Harry Naujoks

Harry Naujoks (18 September 1901 – 20 October 1983) was a German anti-fascist and communist and survivor of Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

For over two years, he was sent to various prisons and concentration camps, including KoLaFu and by 1936, one of the Emslandlager, before finally being sent to Sachsenhausen.

In May 1942, he was ordered by Lagerführer Fritz Suhren to execute a fellow prisoner by hanging, but refused, a dangerous act of insubordination.

He was able to survive the insubordination and to avoid executing the prisoner himself, but he was forced to stand next to the gallows during the hanging, which was made to be particularly slow and painful.

It opened with presentations by Dr. Winfried Meyer, Prof. Nozicka of Prague, Ursel Hochmuth and Naujoks' son, Rainer.

From July to September 1942, almost all of the pink triangle prisoners then at Sachsenhausen fell victim to a targeted SS extermination initiative.