“death certificate” issued by the registrar’s office at Auschwitz camp, confirming the death of a prisoner in isolation. . In order to maintain the confidentiality about the actual purpose of the concentration camps, the German administrative authorities began to take over the power of institutions operating in those areas. The office of the Camp Registry was one of those institutions. In the beginning, as can be noticed in the civil records of Auschwitz prisoners worked in the Civil Status Registry in Bielsko. The registry informed people about deaths of their relatives, that had died in the camp. In 1941, however, a separate registry office was created on the site. This office was led by a non-commissioned SS officer which was also a civil servant and held the official title of – Der Standesbeamte. The most extensive role of the civil status office of the camp was death notifications. This records were kept in chronological order in Todesbuch – “death registry” and files on deceased prisoners, and this book was the basis for informing the family of the deceased, state administration and church-registry. The role of the Todesbuch was also to verify the incorrect documentation of prisoners’ death (as the most common cause of death was given natural causes). They did not register people that were led directly to the gas chambers on their arrival to the camp.
