The only intact building that was a part of the camp itself is the Kommandantur or main building where SS Commandant Fritz Suhren had his office.

This is an original picture of one of the four villas SS officers and their families lived in right outside the camp. Just like in the movie Zone of Interest, SS families lived idyllic lives right next to the death camp. Some of the prisoners (here often Jehova girls) were employed as domestic help and Thea Boissevain was also summoned once to work in an officer’s yard.

While towards the end, prisoners slept with as many as four on one straw mattress in a bunkbed, officers and guards lived around 100 meters from the camp in picturesque, gabled houses with a view of Lake Schwedt.

The female guards lived in the larger white buildings. Two women shared a room that was furnished with new curtains and furniture. Currently, the buildings are used as International Youth Hostels…