prerogatives of the guard service and the mechanisms of coercion, including punitive measures, isolation, and, in some cases, selections. The precise content varied between camps and over time.

Today, historians study Lageranordnungen as primary sources that illuminate administrative practice, daily life, and the routine of atrocity. They help explain how bureaucratic proceedings translated into lived experience for detainees and how spatial and logistical arrangements supported mass imprisonment and exploitation.