ARC Main Page Treblinka Camp History

The Treblinka Perpetrators

An overview of the German and Austrian SS and Police Staff

Last Update 23 September 2006





No study has been undertaken of the social background of the German and Austrian Belzec perpetrators. The following brief analysis is based on information disclosed at the trials of those men who served at the Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka camps and who were brought to trial as war criminals.
Some of the Treblinka staff. From left to right: Bredow, Mentz, Möller and Hirtreiter. The photo was taken in all probability under a straw umbrella at the camp's zoo, built specially for the relaxation of the SS and which was constructed by inmates.
Almost all of them came from the lower middle class. Their fathers were factory workers, craftsmen, salesmen, or shop workers. Most of them had finished extended elementary school, some lower high school, and a few had attended a secondary school. Some had gone to commercial schools or had received vocational training. Those who were former euthanasia programme employees were mostly former nurses, craftsmen, farm workers, or salesmen. Almost all of the accused were members of either the NSDAP (Nazi party), the police, the SS (Schutzstaffel) or the SA (Sturmabteilung). Some had joined these organizations before Hitler came to power, others joined the party later. Their average age was between thirty and forty at the time they served at Belzec, Sobibor or Treblinka.
The personnel who ran the camps and supervised the extermination activities were absolutely ordinary people. They were not assigned their tasks because of any exceptional qualities or characteristics. The anti-Semitism that festered within them was no doubt part of their milieu and was an accepted phenomenon among large segments of German society. Many of them were married, and most had no criminal record.

The Treblinka staff - although mostly hardened by their euthanasia experience etc. - comprised of ordinary Germans. An intrigueing fact was that they were entitled to more leave than the ordinary conscript - at a rest home of T4, specially reserved for Aktion Reinhard personnel only. Here - as seen in this photo which includes Mentz (2nd right) from Treblinka as well as other Treblinka guards such as Gentz, Sydow, Boelitz and Miete - they relaxed from their grisly deathcamp tasks, amongst the beautiful mountain scenery of Attersee lake, with their spouses and comrades.

They had either volunteered to serve in the SS or had been drafted into its ranks. So it was not unusual that a man wore a SS uniform but received his salary from his real employer, the German police or Aktion T4, the Nazi euthanasia programme.

These men always carried out the murder of hundreds of thousands of men, women and children always loyally and unquestioningly. What is more, they constantly displayed initiative in trying to improve the extermination process. An integral aspect of their duties was that they were also to exhibit cruelty toward their victims, and many of them contributed their own ideas and innovations for various forms of torture that served to entertain them all. Under the Nazi regime, these perfectly ordinary people were turned into something extraordinarily inhuman. (Arad, p.24)
Source and pertinent material on the daily lives of these men in Belzec, on their personal feelings about the tasks that they carried out, and their relationship to their innocent victims is almost nonexistent.
Men, more than anxious to cover up their past, were not about to sit down and record their memoirs. Even at the trials at which some of them were forced to attest to their deeds, very little was brought out about their personal feelings and experiences. The primary sources on the behaviour of these perpetrators and their actual relationship to their victims are the testimonies of those who survived the camps, as well as some material and evidence that was submitted during their trials.
The prisoners used to nickname the various men in SS uniform, and these names were indicative of their reputations and activities in the camp. These nicknames were also a type of code to be used as a warning when a particular SS man appeared in a certain area of the camp. (Adapted from: Arad, p.180-181)

Taking the above restrictions on information into account, it is nevertheless possible to compile a reasonably comprehensive staff list of Belzec perpetrators.


The intention of this staff list is to highlight the number of personnel involved in the running of this death camp, and how relatively few were actually brought to trial as perpetrators of a crime against humanity.
The staff list is compiled from known evidence and information from various sources, however scant, about the perpetrators. This list is also under constant revision as many details are incomplete. Any entries if proven inaccurate, will be edited in future updates (see end of document).
BDC = Berlin Document Center

SS collar tabs, ranks, and abbreviations:

Reichsführer-SS / RFSS = General of the army
SS-Oberstgruppenführer und Generaloberst der Waffen-SS / Ostgruf = General
SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS / Ogruf = Lt General
SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS / Gruf = Major General
SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS / Brigaf = Brigadier General
SS-Oberführer / Obf = Senior Colonel
SS-Standartenführer / Staf = Colonel
SS-Obersturmbannführer / Ostubaf = Lt Colonel
SS-Sturmbannführer / Stubaf = Major
SS-Hauptsturmführer / Hstuf = Captain
SS-Obersturmführer / Ostuf = 1st Lieutenant
SS-Untersturmführer / Ustuf = 2nd Lieutenant
SS-Sturmscharführer / Stuscha = Sergeant Major
SS-Hauptscharführer / Hscha = Master Sergeant
SS-Oberscharführer / Oscha = Technical Sergeant
SS-Scharführer / Schaf = Staff Sergeant
SS-Unterscharführer / Uscha = Sergeant
SS-Rottenführer / Rttf = Corporal
SS-Sturmmann / Strmm = Lance Corporal
SS-Oberschütze = Private 1st class
SS-Schütze = Private

The Kurt Franz Map of Treblinka
In his handwriting Franz indicates names of SS men where they served in the camp.
Click on map for enlargement

The SS-garrison only comprised only twenty to thirty men stationed in the camp at any given time.

This list contains the names of men - mainly SS - who were assigned duties at Belzec during the time of its existence.

Members of the SS held key positions in the camp and many of the staff belonged to a police detachment of unknown origin. A few were civilians. Staff were transferred between Aktion Reinhard camps and may have been in Belzec only briefly. It cannot be ascertained if this list contains all of the staff that served at the camp as not all of the names of the camp staff or their specific function could be gleaned from witness reports.

Most of the SS camp personnel first worked in the euthanasia programme (Aktion T4). However, it cannot be ascertained which of them were so employed, and therefore only where activity with regard to T4 is known is this detailed.

After the three Aktion Reinhard camps were demolished, most of the personnel were posted to Trieste in Italy, to assisting with the suppression of partisan activities. As the war drew to a close the Nazi command realised that the staff and commanders could incriminate their superiors and they were consequently sent to dangerous areas where some of them, such as Wirth, were killed. As Stangl said afterwards, "we were an embarrassment to the brass. They wanted to find ways to incinerate us".

EXTERMINATION CAMP HIGH-COMMAND


WIRTH, Christian SS-Sturmbannführer SS-Number: 345 464
24/11/1885 - 26/05/1944

Inspector of all Aktion Reinhard death camps and in charge of DAW (Deutsche Ausrüstungswerke) at Lublin Airfield.

BACKGROUND:
Born in Oberbalzheim, Württemberg. After leaving school he trained as a carpenter. Served in the army from 1905 until 1910. Policeman since 1910. During WW1 in the army again, since 1917 in the military police. After WW1 to the Stuttgart Kripo, became a Kriminal Kommissar by 1939. NSDAP 1931 (no. 420.383), SA 1933, SS 1939.
In October 1939 to Grafeneck euthanasia centre. Then in Brandenburg, Hadamar (chief of registry office) and Hartheim (head clerk and chief of police until Summer 1941).
In mid-1940, Wirth was appointed as a kind of roving director or inspector of all euthanasia institutions throughout the Third Reich. At the Brandenburg euthanasia centre, he experimented in developing gas chambers for gassing the physically and mentally disabled.

SERVICE AT BELZEC, SOBIBOR AND TREBLINKA:
After the official cessation of the euthanasia programme (September 1941) he was ordered to join the staff of SS- und Polizeiführer im Distrikt Lublin Odilo Globocnik. The experience gained by Wirth in the euthanasia institutions, his enthusiasm for National Socialism, as well as his innate cruelty were all put to use when he assumed command of Belzec and later was appointed inspector of the Aktion Reinhard death camps. Not only was he the inspector of the death camps and, in this capacity, the actual commander, but also it was he who developed the entire system of the extermination machine in these camps. It was Wirth who introduced the regime of terror and death in the Aktion Reinhard camps and influenced the daily life and sufferings of the Jewish prisoners there more than any other commander. Because of his cruelty he became known as "Christian the Terrible" by his subordinates. The killing system, as developed by Wirth, enabled the murder of tens of thousands of Jews every day in the three death camps under his jurisdiction.
Wirth according to Suchomel: "if only someone had had the courage to kill Christian Wirth - then Aktion Reinhard would have collapsed. Berlin would not have found another man with such energy for evil and nastiness." (Tregenza, p.7)

FATE:
Wirth was posted to Trieste (Italy) in September 1943 and commanded the SS-Einsatzkommando R, which was composed of former Aktion Reinhard members. On 26 May 1944 partisans killed Wirth near Trieste. His grave (no 716) is marked by a great cross in the German Military Cemetery at Costermano, near Verona (Italy).

Photo: Donat


The Treblinka Camp "Architect"

THOMALLA, Richard SS-Hauptsturmführer
23/10/1903 - 12/05/1945

BACKGROUND:
Born in Annahof. Member of NSDAP (no. 1.238.872) and SS (no. 41206). No further details known.

SERVICE AT BELZEC, SOBIBOR AND TREBLINKA:
"Architect" of all three Aktion Reinhard death camps and their temporary commander.

Richard Thomalla was the "architect" of Belzec. On 1 November 1941 the construction of Belzec started. It ended in March 1942. At first Polish workers were used, later they were replaced by Jews from the surrounding ghettos.

In late April or early May 1942, an SS team arrived in the Treblinka area, toured the region, and determined the site where a death camp would be erected. The plan of the camp was almost identical to Sobibor, but with some improvements. The construction of the death camp began in late May/early June 1942. The contractors were the German construction firms Schönbronn of Leipzig and Schmidt-Münstermann. In charge of the construction of Treblinka was SS-Obersturmführer Richard Thomalla, who had completed his building mission in Sobibor and had been replaced there by Stangl in April 1942. (Arad, p.39)
SS-Unterscharführer Erwin Lambert, a former foreman of a building team in the euthanasia program, testified about Thomalla in Treblinka: "I and Hengs (Hengst / a euthanasia man) went to Treblinka by car. SS-Hauptsturmführer Richard Thomalla was the camp commander*. The Treblinka camp was still in the process of construction. I was attached to a building team there. Thomalla was there for a limited time only and conducted the construction work of the extermination camp. During that time no extermination actions were carried out. Thomalla was in Treblinka for about four to eight weeks. Then Dr Eberl arrived as camp commander. Under his direction the extermination actions of the Jews began." (Arad, p.40)
FATE:
Thomalla was executed by NKWD (Russian Secret Service) in Jicin, Czechoslovakia on 12 May 1945.

TREBLINKA CAMP COMMANDANTS

In this text the "Lower Camp" or the "Living and Reception Area", in Treblinka is referred to as Camp I. The "Upper Camp" or "Extermination Area" in Treblinka is referred to as Camp II.

EBERL, Dr Irmfried SS-Obersturmführer
08/09/1910 - 16/02/1948

BACKGROUND:
Born in Bregenz / Austria. Attended four years elementary school, then Gymnasium (secondary school) with final examination on 8 December 1931. Enrolled at Innsbruck University's medical faculty in January 1933. Became NS representative of the student's chamber. Member of Motorsturm 1 and SA-Sturm 14. Achieves his doctorate at 24 years old (1934) as medical doctor. From 20 February 1935 - 27 May 1935 at the 2nd medical section of Krankenanstalt Rudolfstiftung. From 28 May 1935 - 8 March 1936 at Lungenheilanstalt Grimmenstein.

Was unemployed in Austria because the NSDAP was illegal (NSDAP member no. 687.095) there and went to Germany. From 1 April 1936 - 30 April 1936 at Deutsches Hygiene-Institut in Dresden. From 1 May 1936 - 31 March 1937 chief of Amt für Volkswohlfahrt in Dessau near Magdeburg. End of October (1936?) served at Hauptgesundheitsamt in Berlin - section Spezialhygiene (special hygiene) since February 1940 served at Gemeinnützige Stiftung für Anstaltspflege (code name of Aktion T4).
Recommended for a special service from 1940 until 1944. Director of the Brandenburg euthanasia centre and in 1942 of the Bernburg euthanasia centre. Here he made his career in the euthanasia programme.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
Commander of Treblinka, July 1942 - September 1942.
Was briefly at Sobibor; training for Treblinka commandant's post. Was placed in charge of construction at Treblinka, where he became the camp's first commander, his ambition was to reach the highest possible numbers of gassed victims and exceed all the other camps. Eberl turned out to be unequal to his task. As a result, he was relieved of his command by Wirth and replaced by SS-Hauptsturmführer Franz Stangl.

FATE:
From 1944 he served in the Wehrmacht and after end of war settled at Blaubeuren. His second marriage left him a widower. Imprisoned in 1947 and hanged himself in February 1948 during the pre-trial detention.


STANGL, Franz SS-Hauptsturmführer NSDAP-number: 6.370.447, SS-Number: 296.569
26/03/1908 - 28//06/1971

BACKGROUND:
Belonged to the Waffen-SS.
He was born in Altmünster, Austria. Profession: first a master weaver changing his career to become a detective in 1931 (political division). In November 1940 deputy head of office at the euthanasia centre Hartheim, successor of Reichleitner and Wirth. At Hartheim he served as policeman and registrar. Later sent to euthanasia center Bernburg.

SERVICE AT SOBIBOR AND TREBLINKA:
Commander of Treblinka, September 1942 - August 1943.
Although commandant in Sobibor and Treblinka, he had very little direct contact with the people he had sent to their death or with the Jewish prisoners; he was seen only on rare occasions. He received an official commendation as the "best camp commander in Poland".
After the Treblinka revolt he was posted and stationed in northern Italy. For a short time at the concentration camp San Sabba. Mainly served as commander of Einsatz R II in the areas of Fiume and Udine, where he was engaged in actions against partisans and local Jews.


Stangl (middle) in custody after being extradited


FATE:
At the end of the war he fled to Austria, where he was interned by US Forces because of his SS membership. Since late summer 1947 imprisoned in Linz. Accused of having killed mental patients at Hartheim. In May 1948 he escaped from prison and made his way to Rome / Italy. There he got help by bishop Alois Hudal who made it possible for him to get a Red Cross passport and money for his flight to Syria. There he got a job as engineer in Damascus.
In 1951 he migrated to Brazil where he met his family. In Sao Paulo he worked in the Volkswagen factory. It was not until the mid-1960's that Simon Wiesenthal learned of Stangl's whereabouts. For a total of $7,000 ("one cent for every Jew killed") the informant agreed to divulge Stangl's address and was arrested in Brazil, 1967 and was extradited to the West German authorities. At his first hearing at the West German court, he declared that while it was true that he had been the commander at Treblinka; he had had nothing to do with the killing of Jews. His task, he said, had been solely to supervise the collection and shipment of valuables brought into the camp by the victims. The individual responsible for the killings had been Christian Wirth. Stangl was the only commander of an extermination camp who had been brought to trial. He was tried in the Second Treblinka Trial (1970) in Düsseldorf, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He died in prison a few months after the end of the trial on 28 June 1971 of a heart attack.

Photos: GFH


FRANZ, Kurt Hubert SS-Untersturmführer SS-Number: 319 906
17/01/1914 - 04/07/1998

BACKGROUND:
Not a member of NSDAP or affiliated organizations. Belonged to the Waffen-SS.

Born in Düsseldorf. Extended elementary school from 1920-1928 in Düsseldorf.
Since 1929 he was trained as a cook, at first in the restaurant "Hirschquelle", then in "Hotel Wittelsbacher Hof" in Düsseldorf without final examination. Soldier during 1935 - 1937. In October 1937 he joined the Waffen-SS (3. SS-Totenkopfstandarte Thüringen). End of 1939 summoned to the Führer's Chancellery and detailed for service as cook in the euthanasia institutes at Grafeneck, Hartheim, Sonnenstein and Brandenburg.
As member of the 6th battalion he served at the Buchenwald concentration camp in 1941 (SS Clothing Department, perhaps cook).
On 30 January 1940 he was promoted SS-Unterscharführer, in 1941 (?) SS-Scharführer. During Spring 1942 ordered to the Generalgouvernement.

SERVICE AT BELZEC AND TREBLINKA:
Kommandant of Treblinka, from 27 August 1943 - November 1943.
In spring 1942 (as SS-Scharführer) to Belzec. On 20 April promoted SS-Oberscharführer. He worked as cook, and trained the Ukrainian guards there. In August/September 1942 he was ordered to Treblinka where he took over the Ukrainian guard squads and rose to be deputy camp commandant. Commandant of Treblinka, from 27 August 1943 until November 1943. Promoted SS-Untersturmführer on 21 June 1943.
Franz was the dominant personality in Treblinka when it came to the day-to-day running of the camp, and especially with regard to the prisoners. To the prisoners Franz was the cruellest and most frightening among the SS personnel in the camp. His physical appearance was extremely deceiving: he was nice-looking; he had a round, almost baby- face; and he was younger than most of the other SS men. He was therefore nicknamed "Lalke" ("doll" in Yiddish) by the prisoners. However, he was a murderer and a sadist who made the prisoners' lives a nightmare.

BARRY

Mostly, when Franz made the rounds of the Lower Camp and the extermination area, his dog Barry accompanied him (Barry's first owner was Paul Groth, Sobibor). Depending on his mood, Franz set the dog on inmates who for some reason had attracted his attention. The command to which the dog responded was, "Man, go get that dog!" By "Man" Franz meant Barry; the "dog" was the inmate whom Barry was supposed to attack. Barry would bite his victim wherever he could catch him. The dog was the size of a calf so that, unlike smaller dogs, his shoulders reached to the buttocks and abdomen of a man of average size. For this reason he frequently bit his victims in the buttocks, in the abdomen and often, in the case of male inmates, in the genitals, sometimes partially biting them off. When the inmate was not very strong, the dog could knock him to the ground and maul him beyond recognition. But when the defendant Franz was not around, Barry was a different dog. With Franz not there to influence him, he allowed himself to be petted and even teased, without harming anyone. (Donat, p.313)

Franz reviewed the prisoner roll call and took part in meting out the punishments. He especially enjoyed shooting at the prisoners or the people in the transports with his pistol or a hunting rifle.

Franz as remembered by one of the prisoners Oscar Strawczynski: "Once 'Lalke' was strolling along the platform with a double-barrelled shotgun in his hand and Barry in his wake. He discovered a Jew in front of him, a neighbour of mine from Czestochowa, by the name of Steiner. Without a second thought, he aimed the gun at the man's buttocks and fired. Steiner fell amidst cries of pain".

FATE:
Ordered to Trieste, where he took part in killing partisans and Jews. Imprisoned by US Forces after the war. He could escape from prison and worked again as cook. On 2 December 1959 he was imprisoned again. Sentenced to life imprisonment by the German Landgericht Düsseldorf on 3 September 1965. Died in an old people's home in Wuppertal on 4 July 1998.

After closing of Treblinka, Barry accompanied a doctor to the Ostrow Mazowiecki lazarett. There the dog's behaviour changed. Like a normal domestic dog it usually slept under the desk of his new master and didn't bite anybody. In 1944 Dr S. took Barry with him to his wife in northern Germany. Later his brother became owner. In 1947 Barry was put down because of infirmity.

See the Franz Photo Story!


Lower ranking SS Camp Personnel

Listed in alphabetical order.
Spelling of surnames is used as listed in authorative sources like trail files etc.
Surnames with alternative spelling as found in various other sources are denoted.


ARNDT, Kurt (perhaps Paul) SS-Unterscharführer
?/?/? - ?/?/?

BACKGROUND:
Belonged to police detachment rank unknown.
Served at Hadamar euthanasia centre.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
According to Kurt Franz his main duties were in the Camp II. He was sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp for talking about their work in a bar.

FATE:
No more details known.


BÄR, Rudolf SS-Unterscharführer
28/03/1906 - ?/?/? (last name perhaps Baer)

BACKGROUND:
Carpenter from Halle. Cook at Bernburg. Perhaps at Brandenburg.
Belonged to the Waffen-SS, rank unknown.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
Bookkeeper / accountant in the camp office, located in Stangl's barrack. Mätzig filled this post when Stangl became commandant.

SERVICE AT BELZEC:
Served also as auditor.

FATE:
May 1945 at the POW camp Kirchbach in Kärnten / Austria. Went into hiding. No more details known.


BIALA, Max SS-Rottenführer
05/08/1905 - 11/09/1942

BACKGROUND:
Born in Löben. Belonged to SS squad (SS Number 45328). SS-Rottenführer of the SS Death Head staff Brandenburg at the KZ Oranienburg / Sachenhausen. From there he was sent to Brandenburg and Bernburg as guard.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
From 23 July 1942 - 11 September 1942 deputy to Eberl.
Stabbed to death on 11 September 1942, in an act of especially great courage that was planned and premeditated by the prisoner Meir Berliner, a well-to-do citizen of Argentina. Later, this Hitlerite "martyr" had the Ukrainian barracks in Treblinka "Max Biala Kaserne" named after him.
Biala as remembered by Tanhum Grinberg: "Eventually we learned the name of this saint among Gentiles: he was Max Bieler (Biela). I made a mental note of this name. I had already observed previously that this particular SS man was not the worst in the lot; that is, he didn't shoot or beat anyone on his own initiative. He only did what he was ordered to do." (Donat, p.120-21)
Other prisoners didn't share this favourable opinion about Biala.
Glazar relates that "he is supposed to have been even worse than Küttner-Kiewe and Franz-Lalka." (Glazar, p.54)

FATE:
Died in a military hospital in Ostrow Mazowiecki.

Photo: Landesarchiv Nordrhein-Westfalen


BOELITZ, Lothar SS-Unterscharführer
?/?/? - ?/?/?

BACKGROUND:
Belonged to police detachment.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
According to Kurt Franz his main duties were in Camp II. Also part of the squad who received prisoners with clubs and whips on platform when deportations arrived. Together with Gentz they had to make absolutely sure that there was no one left in the car after the occupants had been ordered to get out.
Boelitz remembered by Glazar: "Boelitz is quite another type, made of more solid stuff. He is a strong, lean young man. It's not just that his hair is cut short, shaved high in the back, but it's also the impression that the sun has bleached the eyebrows and lashes blond on his oval, rosy pink face. He doesn't bellow and get excited like Küttner and Franz, but the blows he administers with care and some zeal are just as terrible. His comrades may well say that he eats and drinks duty and that he's ambitious. He would like to be able to do a lot of the things they do, but he can't. At most he might watch while his buddies - assuming Küttner and Franz are nowhere in sight - pick pretty and valuable things out of the piles. He can't forbid them to do it. He's one of them. He can't blow the whistle on them. He just wouldn't be able to. This man is lonesome at Treblinka." (Glazar p.52)

FATE:
No more details known.


BOOTZ, Helmut
25/06/1907 - ?/?/?

BACKGROUND:
Born in Stettin. After extended elementary school he was worker. Security man at AEG. Member of NSDAP and SS since 1933. Came to T4 in autumn 1939.
Served at Bernburg euthanasia centre from late October 1940 until spring 1942 as guard and at the post office, in Grafeneck too. Early 1942 ordered to Treblinka and Sobibor.

SERVICE AT SOBIBOR AND TREBLINKA:
Was supervisor of the camp guards in Treblinka.

FATE:
No more details known.


BOROWSKI, Werner SS-Untersturmführer
23/10/1913 - ?/?/?

BACKGROUND:
Born in Sprottischdorf (Schlesien). Affiliation to squad or detachment unknown.
Served at Bernburg euthanasia centre as economic chief.

SERVICE AT BELZEC:
Early 1942 ordered to Belzec together with Niemann, Barbl and Graetschus.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
Became head of economics section. Because of typhus epidemic he was sent back to Bernburg.

FATE:
Member of the German Airforce, killed in action, missing.


BREDOW, Paul SS-Unterscharführer
?/?/1902 - ?/12/1945

BACKGROUND:
Belonged to police detachment.
Apparently from Silesia (Schlesien). Profession: Male nurse. Served at Grafeneck and Hartheim.

SERVICE AT SOBIBOR AND TREBLINKA:
Came together with Stangl and others within the first group to Sobibor. Served there until spring 1943. Head of "Barracks A", the clothing sorting barracks, in Treblinka. Bredow had also to be singled out for his cruelty (Arad, p.177). In charge of the Lazarett at Sobibor where his "hobby" - fully approved of by Wirth - was "target shooting". He had set himself a daily quota: shooting 50 Jews a day with his pistol.

Bredow according to Glazar: "Bredow mentions in passing that he's interested in a suitcase of the very best leather, and maybe a little cologne or perfume. 'Apart from that, you can do what you want, Bredow, as head of the work site, lets it be known, just make sure you keep an eye out for the first sergeant.' He means Küttner-Kiewe." (Glazar p.92)
However Glazar also mentions that when he was sick, Bredow had CeschaGlazar) things from the German mess. (Glazar p.112)

FATE:
Served at San Sabba, Trieste (Italy). After the war worked together with Frenzel in Giessen as carpenter until November 1945. In December 1945 he was killed in an accident in Göttingen.


EISELT, Karl
?/?/? - ?/?/?

BACKGROUND:
Rank and affiliation to squad or detachment unknown.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
No details known.

FATE:
No more details known.


EISOLD, Johannes
13/11/1907 - ?/?/?

BACKGROUND:
Male nurse in Sonnenstein. Member of NSDAP and SS. Civilian appointed. Eisold worked for the Wollenweber construction firm in Berlin.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
Was in charge of the excavators in the extermination camp.

FATE:
After Treblinka he served in Italy (Trieste).No more details known.


EMMERICH, Rudolf
?/?/? - ?/?/?

BACKGROUND:
No informations.

CONNECTION WITH TREBLINKA:
Not on the Treblinka staff list or rank, but as he had a key position, he is mentioned here.
He oversaw the shunting of the trains from Treblinka village station into the Treblinka camp.
The trains with deportees destined for the death camp at Treblinka stopped at the Treblinka village station, some 4 km from the camp. The train, which was usually composed of close to sixty freight cars, was then divided into three sections, and each section was driven separately into the camp. Like in Belzec and Sobibor, from that point two German railway workers drove the train. In Treblinka they were Rudolf Emmerich and Willi Klinzmann. (Arad, p.81)

FATE:
No more details known.


FELFE, Hermann
04/01/1902 - 15/10/1947

BACKGROUND:
Rank and affiliation to squad or detachment unknown.
Member of NSDAP. He was a slim, large man with light blond hair. Profession: bricklayer. Male nurse at Sonnenstein euthanasia centre. Served at Grafeneck too.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
Builder of the probably first water tower in Camp I. According to Mentz and Matthes, he belonged to the guards but he was only for a short time in the beginning at Treblinka.

FATE:
Arrested in 1945 by NKWD. Sentenced to death penalty in the Dresdner Ärzteprozess. Judgement from 7 July 1947. Suicide in remand prison on 15 October 1947.

Photo: Sächsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Dresden,
"Personalakten des Reichsstatthalters", Nr. F 30


FLORIAN,
?/?/? - ?/?/?

BACKGROUND:
Rank and affiliation to squad or detachment unknown.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
According to the testimony of his colleagues, Matthes and Rum, he was only for a short while at Treblinka in the beginning stages. Described as being about 40 years old at that time, being hefty, heavy faced and blond.

FATE:
No more details known.


FLOSS, Herbert SS-Scharführer,
25/08/1912 - 22/10/1943

BACKGROUND:
Affiliation to squad or detachment unknown. Became member of NSDAP in 1930, SA in 1931 and SS in 1935.
Born in Reinholdshain. Attended extended elementary school. Trained in textile dyeing, he could not secure a position and consequently worked in several other jobs.
Since 1 April 1935 he served in the "2. Totenkopfsturmbann 'Elbe'" as SS-Scharführer.
Served at Bernburg.

SERVICE AT BELZEC AND SOBIBOR:
Floss was not on the permanent staff of Belzec. He was there only to start the cremations. After Belzec he was ordered to Sobibor.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
Floss was to make a name for himself as the Aktion Reinhard cremation expert in which capacity he served at Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka.
Floss according to Heinrich Matthes, the commander of Camp II in Treblinka: "At that time SS-Oberscharführer or Hauptscharführer (Herbert) Floss, who, as I assume, was previously in another extermination camp, arrived. He was in charge of the arrangements for cremating the corpses. The cremation took place in such a way that railway lines and concrete blocks were placed together. The corpses were piled on these rails. Brushwood was put under the rails. The wood was doused with petrol. In that way not only the newly accumulated corpses were cremated, but also those taken out from the graves." (Arad, p. 173)
He is also described in the following way: "The burning of corpses received the proper incentive only after an instructor had come down from Auschwitz." The specialists in this new profession were businesslike, practical and conscientious. The instructor in incineration at Treblinka was nicknamed by the Jews as Tadellos (perfect); that was his favourite expression. "Thank God, now the fire's perfect," he used to say when, with the help of gasoline and the bodies of the fatter females, the pile of corpses finally burst into flames. (Donat, p.38)
By the end of July 1943, the Jewish "death brigade" in Camp II, supervised by SS man Floss, had cremated about 700,000 corpses. (Tregenza, p.57)

FATE:
Died in 1943, killed by Ukrainian guards in Zawadowka near Chelm.


FORKER, Alfred
31/07/1904 - ?/?/?

BACKGROUND:
Rank and affiliation to squad or detachment unknown.
Member of NSDAP. First served as male nurse at Sonnenstein euthanasia centre.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA AND SOBIBOR:
Guard at the sorting yard as well as guard in Camp II. Described in the testimony of his colleague Horn, as being small, with a tapering peaky face and dark blond hair.
Also served at Sobibor.

FATE:
After Treblinka and Sobibor served in Italy. No more details known.

Photo: Sächsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Dresden,
"Personalakten des Reichsstatthalters", Nr. F 238


FUCHS, Erich SS-Unterscharführer
09/04/1902 (19/04/1902 (BDC))- 25/07/1980 (1984 (BDC))

BACKGROUND:
Born in Berlin. Elementary school education. Since May 1933 or 1934 member of NSDAP and SA, later member of the SS.
Profession: skilled motor mechanic and automotive foreman. Before the war (1939), he was a driver in Berlin. Paid the NSDAP fee only a few times (no money) and received no membership book.
In 1940 or summer 1941 drafted to T4. Worked as Dr Eberl's driver in the gassing centres Brandenburg and Bernburg, and was, as he expressed it himself, "an interested spectator" at the gassing of 50 mental patients.
Was driver of a lorry, fetching food for the staff, for a short time. In March / April 1942 he was sent "to the East".

SERVICE AT BELZEC:
In Belzec he installed gassing systems, worked as a truckdriver, in the motor pool and transported material to the campsite. He was two times in Belzec: From early 1942 until May (?) 1942, and from November 1942 until December 1942.

SERVICE AT SOBIBOR:
In April / May 1942 he, as chief technician of T4, picked up a Russian petrol driven tank motor in Lwow (together with Stangl and Bauer), which he installed together with Bauer at the gas chambers of Sobibor.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
In July 1942 he was sent by Wirth to Treblinka, to install another gassing engine.
Fuchs testified about himself at the Hagen Trial: "Subsequently I went to Treblinka. In this extermination camp I installed a generator which supplied electric light for the barracks. The work in Treblinka took me about three to four busy months. During my stay there transports of Jews who were gassed were coming in daily"(Arad, p. 43).

FATE:
In December 1942 he managed to arrange dismissal from T4. From early 1943 he worked for the German oil company Ostland-Öl-Vertriebsgesellschaft in Riga. In February 1945 he became a soldier and member of the Waffen-SS, where he served in a tank transport unit. In March 1945 he was wounded during a bombing raid. For two months held as POW by the Russians, subsequently as a POW by US Forces in Western Germany. Employed by the British Army as a driver/mechanic in Bergen Belsen. Dismissed in 1946. Until 1962 he worked as assistant worker, locksmith, and truck inspector at the "TÜv" in Koblenz. Since 8 April 1963 he was in custody.
The Schwurgericht am Landgericht Hagen sentenced him to four years imprisonment on 20 December 1966 for being an accessory to the murder of at least 79,000 people. He died in Koblenz.


GENTZ, Ernst (?) SS-Unterscharführer
?/?/? - ?/?/?

BACKGROUND:
Belonged to police detachment.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA AND SOBIBOR
Part of the squad who received prisoners with clubs and whips on platform when deportations arrived. Together with Boelitz he had to make absolutely sure that there was no one left in the car after the occupants had been ordered to get out.
Glazar; "If I imagine Gentz without the SS uniform, he could be a nice, bright young man. I imagine him tossing his school bag into some corner and putting the field cap on his straight, bright red hair, buttoning his uniform jacket, grinning at the reflection in the mirror of the youthful freckled face with the strawberry blond eyebrows, and thinking: 'This is gonna be fun'. And when he got to Treblinka, and everyone around him eyed him with awe, then he told himself. 'Well, whadda ya know, this is fun'." (Glazar, p.51)

After Treblinka to Sobibor.

FATE:
No more details known.


GROßMANN, Willy SS-Rottwachmeister
26/01/1901 - ?/?/? (last name perhaps Grossmann)

BACKGROUND:
Belonged to police detachment, on the promotion list he has the rank of Rottwachmeister.
Born in Lichtenberg, Saxony (Sachsen). Member of NSDAP. Worked as male nurse in the mental clinic in Hubertusburg near Oschatz in Saxony until 1940. In the summer of 1940 to the police in Dresden, then to Sonnenstein/Pirna where he served as a guard in the euthanasia centre. Served at Hadamar too. In the winter of 1941, with the T4 squad of the OT* to Smolensk, Russia then back to Sonnenstein/Pirna for some weeks.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
After Pirna he was sent to the Trawniki training camp and then to Treblinka, where he was posted until the camp has been demolished. According to Kurt Franz his main duties were in Camp II and also received incoming victims.

FATE:
After his service at Treblinka he was sent back to Berlin. In December 1943 to Trieste where he fought against partisans. Served also in Telmezzo, Italy as guard of the ammunition storage. No verdict because of illness.

* Organisation Todt / OT - organisation which was responsible for constructing the Westwall, the Atlantikwall and other big projects like bunkers etc.

Photo: Sächsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Dresden,
"Personalakten des Reichsstatthalters", Nr. G 429


HACKENHOLT, Lorenz SS-Hauptscharführer
25/06/1914 - 31/12/1945 declared to be dead at the instigation of his wife.

BACKGROUND:
Member of NSDAP and SS (1934). Driver at Sonnenstein. Also served at Grafeneck. Affiliation to squad or detachment unknown.

SERVICE AT BELZEC, SOBIBOR AND TREBLINKA:
One of Wirth's favourites, he helped to build and operate the gas chambers at Belzec. Assisted in building gas chambers at Sobibor. The plans for the new gas chamber at Treblinka were drawn up by Hackenholt who was then at Belzec, but he also assisted in laying the gas pipes for the Treblinka gas chambers. (Tregenza, p.5)

Hackenholt as remembered by Suchomel: "At Treblinka, the Ukrainians at first had led their usual wild and drunken way of life at the camp, but were brought to heel by Wirth, Oberhauser and Hackenholt with an iron hand, that is, whips and punishments." (Tregenza, p.42)
Was promoted SS-Hauptscharführer in September 1943, no doubt due to his zealous work at the extermination camps.
At Belzec the gas chambers were referred to as the "Stiftung Hackenholt" (Hackenholt Foundation), above which there was a Star of David similar to Treblinka. (Klee, p.242)

FATE:
Served in Italy. Almost certainly survived the war in the Allgäu area around Memmingen-Kempten in the German-Austrian border region (Tregenza). Was spotted by his brother, driving a cart, but has never been brought to trial.

See the Hackenholt Photo Story!


HENGST, August SS-Unterscharführer
25/04/1905 - ?/?/?

BACKGROUND:
Belonged to police detachment. Since 1933 in NSDAP.
Born in Bonn. Profession: cook and pastry cook. Came to T4 on 4 January 1940. 1940 to the Brandenburg euthanasia centre where he installed the kitchen. At Bernburg as cook from November 1940 until early 1942.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
During Spring 1942 to Treblinka where he was cook for a short time. Then he served as a relief cook. He served during Eberl's reign of Treblinka and testified against Eberl to Wirth.

FATE:
After Treblinka he then accompanied the units to Italy - first Udine, then Castel Nuovo and after being ill, he was sent to Trieste as cook as well to San Sabba, a suburb of Trieste. He served here until the Italian capitulation on 10 May 1945.

After the war he worked in Stadthagen (near Hannover). He opened a bakery during 1949 in a nearby village. In 1954 he closed the bakery because of illness but through another T4 ex-colleague got work again as courier at the Deutsche Werft (shipyard) in Hamburg.

Photo: GFH


HILLER, Richard SS-Unterscharführer
?/?/? - ?/?/?

BACKGROUND:
Affiliation to squad or detachment unknown.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA AND SOBIBOR:
Worked in the administration at Camp I.

After Treblinka to Sobibor.

FATE:
No more details known.


HIRTREITER, Josef SS-Scharführer
01/02/1909 - 27/11/1978 (Also nicknamed: "Sepp")

BACKGROUND:
Hirtreiter was born in Bruchsal. After extended elementary school he learned locksmith but didn't pass the final examination. Later he worked as unskilled worker, construction worker and bricklayer. On 1 August 1932 he became member of the NSDAP and SA.
In October 1940 he was ordered to the Hadamar euthanasia centre where he worked in the kitchen and the office (according to his testimony). In summer 1942 he had to join the army. After four weeks back to Hadamar. Then he was ordered to Berlin where Wirth finally transferred him to Lublin. There he became SS-Unterscharführer and was ordered to Treblinka.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA AND SOBIBOR:
Stationed at Treblinka from October 1942 till October 1943. Mainly duties in Camp II. Also served at Sobibor.
The survivors of Treblinka vividly recalled him for his beastly manner: "In the centre of the roll-call square, a gallows was built and all the prisoners were gathered around it. The commander gave a short speech on the punishment of the escapees, and two boys who were caught trying to escape, were hung naked by their feet while they were still alive and repeatedly beaten The boys called out to the prisoners: 'Jews, escape, because death awaits you also. Pay no attention to the fact that meanwhile you have something to eat. Our fate today is your fate tomorrow'. The Germans whipped their swinging bodies for about half an hour, until the two youngsters were shot by SS-Scharführer Josef Hirtreiter." (Arad, p.262)

FATE:
In October 1943 he was ordered to Italy where he had to join an anti-partisan police unit. After the war he was arrested in July 1946, and accused of having served at the euthanasia centre Hadamar.
He was the first of the Treblinka hangmen to be brought to trial and tried in Frankfurt / Main. On 3 March 1951 he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Among the crimes he was found guilty of were killing many young children aged one to two, during the unloading of the transports, by seizing them by the feet and smashing their heads against the boxcars.
Because of illness Hirtreiter was released from prison in 1977. He spent his last 6 months in an old peoples home in Frankfurt/M.


HÖDL, Franz SS-Scharführer SS-Number: 302 133
01/08/1905 - ?/?/?

BACKGROUND:
Born in 1905 in Aschbach near Linz (Austria). Member of SA (1933), NSDAP (1937) and SS (1938). Chief of Gekrat squadron, drove the Gekrat buses at Hartheim euthanasia centre from April 1939 to January 1942. Thereafter drafted to a wounded persons transport in Russia. Trained at Trawniki. Driver of Globocnik in Lublin.

SERVICE AT SOBIBOR AND TREBLINKA:
Details of his service at Treblinka are not known.
Came to Sobibor in October 1942 where he operated the gassing motor at Camp III. Also served as driver of Reichleitner's and Stangl's car. Remained for two weeks at the camp after the revolt and helped with the liquidation.
A SS comrade said of him: "He excelled in an outstanding way".

FATE:
Together with Reichleitner ordered to Italy. There he witnessed how Reichleitner was shot dead in his car.


HORN, Otto Richard SS-Unterscharführer
14/12/1903 - ?/?/?

BACKGROUND:
Became member of the NSDAP in 1937.
Born in Obergrauschwitz near Leipzig. Profession: male nurse. Attended until 14, the extended elementary school after which for four years he worked on a farm. At 18 he became a miner in Börte.
Worked in a psychological clinic at Arnsdorf serving two years apprenticeship as nurse with an examination. Then he served for two years at the psychological clinic in Leipzig / Dösen*. Afterwards he was until 1939 again in Arnsdorf.
In 1939 he became soldier attached to a medical battalion serving in Dresden, afterwards to Poland also as a medic, November 1939 stationed at Geldern and then to France. In August 1941 he was released from the Wehrmacht, whereupon he was ordered to Sonnenstein where he served as male nurse (at this time he already was member of T4).

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
In September 1942 to Trawniki and after two weeks training there, sent in October to Treblinka where he belonged to the permanent staff. He supervised the Grubenkommando (piling up the corpses, covering them with sand and chloric lime) in the extermination area, at the mass graves and at the incinerator where the corpses of the victims were cremated later. Horn had the reputation in Treblinka of being a decent man who never hurt anyone, and this was in fact confirmed by a number of survivors.
He testified the following during the Demjanjuk trial:
Q. Mr. Horn, what kind of place was Treblinka?
A. It was a camp - an extermination camp.
Q. What if anything happened when you first arrived at Treblinka?
A. People were exterminated there, were gassed.

FATE:
He left Treblinka after the uprising in September 1943 and went on an extended holiday at Arnsdorf with a simulated illness. He was then posted in January 1944 to Trieste where he refused to work and sent back to the Heil- und Pflegeanstalt in Arnsdorf. After 14 days in Arnsdorf (in December 1944) he was ordered to the Landesschützenbataillon in Plauen possibly as a punitive measure. At the closing of the war he was in the Czech Republic where the Russians made him a POW.
In the "First Treblinka Trial" (1965), he was brought to trial but released.
* Dösen is a part of Leipzig


KAINA, Erwin
24/03/1910 - 31/10/1942

BACKGROUND:
Policeman. Served at the Hadamar euthanasia centre. He was sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp for talking about their work in a bar.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
During the chaotic first phase of Treblinka, Kainer was assigned by Wirth to form a work-brigade and supervise the grisly work in Camp II. Kainer instead shot himself in desperation - and fear of Wirth. (Tregenza, p.7)

FATE:
After his botched suicide attempt he died in hospital at Ostrow Mazowiecki in October 1942 (source: Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge).


KLAHN, Johannes SS-Unterscharführer
26/09/1908 - ?/?/?

BACKGROUND:
Affiliation to squad or detachment unknown.
Served at the Sonnenstein euthanasia centre as male nurse. Member of NSDAP.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
According to Kurt Franz he was assigned to Camp I.

FATE:
No more details known.


KLINZMANN, Willi
?/?/? - ?/?/?

CONNECTION WITH TREBLINKA:
Not on the Treblinka staff list or rank, but as he had a key position, he is mentioned in this list.
He and Rudolf Emmerich oversaw the shunting of the trains from Treblinka village station into the Treblinka camp. (See Emmerich for details)

FATE:
No more details known.


KÜTTNER, Fritz SS-Oberscharführer
?/?/1907 - ?/?/? (also nicknamed "Kiva" or "Kiwe"):

BACKGROUND:
Belonged to police detachment.
Profession: served for many years in the German police as warden.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
Was in charge of the Camp I at Treblinka and was one of the most hated and feared of the SS men. He would follow people around, stop them and search them for money, pictures, or any family mementos that the prisoners would try to hide on their person. If he caught someone carrying anything, he would beat him cruelly and send him to the Lazarett.
In Italy
In Italy
In his capacity as commander of the Camp I and over the Jewish prisoners, he wanted to know exactly what was going on throughout his jurisdiction. He therefore exploited the weakness or baseness of some of the prisoners and turned them into informers.
"Kiwe" as remembered by Willenberg: "When we had finished our rendition, Kiwe recited the numbers of the prisoners due for lashing on their naked posteriors that day. Each such prisoner would be tied to the stool and given twenty-five lashes with a whip as he counted the blows aloud." (Willenberg, p.133)
Küttner as remembered by Suchomel: "From one of the transports that arrived in October 1942, Küttner removed ten or twelve young boys and put them to work at various service tasks in the camp. One of the boys he appointed capo of the group. After about three weeks, the boy was caught giving gold coins to one of the Ukrainians, and Küttner had him, along with all the other boys in the group, taken to the gas chambers." (Sereny, p.259)

FATE:
Served in Italy. He died before his trial started.


LAMBERT, Erwin Hermann SS-Unterscharführer
07/12/1909 - ?/?/?

BACKGROUND:
Born in Schildow (Kreis Niederbarnim, near Berlin). Affiliation to squad or detachment unknown. Member of NSDAP since 1933, appointed as Blockleiter. Profession: Mason foreman in Berlin. January 1940 to Gemeinnützige Stiftung für Anstaltspflege* his first assignment being the renovation of the T4 villa. Installed the gas chambers at the euthanasia institutes Hartheim, Sonnenstein, Bernburg and Hadamar. In June 1942 ordered to Lublin for bricklaying assignments. There he received his SS uniform.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA AND SOBIBOR:
At Treblinka responsible for construction of barracks. Together with Thomalla at Treblinka where he was in charge of a group of builders who completed the gas chambers in August 1942. Blew up the chimney of a factory in Malkinia to obtain the bricks for building the gas chambers. He was called the "flying architect of T4" because he also made construction works at T4. From Treblinka to the Attersee recreation facility for renovations assignments. Back to Treblinka again. Worked at Dohorucza, Poniatowa and finally ordered to Sobibor October 1942. Back to Berlin and then to Trieste.

The prisoner Wiernik, who served in the extermination area, remembers:
"My quarters were still in Camp No.II but, because of a shortage of craftsmen, I was taken each day to Camp No.I, with Unterscharführer Hermann as my escort. He was about 50 years old, tall and kind. He understood us and was sorry for us. The first time he came to Camp No.II and saw the piles of gassed corpses, he turned pale and looked at them with horror and pity. He left with me at once in order to get away from the gruesome scene. He treated us workers very well. Often, he surreptitiously brought us some food from the German kitchen. There was so much kindness in his eyes that one might have been tempted to pour one's heart out to him, but he never talked to the inmates. He was afraid of his colleagues. But his every move and action showed his forthright character." (Donat, p.162)

FATE:
He finally was also posted to Trieste.
Arrested since 28 March 1962.
In the "First Treblinka Trial" (1965), he was sentenced to four years in prison.
*Another code name for T4


LINDENMÜLLER, Alfons SS-Hauptscharführer
20/01/? - 27/07/1946

BACKGROUND:
Affiliation to squad or detachment unknown.
Born in Trossingen.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
Temporarily at Treblinka. In charge of the Goldjuden.
Lindenmüller according to Glazar: "Master Sergeant Lindenmüller, somewhat older, much more mature than Boelitz and only superficially a similar type, comes to Barracks A before Christmas with something other than shopping on his mind. He stops in the office, which is right at the main entrance, and once he is alone with Zelo he begins speaking to him as if making a report: 'Come from a military family, am a convinced National Socialist, but I cannot reconcile what is happening here with my sense of military honour, will go on Christmas leave beginning tomorrow and will never come back here, have volunteered for the front, would like one of you to know, and I chose you...'" (Glazar, p.52)

FATE:
Died in the POW camp Ksawera Koszelew, Poland.

Photos: Bundesarchiv Berlin


LÖFFLER, Alfred SS-Unterscharführer
15/09/1904 - 30/04/1944 (last name perhaps Loeffler, Lefler, first name perhaps Fred. Rank also stated as SS-Oberwachtmeister)

BACKGROUND:
Belonged to police detachment. Rank unknown.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
Guard at Camp II.
Jakob Wiernik writes about him: "My German superior, Loeffler, brought me food: white bread, butter and cream. Whenever he confiscated any food from smugglers, he shared it with me." (Donat, p.174)
"One day the Hauptsturmführer, accompanied by the camp commandant and my superior, Loeffler, came to see me. They asked me whether I would undertake to build a blockhouse. It was, to be constructed of logs and serve as a guard station in Camp No.I. When I began to explain to him how the job should be done, he turned to his companions and remarked that I had understood him in a flash." (Donat, p.175)
Wiernik also relates: "One Sunday afternoon Loeffler, my superior, told me that the Hauptsturmführer wanted to build an additional gate for the blockhouse and that the job would be given to me. He told me to draw up a plan, and I added the necessary information for the Hauptsturmführer, who accepted my suggestions." (Donat, p.177)
Wiernik further relates: "The day of our deliverance was approaching (The Revolt). Just then, my superior, Loeffler, who had been treating me so well, was transferred to Maidanek. He was bent on taking me with him to work there, and I was in a terrible predicament. I knew that a cruel death awaited each one of us. In Maidanek, I would be unable to find a quick way to freedom in the new surroundings and it would take me a long time to become acquainted with new people and new conditions. However, the decision did not rest with me: what was more, I had to pretend that I was elated over Loeffler's honoring me with such an offer..." (Donat, p.183)
According to Wiernik he was thus transferred to Majdanek.

FATE:
No more details known. Died in Italy, buried in the German Military Cemetery at Costermano, near Verona, Italy.

Photo: GFH


LUDWIG, Karl Emil SS-Scharführer
23/05/1906 - ?/?/1963

BACKGROUND:
Affiliation to squad or detachment unknown.
Profession: driver. Initially he was the chauffeur of Reichsleiter Bormann.
Driver for T4 headquarters.

SERVICE AT SOBIBOR:
He was at Camp III until the beginning of 1943 when he was sent to Treblinka. He was also numerous times in charge of the Waldkommando. Outside the camp he single-handedly shot at Jews.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
Assigned to guard duties in Camp II. He treated Jewish prisoners humanely. It was said that he also helped people escape from Ossowa.
Ludwig as remembered by prisoner Joe Siedlecki: "There was one SS, if I saw him today, if there was anything he needed, I'd give it to him, Karl Ludwig. He was a good good man. The number of times he brought me things, the number of times he helped me, the number of people he probably saved, I can hardly tell you. I don't know where he is now, but I wish I did." (Sereny, p.188)

Ludwig as remembered by prisoner Richard Glazar: "The casually elegant, still slim Master Sergeant Karl Ludwig, a bright sort in his middle years, no more spent than average, has come out of the death camp on a brief foray to our Kirmes, our Christmas market, to get a share of the riches as long there are still riches to be had." (Glazar, p.92)
In Italy
In Italy

Ludwig on leave at Sobibor, as remembered by Theresa Stangl (Franz Stangl's wife); "And then he suddenly said, 'Fürchterlich - dreadful, it is just dreadful, you have no idea how dreadful it is.' I asked him 'What is dreadful?' 'Don't you know?' he asked. 'Don't you know what is being done out there?'- 'No,' I said, 'What?'- 'The Jews,' he answered. 'The Jews are being done away with.'- 'Done away with?' I asked. 'How ? What do you mean ?' - 'With gas,' he said. 'Fantastic numbers of them.' He went on about how awful it was and then he said, in that same maudlin way he had, 'But we are doing it for our Führer. For him we sacrifice ourselves to do this - we obey his orders.' And then he said, too, 'can you imagine what would happen if the Jews ever got hold of us?'" (Sereny, p.136)

FATE:
Served in Italy. He was among those from the euthanasia programme who remained alive at the end of the war. Acquitted at his trial, due to the testimonies by Jewish witnesses.

Photo: GFH


MATTHES, Heinrich Arthur SS-Scharführer
11/01/1902 - ?/?/?

BACKGROUND:
Belonged to SS squad. Joined the SA in 1934 and the NSDAP in 1937.
At Sonnenstein
At Sonnenstein
Born in Wermsdorf (Kreis Leipzig). He attended extended elementary school and became a tailor. In 1924 did his apprenticeship as male nurse and educator and did his examinations at the mental home Sonnenstein near Dresden. At the psychological clinic in Arnsdorf (near Dresden) he served as male nurse and educator. In 1930 as educator and welfare worker to a institute in Bräunsdorf (near Freiburg / Sachsen). In October 1933 back to Arnsdorf. SA member since 1934 (finally SA-Sturmmann). In 1939 ordered to the Wehrmacht (infantry) where he served as soldier in Poland and France until September 1941. His last rank was Obergefreiter. Released from the Wehrmacht, ordered to the KdF (Kanzlei des Führers) where he was ordered to the T4 organization. A short time in the photo section of T4. In winter 1941/42, as member of OT (Organisation Todt), sent to Russia, where he served as male nurse in the Minsk and Smolensk area. In February/March 1942 he returned from Russia and served again in the same photo section at T4.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
In August 1942 ordered to Lublin, where he was drafted into the SS and got the rank of SS-Scharführer whereupon he was dispatched to Aktion Reinhard. To Treblinka in August 1942. Here he was appointed chief officer commanding Camp II and the gas chambers as well as killer at the Lazarett where the Ukrainians called him "doctor". He shot a prisoner, Ilik Weintraub because, while transferring bodies from the gas chambers to the pits, Weintraub Matthes as remembered by Suchomel: "Wirth installed Matthes as chief of Camp II, as far as I know - and I lived with Matthes - against his will. With further threats he also made Matthes toe the line." (Tregenza, p.7)
Matthes as remembered by Jerzy Rajgrodzki, a prisoner in the extermination area: "He used to beat the prisoners with a completely expressionless, apathetic look on his face, as if the beatings were part of his daily routine. He always saw to it that the roll-call area would always be extremely clean. One of the prisoners had to rake the sand in the square all day long, and he had to do it with Prussian exactness." (Arad, p.194)
He was posted at Treblinka until September 1943.

SERVICE AT SOBIBOR:
From Treblinka he was posted to Sobibor until the Christmas holidays, afterwards to Berlin.

FATE:
Early 1944 from Berlin to Trieste (Italy), now as policeman (rank: Oberwachtmeister). There he fought against partisans, built military positions, and served as guard until end of war. In 1945 he was captured by US troops but was released the same year. In Nürnberg he worked as ambulance man, helped removing rubble, and was employed as male nurse again at the mental homes in Ansbach, Andernach and finally Bayreuth.
In the First Treblinka Trial (1965) he was sentenced to life imprisonment.


MÄTZIG, Willy SS-Oberscharführer
06/08/1910 - ?/?/1993 (last name perhaps Maetzig, Matzig, first name perhaps Willi)

BACKGROUND:
Belonged to Waffen-SS squad.
Born in Berg (Oberlausitz). First profession: glasscutter. In October 1933 member of Allgemeine SS, with the rank of SS-Unterscharführer. In July 1939, for three months in infantry unit in Freistadt (Silesia). Early January 1940 posted to SS infantry in Linz. He contracted septic bone marrow and consequently was medically suspended and ordered to Berlin. Member of T4 since February / March 1940. Served as guard at the euthanasia institute Brandenburg for one year. 1941 to Bernburg as guard again and administration assistant. In Summer / autumn 1942 from Bernburg to the East.

SERVICE AT SOBIBOR:
No details known.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
In November 1943 to Treblinka where he was book-keeper /accountant. With the orderly Stadie, Mätzig was one of Stangl's two senior administrative assistants, their office being in Stangl's quarters. Mätzig was part of the squad, which received prisoners with clubs and whips on platform when deportations arrived. After the Jews disembarked, Stadie or Mätzig would have a short word with them. They were told something to the effect that "they were a resettlement transport, that they would be given a bath and that they would receive new clothes. They were also instructed to maintain quiet and discipline. They would continue their journey the following day".

Stangl relates to Sereny in the book "Into that Darkness":
"I tried other ways to get them food too. You know the Poles had ration books which allowed them an egg a week, so much fat, so much meat. Well, it occurred to me that if everybody in Poland had the right to ration tickets - if that was the law then our work-Jews were in Poland too and also had the right to ration tickets. So I told Mützig the book-keeper to go to the town council and request a thousand ration books for our worker-Jews. 'What happened?' He laughed. Well, in the surprise of the moment they gave him a thousand rations for that week. But afterwards the Poles - the town council - complained to somebody at HQ and I was hauled over the coals for it. Still it was a good try and we did get something out of it; they had a thousand eggs that week. 'Oh yes, certainly,' said Suchomel. Mätzig got out of the Polish authorities what he could; he was a decent bloke. He got the Jews cereal and marmalade - that I remember clearly. A thousand eggs? Well, I don't know anything about that - but it's possible." (Sereny, p.168)

FATE:
Since the end of 1943 until end of war in Trieste. No more details known.


MEIDKUR, Kurt SS-Unterscharführer
?/?/? - ?/?/?

BACKGROUND:
Affiliation to squad or detachment unknown.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
No details about his camp activities known.

FATE:
No more details known.


MENTZ, Willi SS-Unterscharführer
30/04/1904 - ?/?/?

BACKGROUND:
Belonged to police detachment. Joined the NSDAP in 1932.
Born in Schönhagen (Kreis Bromberg). Profession: unskilled worker in sawmill and passed master milkman's examination. In 1940 took care of cows and pigs at Grafeneck euthanasia centre and from 1941 to early summer 1942 worked in the gardens of Hadamar.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
From June-July 1942 until November 1943 posted at Treblinka.
He was assigned first to Camp II and then to Camp I as chief of the Landwirtschaftskommando (Agricultural Command). Mentz was also assigned by Wirth to supervise the Lazarett. The victims, seated or lying together were facing the mass grave and so were forced to watch the corpses smouldering in the pit before they themselves were shot.
Mentz testified how Wirth personally demonstrated the correct technique to him: "He himself demonstrated it to me, and in my presence shot several Jews. Then, under his supervision, I had to kill even more Jews by shooting them in the neck. This method was then adhered to." (Tregenza, p. 8)
In time, Mentz came to terms with his new task at the Lazarett and became a much-feared figure among the Jewish work-brigades; Wearing a white doctor's smock he was to shoot thousands of helpless Jews in the way approved by Wirth, and push their bodies into the flames at the bottom of the pit. To the prisoners of Treblinka, Mentz became known as "Frankenstein". (Tregenza, p. 8)
He, apart from Kurt Franz, was the only member of the SS garrison who knew how to ride and exercised the horses of Treblinka daily.
Mentz as remembered by Glazar: "Somehow always unkempt and dishevelled, Willi Mentz, with a black moustache under his nose, is subordinate to Miete in civilian as well as in military life, although he too is a sergeant. In real life he is a dairy farmer, and here he is marksman second class. He is responsible for the routine shootings that take place in the 'Infirmary' as the transports arrive. He shoots and shoots, and keeps shooting, sometimes moving on to the next target even when the previous shot had not found its mark and a sentient victim simply slipped into the fires. Messy work." (Glazar, p. 47)

SERVICE AT SOBIBOR:
In December 1943 he spent a short time at Sobibor.

FATE:
After Sobibor he served in Italy taking part in the final action of Aktion R (persecution of Jews and partisans). After 1945 worked again as a master milkman. In the First Treblinka Trial (1965), he was sentenced to life imprisonment. The verdict stated: "... because shooting was the activity he was normally engaged in, the Jews simply called him the 'Gunman'". How many people Mentz killed in the Lazarett in the method described could never be clearly established. The only thing that is certain is that the number of Jews from the transports he killed single-handedly runs into thousands and that over and above these he liquidated some hundreds of worker-Jews.


See the Mentz Photo Story!


MICHEL, Hermann SS-Oberscharführer
10/11/1901 - ?/?/?

BACKGROUND:
Born in Holzheim (probably on 17/03/1909 in Ruhla or on 23/041912 in Passau). Probably senior male nurse in Buch (Berlin). As T4 man he served at Grafeneck and Hartheim.

SERVICE AT SOBIBOR AND TREBLINKA:
In 1942 he was approximately 30 years old. From the beginning until autumn 1942 he welcomed the victims with a short speech. Wearing a white overcoat to look like a doctor, he convincingly told the Jews they have arrived at a labour camp. In order for hygienic conditions they had to be disinfected and had to take a shower.
No further details known about his use in Treblinka.

FATE:
Detained by the US Army at Bad Aiblingen (Bavaria) but released on 19 April 1946. Cashed a certificate of credit for $191.60 on 15 January 1948, and disappeared. Believed to have been living in Egypt in the 1950s.


MIETE, August Wilhelm SS-Unterscharführer
01/11/1908 - ?/?/? (nicknamed "Malakh Ha-Moves" as well as "Krummer Kopf" (Crooked Head) by the Jewish inmates of Treblinka)

BACKGROUND:
Belonged to police detachment. Joined the NSDAP in 1940.
He was born in Westerkappeln (Kreis Tecklenburg). Until May 1940 worked at his parent's mill and farm. He was interested in becoming a settler in the East and inquired about it at the agricultural chamber. He was drafted to this chamber in May 1940, and became caretaker of a big property including a mental clinic. After eight days he was ordered to Grafeneck where he remained until autumn 1940. From there to Hadamar which was under construction where he remained until summer 1942. In summer 1942 ordered to Berlin from where he was posted to Aktion Reinhard in Lublin, autumn 1942.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
End of June 1942 sent to Treblinka where he served until November 1943.
He was one of the cruellest SS men; the prisoners nicknamed him "Malakh Ha-Moves", Yiddish for "Angel of Death". Assigned to Camp I at the "Station", at the "Undressing Yard" and was in charge of the Lazarett after Mentz. It was he who carried out most of the killings. He would walk around, check the prisoners, and those who seemed to him too sick or too weak to work at the required pace would be taken straight from the selection area to the Lazarett. Miete would have each man stand near a pit in which a fire was always going, and then he would calmly take out his gun and shoot. Killed the prisoner Berliner after the latter had stabbed Max Biala.

FATE:
After Treblinka he was sent to 1943 Trieste, after a short time there to Undine. In autumn 1944 from Undine to upper Italy attached to a demolition unit. In remand prison in Düsseldorf-Derendorf since 27 May 1960.
In the First Treblinka Trial 1965 he was sentenced to life imprisonment and died in prison.

Photo: GFH


MÖLLER, Max SS-Unterscharführer
?/?/? - ?/?/? (nicknamed "Amerikaner")

BACKGROUND:
From Hamburg. Profession: Male nurse. Belonged to police detachment.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
Assigned at Camp I as ordinance, "Undressing Yard" and farming. Had been camp duty officer the night, before the uprising. He had remained throughout the afternoon in the barrack next to the weapons storeroom. His presence there would disrupt the weapons-removal operation and endanger the entire uprising. The putzer boys, whose job it would be to remove the weapons, reported to Sadovits on the situation. Sadovits resorted to a trick to get Möller out of his hut. He told Möller that certain problems had arisen in the potato-workers team and that he was needed there. He left the barrack with Sadovits. Now two boys, led by Marcus, could begin removing the weapons. But due to the Möller incident, they were now slightly behind schedule with removing the weapons (Arad, p.288). Möller was called "Amerikaner" because of his build (Kalman Teigman).

FATE:
After Aktion Reinhard to Italy, Trieste region. No further details known.


MÜNZBERGER, Gustav SS-Unterscharführer SS-Number: 321 758
17/08/1903 - 23/03/1977

BACKGROUND:
Joined the SS in 1938 (SS nr. 321 758). Joined the NSDAP in 1940.
Born in Weißkirchlitz (Kreis Teplitz-Schönau, former CSSR). Attended extended elementary school, then for two years at a public school in Turn. Worked until 1923 as carpenter in his father's firm, afterwards a few months in the Weißkirchlitz Paper Factory. After his medical examination for military service, he served in a railway regiment in Pardubice for 18 months. Until autumn 1925 back to the paper factory, then from 1931 until August 1940 in his father's firm which he took over in 1931. In August 1940 ordered to the euthanasia institute at Schloss Sonnenstein in Pirna, where worked as carpenter. Until summer 1942 he served there as an assistant cook. Together with about fifteen others he was posted in August 1942 under the command of Schemmel to Lublin (perhaps the Trawniki camp) where they attended a short military course by police officers.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
Came to Treblinka in late September 1942 with the rank of SS-Rottenführer. On 21 June 1943 promoted to SS-Unterscharführer. Assistant to Matthes, operator of the gas chambers, and in charge of the Leichentransportkommando (Body-Transport Team). In charge of chasing people into the gas chambers at Treblinka. During the Treblinka uprising he was on holiday at home.

His son Horst recalls: "At home, in the Sudetenland, my father was ... well ... a joiner, neither very good, nor bad - you know. But I can remember when he got that black SS uniform: that's when he began to be 'somebody' I suppose, rather than just anybody. And then, in Treblinka - it is inconceivable, isn't it, what he suddenly was: the scope, the power, the uniqueness, the difference between himself and all those others - imagine.... No, it is unimaginable. I remember when I was a boy and he spanked me; he cried more than I did; he really did." (Sereny, p.222)

FATE:
After Treblinka he was sent (end of November/early December 1943) to Trieste, Italy.
Arrested since 13 July 1963.
In the First Treblinka Trial 1965 he was sentenced to twelve years in prison. He came out with the usual remission for good behaviour in July 1971.


PLIKAT, Karl-Heinz
14/05/1907 - 01/05/1945

BACKGROUND:
He belonged to a police detachment. Rank unknown. Born in Berlin.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
Assigned to Camp I. No further details known. According to the testimony of his colleague Rum, he was referred to as a "SA-rascal". He was short of stature being blond with little hair.

FATE:
Served in Trieste, Italy. No further details known.


POST, Philipp SS-Unterscharführer
?/?/? - ?/?/? (first name perhaps Willy)

In Italy
In Italy
BACKGROUND:
Belonged to the Waffen-SS. Rank unknown.
Apparently from Hamburg. Served at Hadamar.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
Assigned to Camp I as weapons guard.

FATE:
Served in Italy. Reported to be dead in 1964.

Photo: GFH


PÖTZINGER, Karl SS-Scharführer
?/?/1908 - 22/12/1944 (Alternative rank stated as Hauptwachmeister)

BACKGROUND:
Policeman, apparently from Leipzig. At the outbreak of the war he was SA-Scharführer. Posted to Brandenburg and Bernburg euthanasia centres (he incinerated bodies).

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA AND SOBIBOR:
After serving at the euthanasia centres he was posted to Treblinka and Sobibor. He was in charge of the cremation in Camp II (Treblinka).
Glazar relates: "... one of the SS, a man called Poltzinger who worked up at Camp II, came to our shop and asked which were 'Karel and Richard', and when we said it was us, he said he'd brought a message from Zhelo: he was OK and would we like to send a message back to him. We always thought the SS up there were better than ours, probably because, after all, they had to live through the same unspeakable horrors as, the slaves up there." (Sereny, p.11)

FATE:
Pötzinger was killed in 1944 in an air-raid from shrapnel. Buried at the German Military Cemetery at Costermano near Verona, Italy.

Photo: GFH


RICHTER, Kurt SS-Scharführer
?/?/1914 - 13/08/1944

BACKGROUND:
Affiliation to squad or detachment unknown.
Profession: Butcher, also driver at Sonnenstein. Served at Hartheim too.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA AND SOBIBOR:
Early 1943 to Treblinka, assigned as cook, no further details known.

After having served at Treblinka, as cook at Sobibor.

FATE:
Served in Italy and by partisans and buried at the Costermano cemetery.

Photo: GFH


"ROSHA", ? SS-Unterscharführer
?/?/? - ?/?/? (last name perhaps Rottner. "Rosha" could be a nickname)

BACKGROUND:
Affiliation to squad or detachment unknown.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
Guard in Camp II. A Unterscharführer whose nickname was "Rosha" once looked at the worshipers there and said: "Why are you praying? Your God won't help you-you see what's going on here." (Arad, p.217)

FATE:
No further details known.


ROST, Paul SS-Untersturmführer SS-Number: 382 366
12/06/1904 - 21/03/1984

BACKGROUND:
Born in Deutschenbora near Meissen. After extended elementary school, learned butcher. 1925 to Dresden police. 1937 member of NSDAP. On 21 May 1940 ordered to Sonnenstein, where he served as chief of police squad and transportation command. Served at Hartheim too.
On 1 December 1940 joined the SS.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA AND SOBIBOR:
Early 1942 ordered to Lublin, in March to Sobibor. Second camp commander for a short time. In charge of Camp II.
In 1943 removed to Treblinka.

FATE:
In December 1943 ordered to Trieste, Italy. In November 1944 promoted second lieutenant.
After the war for a short time in a US POW camp, then returned to his family in Dresden. Imprisoned by the Soviet Military Authority until summer 1946, then released. Worked unmolested in Dresden until his death.

Photo: Sonnenstein / Pirna Euthanasia Memorial


RUM, Franz Albert SS-Unterscharführer
08/06/1890 - ?/?/1970

BACKGROUND:
Belonged to police detachment. Joined the NSDAP in 1933.
Born in Berlin. Profession: Waiter in a night-club. Was from 1939 at T4 in Berlin where he was photo expert.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
Came to Treblinka in December 1942. Guard for the Leichentransportkommando (Body-Transport Team) in Camp II where he also chased the prisoners with whips to the gas chambers. Also allocated as head of "Sorting Barracks B" in the Sorting Yard.
As ordered by Kurt Franz, he and Mentz shot the 25 - 30 remaining Jews in autumn 1943 when the camp was grazed. Left Treblinka in November.

FATE:
After Treblinka he was sent to Trieste, Italy. In the First Treblinka Trial 1965 he was sentenced to three years in prison. He died before receiving his sentence.


SCHARFE, Herbert ("Mischke") SS-Unterscharführer
13/02/1913 - ?/?/?

BACKGROUND:
Affiliation to squad or detachment unknown.
Born in Königstein / Sachsen. Served at the economics office at Sonnenstein.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
Stationed temporarily at Treblinka, in charge of the camouflage command. Served at Sobibor too.

FATE:
No further details known.


SCHEMMEL, Ernst Polizeihauptmann and SS-Scharführer
11/09/1883 - 10/12/1943

BACKGROUND:
Rank and affiliation to squad or detachment unknown.
Born in Kirchhain (between Dresden and Berlin). Member of criminal investigation department.
Administrative head at Sonnenstein. Served at Hartheim too.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
Was at Treblinka for a short time. Served in the administration section.

FATE:
No further details known. He died in Dresden.


SCHIFFNER, Karl SS-Unterscharführer SS-Number: 321 225
04/07/1901 - ?/?/?

BACKGROUND:
Affiliation to squad or detachment unknown. Was member of NSDAP and SA.
Born in Weißkirchlitz under the name of "Kresadlo". Attended extended elementary school and later public school in Weißkirchlitz. Did his three years apprenticeship as carpenter and at the same time at trade school. Served during 1921-1923 in the Czech Army. Married in 1928. Member of the Sudetendeutsche Partei, when in the Czech Republic. Became member of the SA after the Czech Republic was occupied. Changed from SA to SS "because the black uniforms looked better". Received the Ehrenwinkel (chevron of honour) because of his membership in the Sudetendeutsche Partei. Successfully changed his name from "Kresadlo" to Schiffner in 1941. Until 1942 at Sonnenstein as carpenter after which closure he was posted to T4 for repairs, thereafter to Lublin.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA, BELZEC AND SOBIBOR:
From Lublin he was posted to Treblinka where he was issued with the SS uniform, first without rank but later as SS-Unterscharführer. In charge of the camp joinery and building team.

During June/July 1943 he and a group of twelve Ukrainians under his command went to Belzec after that camps liquidation, to build a farmhouse there for Ukrainian families.

Also served at Sobibor.

FATE:
From Belzec to Trieste, served there in a police unit against partisans until the end of the war. Retreated to Kärnten (Austria) where he was disarmed by the British and made a POW in the camp Usbach. Released in October 1945, went to Salzburg. No further details known.

Photo: GFH


SCHMIDT, Fritz SS-Unterscharführer
29/11/1906 - 04/02/1982

BACKGROUND:
Belonged to the SS.
Born in Eibau (Sachsen). Served in 1940 at Sonnenstein as guard and driver, and in 1941 at Bernburg.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
In Treblinka
In Treblinka
Ordered to Treblinka in summer 1942. Lorry driver, in charge of the garage and also operated the gas chamber engines when he attending to the extermination process with Matthes and Münzberger. Also commander of the metal works at Treblinka.
According to Strawczynski and Stangl: "Usually this Schmidt was in charge of the engine room. Supervisor of Standa the mechanic. In my opinion, as a civilian he was either a mechanic or driver. ..." (Arad, p.121)

FATE:
After Treblinka to Trieste, Italy. POW, then arrested in Saxony. On 14 December 1949 9 years prison sentence, but never was imprisoned because on 1 September he escaped and went to Western Germany, where he died.


SCHUH, Richard SS-Unterscharführer, SS-Nr. 98020
?/?/? - ?/?/?

BACKGROUND:
Affiliation to squad or detachment unknown.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
Arrived with Suchomel August 1942. Served in Camp 1. No further details known.

FATE:
No further details known.


SCHULZ, Erich
?/?/? - ?/?/? (first name perhaps Emanuel, Erwin)

BACKGROUND:
Born perhaps in Berlin. Served at Grafeneck, Hadamar and Sonnenstein as "burner".

SERVICE AT SOBIBOR AND TREBLINKA:
Served first at Sobibor and then Treblinka. No further details known.

FATE:
Was sent to Italy. No further details known.


SEIDEL, Kurt SS-Obersturmführer
20/03/1910 - ?/?/1972

BACKGROUND:
Apparently from Berlin. Served at Sonnenstein as male nurse and in the office probably. Affiliation to police squad.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
In charge of road building etc. The main road in the camp i.e. "Kurt Seidel Straße" was named after him. (According to the Kurt Franz map, also assigned also to Camp II)
Seidel according to Glazar: "Good citizen, a civilian in uniform, and supposedly the oldest among the SS here, ... He always addresses us impersonally, a straightforward face and polite demeanour". (Glazar, p.50)
"... the road crew commando was also out today picking up fieldstone. They were being supervised by our gentle Seidel and a relatively good group of guards." (Glazar, p.129)
"The sign on the main street is decorated with two SS figures, and the inscription indicates that this Treblinka boulevard is named after the oldest member of the local SS special commando: "Kurt-Seidel-Straße." (Glazar, p.142)

FATE:
No further details known.

Photo: GFH


STADIE, Otto SS-Stabsscharführer
10/03/1897 - ?/?/? (Nicknamed "Fesele" - Yiddish for Barrel)

BACKGROUND:
Belonged to the NSDAP and Waffen-SS squad.
Born in Berlin. Before the war worked as a male nurse at the mental clinic Heil- und Pflegeanstalt, Berlin. Afterwards as ambulance sergeant in a engineer-infantry-company. From mid 1941 at Bernburg. After Bernburg, during the winter 1941-1942, to OT*.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
After Bernburg he was stationed at Treblinka from July 1942 - July 1943.
Assigned in charge of Treblinka's camp administration, being one of Stangl's two senior administrative assistants. Former company commander of the Ukrainian guard unit in Treblinka. He was also part of the SS squad who received prisoners with clubs and whips on platform when deportations arrived, when the Jews had got off, Stadie or Mätzig would have a short word with them. The Jews were told something to the effect that they were at a resettlement transport, that they would be given a bath and that they would receive new clothes. The orderly Stadie was one of Stangl's two senior administrative assistants.
Stadie as remembered by prisoner Richard Glazar: "At a special roll call, the little barrel-shaped staff sergeant Stadie demonstrated what he could do when called upon to fill in for the vacationing Küttner and Franz. Full of rage, he snorted. His cheeks swelled, making his small eyes look all the more evil: 'Anyone found with as little as a penny will be severely punished!'" (Glazar, p.113)
Stadie as remembered by survivor Maniek Platkiewicz: "A youngster stole some wood in order to warm up a little 'coffee' for his comrades. SS man Stadie killed him for 'sabotage'." (Donat, p.288)
Stadie also killed the Kapo Rakowski. Due to a disciplinary case against him, he was placed in charge of the 120-strong Lithuanian guard unit at the old Lublin airfield. (Tregenza, p.19)

FATE:
He also served as chief in San Sabba, Trieste.
Arrested since 15 July 1963.
In the First Treblinka Trial 1965 he was sentenced to seven years in prison. Released from prison because of illness.

* OT Organisation Todt / OT - organisation which was responsible for constructing the Westwall and Atlantikwall and other big projects like bunkers etc.


STENGELIN, Erwin SS-Unterscharführer
10/08/1911 - 14/10/1943

BACKGROUND:
Affiliation to squad or detachment unknown.
Born in Tuttlingen. Served at Hadamar euthanasia centre.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA AND SOBIBOR:
Assigned to Camp I in Treblinka. No further details known.

From Treblinka was sent to Sobibor where he was killed in the uprising.

FATE:
No further details known.


STREBELOW, Rudolf SS-Zugführer
?/?/? - ?/?/?

BACKGROUND:
Affiliation to squad or detachment unknown.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
Assigned to Camp I. No further details known.

FATE:
No further details known.


SUCHOMEL, Franz SS-Unterscharführer
03/12/1907 - ?/?/?

BACKGROUND:
Belonged to SS squad.
Born in Krumau (today in the Czech Republic). Profession: tailor. He worked from 1940-42 in the T4 euthanasia programme (photographic section) in Berlin and Hadamar.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA AND SOBIBOR:
Ordered to Treblinka together with Hirthreiter, Post, Löffler, Sydow, Matthes and two men from Frankfurt/Main. He worked in Treblinka from 20 August 1942 until late October 1943.
His first duty was at the "Station", then as supervisor in the women undressing barrack leading the victims to the "Tube". Later in charge of the Goldjuden and the tailor shop. When Eichmann and Globocnik were coming to Treblinka for inspection, Suchomel had to report to them about the Goldjuden.
Suchomel, who, by comparison to some, was relatively decent: Richard Glazar: "That doesn't mean Suchomel didn't beat us; all of them beat us."
Suchomel recollects when he arrived the first time in Treblinka: "So Stadie, the sarge, showed us the camps from end to end. Just as we went by, they were opening the gas-chamber doors, and people fell out like potatoes. Naturally, that horrified and appalled us. We went back and sat down on our suitcases and cried like old women. Each day one hundred Jews were chosen to drag the corpses to the mass graves. In the evening the Ukrainians drove those Jews into the gas chambers or shot them. Every day!" (Excerpt - "Shoah")
Suchomel as remembered by Richard Glazar: "In a show of patriotic sentiment toward the few 'hard-working boys from Bohemia' who had somehow landed among the 'pack from Poland', Sergeant Suchomel, during the peacetime thirties, a tailor and member of a German-speaking minority in Bohemian Krummau, and here the jovial head of the Gold Jew Commando has soup and oranges sent to Zelo from the German mess. Look here, an orange-a genuine orange with a soft peel, no hint of rot, still emitting scents of the wondrous outside world." (Glazar, p.79)

In late October 1943 he was ordered to Sobibor.

FATE:
After Sobibor to Trieste, Italy. Captured by US troops, arrested as POW, in August 1945 released. Since 1949 he lived in Altötting (Bayern) where he was arrested on 11 July 1963.
In the First Treblinka Trial 1965 he was sentenced to six years in prison. Released in 1969.


SYDOW, Franz SS-Unterscharführer
?/?/1908 - ?/?/? (first name perhaps Hermann)

BACKGROUND:
Affiliation to squad or detachment unknown.
Profession: Dockworker from Hamburg.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA AND SOBIBOR:
In charge of the camouflage commando.
Sydow as remembered by Glazar: "A short little guy but very tough, with an unbelievable appetite for alcohol." (Glazar, p.127)

After the Treblinka uprising to Sobibor.

FATE:
Served also in Italy. No further details known.


ZÄNKER, Hans
?/?/? - ?/?/?

BACKGROUND:
No details.

SERVICE AT TREBLINKA:
No details.

FATE:
No details.


The majority of the SS men who served at the death camps of Aktion Reinhard were never brought to trial.

Disclaimer: We have relied on the information according to sources as credited at the end of this document. We therefore cannot be held responsible for any inaccurate or what may be perceived as blasphemous information about some entries.

Credits to sources other than from listed publications:
Dr Boris Böhm, Sonnenstein Memorial
Dr Ursula Schwarz, DOEW
Dr Ute Hoffmann, Bernburg Memorial
Peter Witte, German historian and author
Files of Landgericht Hamburg and Landgericht Düsseldorf
Berlin Document Centre, file 329/1
Schloss Kalkum archive, Düsseldorf
Dr Heinz-Ludger Borgert, Ludwigsburg archive
Klee, Ernst. Was sie taten - was sie wurden, page 199

Bibliography

Information gained from the following publications and material:

Arad, Yitzhak. Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka: Operation Reinhard Death Camps.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987.

Burba, Dr Manfred. Treblinka: Ein NS-Vernichtungslager im Rahmen der "Aktion Reinhard".
Göttingen, 2000.

Donat, Alexander (ed.). The Death Camp Treblinka.
New York: Holocaust Library, 1979.

Friedlander, Henry. The Origins of Nazi Genocide: From Euthanasia to the Final Solution.
Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 1995.

Glazar, Richard. Trap with a Green Fence - Survival in Treblinka.
Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University press, 1999.

Hoffmann, Dr Ute and Schulze, Dietmar. Gedenkstätte Bernburg.

Klee, Ernst (ed); The Good old days: the Holocaust as seen by its perpetrators and bystanders.
New York: The Free Press, 1991.

Böhm, Dr Boris, et al. Nationalsozialistische Euthanasieverbrechen in Sachsen.
Dresden, Pirna: Kuratorium Gedenkstätte Sonnenstein e.V., 1996

Böhm, Dr Boris, et al. Sonnenstein Heft 3 / 2001.
Pirna: Kuratorium Gedenkstätte Sonnenstein e.V., 2001

Reitlinger, Gerald. The Final Solution. The Attempt to Exterminate the Jews of Europe 1939-1945. South Brunswick, New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1961.

Schilter, Thomas. Unmenschliches Ermessen.
Leipzig: Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, 1999.

Sereny, Gitta. Into that Darkness - From Mercy Killing to Mass Murder.
London: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1974.

Tregenza, Michael. Christian Wirth: Inspekteur der Sonderkommandos, "Aktion Reinhard".
Unpublished English article. (Published in Polish as: 'Zessyty Majdanka', Vol. XV, Lublin 1993)

Teicholz, Tom. The Trial of Ivan the Terrible: state of Israel vs. John Demjanjuk.
New York : St. Martin's Press, 1990

Willenberg, Samuel. Revolt in Treblinka.
Warsaw: Zydowski Instytut Historyczny

Photo Credits

Donat: Photo from Donat's book, The Death Camp Treblinka.

GFH: Photo or cropped sections thereof, as found on the website of Ghetto Fighters House, http://www.gfh.org.il/

NRW Hauptstaatsarchiv Schloss Kalkum

Sächsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Dresden

Gedenkstätte Pirna-Sonnenstein

All other photos: ARC Archive

© ARC (http://www.deathcamps.org) 2005