Hermann Diamanski

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Hermann Helmut Diamanski (May 4, 1909 – August 10, 1976) was a German who resisted the Nazis, fought in the Spanish Civil War, and survived Auschwitz. He later worked for the Allies and in East and West Germany, and he testified about the camps in the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial.

Diamanski was born in Danzig (now Gdańsk). His father was a marine engineer. He left school early and worked at sea from 1924 to 1935, traveling between Germany, England, and the Soviet Union. At 16 he joined the Young Communist League, and in 1929 he became a full member of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). In 1931 he attended a KPD training school in Lüneburg. In 1932 he married Helene Schmidt. Diamanski later said that she was killed at Ravensbrück, a claim he heard from other prisoners.

When the Nazis took power, Diamanski fled Germany to avoid persecution. He went to England and then to Spain in October 1937 to fight in the Spanish Civil War on the Republican side with the XI International Brigade, in the 3rd artillery battalion. After Franco’s side won, he fled first to Belgium, then France, and returned to Spain. In 1940 German agents arrested him in Barcelona and handed him to the Gestapo in Germany.

His journey through the Nazi system began in Welzheim concentration camp, where he endured very hard conditions. The Gestapo soon moved him to Berlin, to the Gestapo headquarters at the Reich Main Security Office. He was interrogated and tortured there. He later recalled a night when he was pulled from his cell and shot at—though the shots were blanks. In the same cell was Wilhelm Boger, an SS officer later known for atrocities. Diamanski even shared some Red Cross Christmas packets with Boger, which helped him later in Auschwitz.

In February 1941 Diamanski was sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where he did forced labor in a steel plant and later at a Gestapo school near Drögen. In May 1942 he was moved to Auschwitz, first to Auschwitz-Monowitz (Auschwitz III), and later to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Because of rumors he might have typhus, he was moved to Birkenau’s men’s camp. There he became a privileged prisoner after saving the camp warden Erna Hermann from drowning in a previous place and time, and he knew Johann Schwarzhuber, who supervised the camp. Diamanski became the block leader of Block 9 in the men’s camp and eventually led the gypsy camp (the Zigeunerlager) in Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Diamanski used his position to help other prisoners. He organized food, helped communists survive, and took part in resisting the camp’s brutal orders. He is described as having helped many prisoners find the strength to endure. He participated in a conspiracy against a harsh camp official, Gerhard Palitzsch, and earned the respect of many inmates. In the camp’s lingo he was nicknamed “Zigeunerbaron” (gypsy baron) for his leadership. He did not abuse his position; instead, he used it to aid others and to push back against some of the killings taking place in the camp.

Because of his resistance, Diamanski was removed from his leadership role in the summer of 1944 and sent to the penal labor company (Strafkompanie). He later returned to Auschwitz-Birkenau and worked in the pump station. During the evacuation of Auschwitz, he walked the death march to Buchenwald—a journey of about 420 miles (roughly 700 kilometers) in which around 60,000 prisoners were moved and at least 15,000 died. Diamanski was freed by American soldiers on April 11, 1945.

After the war, Diamanski worked as an interpreter for the U.S. military and in a transportation company. He married several times. In 1947 he moved to the Soviet-occupied zone and joined the police forces there, eventually becoming part of the East German police. He faced suspensions and transfers, including to the Wasserschutzpolizei in Schwerin. In 1953, after some controversy about his West Berlin life, he moved to West Berlin and began working for the U.S. Central Intelligence Group, the precursor to the CIA. He remained under surveillance by East Germany’s security service (the Stasi) for years.

In December 1953 he relocated to West Germany and settled in Frankfurt, working various jobs before becoming a shipping clerk for a local newspaper group. His health suffered from the torture he endured in prison, causing memory problems and anxiety.

Diamanski testified at the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial on March 19, 1964. He spoke about the SS officer Wilhelm Boger and about the liquidation of the gypsy camp, noting that Boger had once spared him in Berlin because of their shared prison experience.

Hermann Diamanski’s life was marked by perseverance, resistance, and witness. He survived several camps, helped many prisoners, and later shared his experiences to keep the memory of those who suffered in the Nazi camps alive.