Nothing is known about the author of the manuscript except that he was 82 at the time of writing.
Sachsenhausen concentration camp was established in 1936. It was located at the edge of Berlin, which gave it a prime position among the German concentration camps: the administrative centre of all concentration camps was located in Oranienburg, and Sachsenhausen became a training centre for SS officers (who would often be sent to oversee other camps afterwards). Executions took place at Sachsenhausen, especially those of Soviet POWs. While some Jews were executed at Sachsenhausen and many died there, the Jewish inmates of the camp were relocated to Auschwitz in 1942. Sachsenhausen was not designed as a death camp; instead, the systematic mass murder of Jews was conducted primarily in camps to the east.
From the guide to the Lustig, Louis (b 1874): Account of conditions in Sachsenhausen, 1959, (Wiener Library)
