Muselmänner and Prisoner Societies: Toward a Sociohistorical Understanding

ABSTRACT In Holocaust discourse, Muselmänner are commonly depicted as mute, passive prisoners fated to die. We identify alternative representations in works of Jorge Semprún and Imre Kertész but also in a great number of other testimonies. Many of them were written by former Muselmänner. We argue for a sociohistorical turn in Muselmann discourse. Many testimonies show that Muselmänner were a constitutive part of the social structure of prisoner societies. Taking up a term from the camp language, we analyze the process of Muselmanization. We argue that the Muselmann must be understood as a processual and relational rather than an essentialist category. We propose to add a spatiotemporal approach to the analysis of prisoner societies. A close examination of particular blocks, barracks, or commandos and their changing function in the course of the camp system’s development yields unexpected insights into the social realities of Muselmänner and, in turn, into the inner workings of prisoner societies. We conclude that the Muselmann signifies that death and dying became defining factors of the social order of Nazi concentration camps.