|
Karl Chmielewski (born 16 July 1903 in Frankfurt am Main; died 1 December 1991 in Bernau am Chiemsee) was a German SS officer and concentration camp commandant. Such was his cruelty that he was dubbed ''Teufel von Gusen'' or the Devil of Gusen.〔"Sagel-Grande, et.al.: ''Justiz und NS-Verbrechen - Strafverfahren gegen Chmielewski Karl (Lage, Aufbau und personelle Besetzung des Lagers Gusen und Lebensbedingungen seiner Häftlinge''. Band XVII, Amsterdam 1977. p. 160 ff.〕 Chmielewski joined the SS whilst unemployed in 1932 and joined the Nazi Party the following year.〔 After initially serving in the office of Heinrich Himmler he was transferred to the Columbia concentration camp in 1935 before moving to Sachsenhausen concentration camp the following year. He was promoted to Untersturmführer in 1938 and attached to the Schutzhaftlagerführung (the 'Protective custody' units of the SS-Totenkopfverbände).〔 From 1940 to 1942 Chmielewski, by then a Hauptsturmführer, served as Schutzhaftlagerführer at Gusen concentration camp and it was here that he developed a reputation for extreme brutality.〔Schiffkorn Elisabeth: "Zur Forschungsgeschichte des urnenfelderzeitlichen Gräberfeldes von Gusen". In: ''EuroJournal Mühlviertel-Böhmerwald'', 2.Jg, Sonderheft 1, Linz 1996.〕 He then became commandant of the newly established Herzogenbusch concentration camp, where he further became a by-word for cruelty. Amongst the claims made against him was that during inspections he ordered the drowning of prisoners in buckets of water.〔Tom Segev, ''Soldiers of Evil'', Berkley Books, 2001, p. 137〕 Fellow camp commandant Franz Ziereis claimed after the war that Chmielewski had used the skin of prisoners to make wallets, book binding etc., something Ziereis claimed was strictly forbidden by the Nazi authorities.〔Segev, ''Soldiers of Evil'', p. 145〕 Chmielewski's reign at Herzogenbusch also garnered a reputation for corruption and he was eventually tried for personally enriching himself through stealing diamonds from prisoners. He was deprived of his position and rank, being succeeded as commandant by Adam Grünewald in 1943, and ended the war as an inmate at Dachau concentration camp.〔Segev, ''Soldiers of Evil'', p. 153〕 Having disappeared in Austria, Chmielewski was not tried until 1961, although he would receive a life sentence of hard labour when he was.〔Michael Bar-Zohar, ''The Avengers'', Hawthorn Books, 1969, p. 254〕 The trial pronounced him a sadist who took pleasure in killing prisoners, whom he did not see as human, by scalding them with boiling water.〔Segev, ''Soldiers of Evil'', p. 203〕 He was ultimately found guilty of causing the deaths of prisoners through his brutality.〔Segev, ''Soldiers of Evil'', p. 33〕 He was eventually released in March 1979 on mental health grounds and spent his last years in a care institution at Chiemsee. ==References== 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Karl Chmielewski」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|