visit, the head of the SS was accompanied by three top-ranking SS generals and heads of important government structures under Himmler. All the dignitaries drove together in a special and very prestigious car assigned to the SS Reichsführer by Adolf Hitler. The car was an attribute of power and significance and had the registration number "SS-1".
In the camp, the honourable host was 34-year-old Max Pauly, an old fighter of the Nazi movement, member of the NSDAP until 1928 and of the SS since 1930, who headed the Stutthof camp from September 1939 and participated in many extermination actions. He knew Himmler undoubtedly from other situations, but this time he received him officially and was keen to further his career. He was tensed and excited. A similar tension was felt by members of his staff, who, dressed in the best uniforms and adorned with all their decorations, served as a background for the delegation during the passage through the camp.
Himmler spent most of his time in Stutthof on occasional meetings with SS-men in the newly commissioned command headquarters building. He spent only a few minutes in the prisoner part of the camp, where he saw the interior of a room and the craft workshop. He devoted much more attention and words to observing the camp rabbit house or the sewage system. Afterwards, he spoke and listened to speeches for an hour in the hall, where SS waiters in white uniforms brought a humble "war" working breakfast. In the end, he signed the visitors' book. On the evening of the same day, he was again at Hitler's war quarters near Kętrzyn. He never visited Stutthof again, nor did he deal specifically with its affairs.
Tour of the prisoner section of the camp premises on 23 November 1941 in Stutthof. The group is led by Lagerführer A. Dittmann, in the foreground. Second row, from the left: K. Wolff, R. Hildebrandt, H. Himmler and M. Pauly. The group is in the central section of the camp buildings, near the workshop barrack. The most noteworthy features are the painted walls and window frames, the roof flashing, electric line poles, numerous chimneys, a fire extinguisher cabinet, and the vegetation-free trampled square between the barracks. In the backdrop, the east wall and roof of the camp commandant's office and SS school.
Source: AMS, file no. I-IF-1, p. 29