{{Short description|German SS officer (1905–1940)}} '''Walter Eisfeld''' (born 11 July 1905 in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt – died 3 April 1940 in Dachau) was a German SS functionary and concentration camp commandant during the Nazi era. Eisfeld had been a member of the Artamanen-Gesellschaft, a völkisch back-to-the-land movement, before becoming involved with the Nazi Party and its organisations.<ref>Tom Segev, ''Soldiers of Evil'', Berkley Books, 1991, p. 200</ref>
Whilst ''Schutzhaftlagerführer'' at Sachsenhausen in January 1940 he was sent to Silesia to examine the possibility of establishing new camps. Against Eisfeld's advice, a site at Auschwitz was chosen.<ref>Yisrael Gutman, Michael Berenbaum, ''Anatomy of the Auschwitz Death Camp'', Indiana University Press, 1998, p. 292</ref>
Having risen to the rank of Sturmbannführer, Eisfeld succeeded Hermann Baranowski as commandant at Sachsenhausen concentration camp before being replaced by Hans Loritz.<ref>Robert Melvin Spector, ''World Without Civilization: Mass Murder and the Holocaust, History and Analysis, Volume 1'', University Press of America, 2005, p. 363</ref> Heinrich Himmler visited Sachsenhausen in early 1940 and, seeing disciplinary problems amongst the guards, ordered Eisfeld to be replaced as camp commandant.<ref>Segev, ''Soldiers of Evil'', p. 164</ref> He was sent to command the new Neuengamme concentration camp, at the time a sub-camp of Sachsenhausen.<ref>[http://www.kz-gedenkstaette-neuengamme.de/en/history/concentration-camp/ss-guards/ The SS guards]</ref>
Eisfeld died of pneumonia at Dachau while attending a ceremony in which he was to be awarded a Nazi Party Badge.<ref>Karin Orth, ''Die Konzentrationslager-SS'', Wallstein, 2000, p. 164</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eisfeld, Walter}} Category:1905 births Category:1940 deaths Category:20th-century Freikorps personnel Category:SS-Sturmbannführer Category:Deaths from pneumonia in Germany Category:Military personnel from the Province of Saxony Category:Sachsenhausen concentration camp personnel Category:Neuengamme concentration camp personnel Category:Nazi concentration camp commandants Category:People from Halle (Saale)
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