Concentration Camp Records

The Nazis were notorious for maintaining detailed records of nearly everything they did, including illegal and horrific actions like the internment and eradication of Jews and other “undesirables.” In addition, political prisoners and prisoners of war entered the concentration camp system across Germany and occupied territories in eastern Europe. As prisoners entered the camps, they were issued numbers. Information was written next to each number to identify the prisoners including full names, birthdates, where they were born, and from where they came. Markings made later on some pages denoted prisoner releases and deaths.

More information about many of the concentration camps is available within Footnote's Holocaust Collection page relating to Concentration Camps.

Entry registers (Zugansbücher in German) for Dachau and Flossenbürg are available as digitized images on Footnote. Also included here are the Mauthausen Death Books. The images have been scanned from NARA microfilm publications. Much of the information provided in the description below has been taken from the descriptive pamphlets (DP) for each of the titles. PDF versions of the descriptive pamphlets are available to view or download by choosing the title’s text link:

• M1935: Concentration Camp Flossenbürg Inmate Entry Registers, 1938-1945
• M1938: Concentration Camp Dachau Entry Registers (Zugansbücher), 1933-1945
• T990: Mauthausen Death Books, 1939-1945 (The DP for this title simply contains the roll contents as: Roll 1: Jan. 7, 1939-Dec. 24, 1944; Roll 2: Dec. 25. 1944-Apr. 29, 1945.)

Look below under "Related resources" for links to archival descriptions in NARA's online Archival Research Catalog (ARC).

The image in this section starts a list of 263 entries for deaths within Mauthausen beginning on 24 October 1942 with the cause of death as "Standrechtlich erschossen," translated as "summarily shot."

To view the archival descriptions in NARA's online Archival Research Catalog (ARC), follow the links here:

Lists and Registers of German Concentration Camp Inmates, compiled 1946 - 1958, documenting the period 1942 - 1945, ARC Identifier 596972

War Crimes Trials Case Files, compiled 1947 - 1958, documenting the period 1945 - 1958, ARC Identifier 581096

Totenbuch Mauthausen [Mauthausen Death Book], 08/10/1940 - 03/26/1942, ARC Identifier 305268

From the following Footnote title pages you can search, browse, and see what others are finding within these record images:

Dachau Entry Registers

Flossenburg Entry Registers

Mauthausen Death Books

The following microfilm publications are the source of each of the titles described here.

NARA publication M1938, Concentration Camp Dachau Entry Registers (Zugangsbücher), 1933-1945. Record Group (RG) 238, National Archives Collection of World War II War Crimes Records. (7 rolls of microfilm)

NARA publication  M1935, Concentration Camp Flossenbürg Inmate Entry Registers, 1938–1945. Record Group (RG) 549, Records of United States Army, Europe.  (2 rolls of microfilm)

NARA publication T990,  Mauthausen Death Books, 1939-1945. Record Group (RG) 238, National Archives Collection of World War II War Crimes Records. (2 rolls of microfilm)