Otto Zaugg papers Nachlass Otto Zaugg (1906-1998)

Otto Zaugg (April 11, 1906 – August 9, 1998), the engineer, head of the Eidgenössische Zentralleitung der Heime und Lager (Swiss Central Administration of Asylums and Camps), born in Bern. In 1932 received an engineering degree from the ETH Zürich. Beginning in 1933 become the head of the Schweizerische Zentralstelle für freiwilligen Arbeitsdienst (Swiss Central Office for Volunteer Labor). The decision on March 12, 1940 by the Swiss Federal Council to establish labor camps for civilian refugees led to the creation of the Zentralleitung der Arbeitslager (Central Administration of Labor Camps), which, renamed in 1946 as the Eidgenössische Zentralleitung der Heime und Lager, Zaugg headed until its disbandment in February 1950. The Central Administration was in charge of a total of 112 camps, 161 asylum homes, and 10 special enterprises serving ca. 50,000 persons. In 1950, Zaugg transferred into the insurance business, holding a managerial position with the Schweizerische National-Versicherungsgesellschaft in Basel. Died in Poschiavo, Switzerland. [Source: AfZ’s online catalog]

Forms part of the Claims Conference International Holocaust Documentation Archive at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. This archive consists of documentation whose reproduction and/or acquisition was made possible with funding from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

Source of acquisition is the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich. Archiv für Zeitgeschichte (AfZ), Switzerland. Original archival signature at source archive: NL Otto Zaugg. The AfZ acquired the collection in 1988, 1994, and 2008. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received the collection via the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s International Archives Project in Nov. 2011.