Editing Georg Nikolaus Schäfer (section)

== SS service ==

Schäfer joined a street fight between Nazis and communist demonstrators in Coburg in summer 1931 and assaulted one of the communists. Local SS members approached him afterward, and he joined the [[Schutzstaffel (Nazi Germany)|SS]]. His work as a mechanic continued. During the ban on the SA and SS in April and May 1932, he repaired motorcycles belonging to SS men, keeping them running for trips outside Coburg. After the ban ended in June, he began maintaining vehicles regularly for the local SS unit.

In March 1933, Schäfer helped SS men and police arrest a communist who had been distributing anti-Nazi leaflets. He took the man to the [[Alte Herberge]] in Coburg and beat him during detention. The following year, Schäfer transferred to the SS political readiness unit at the Mühlbergkaserne in [[Ellwangen]]. The unit became III./SS 1/VT of the [[SS-Verfügungstruppe]] in October 1934. He trained as an infantryman while continuing to work on military vehicles. At [[Hammelburg]] in summer 1935, he assaulted a fellow SS man who accused him of damaging a truck engine. An NCO stopped Schäfer after the other man had fallen. Schäfer was confined to barracks and taken off vehicle maintenance for the rest of the training period.

His superiors refused to restore his mechanic duties. He requested a transfer to the concentration-camp guards and was sent to [[Dachau concentration camp]] in autumn 1936. In 1937, he guarded prisoners demolishing part of the former munitions factory as Dachau was expanded. One prisoner collapsed while carrying building materials, and Schäfer struck him with his rifle butt and ordered him to stand. Other prisoners carried the injured man away.

Schäfer accompanied the first transport of 304 prisoners from Dachau to [[Mauthausen concentration camp]] on 8 August 1938. There he served with SS-Totenkopfstandarte 4 ''Ostmark''. During 1939, he guarded prisoners sent to work outside the camp.