Josef Erber (birth name: Josef Houstek) (16 October 1897 – 31 October 1987) was a Nazi German '' SS-

Oberscharführer __NOTOC__ ''Oberscharführer'' (, ) was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that existed between 1932 and 1945. ''Oberscharführer'' was first used as a rank of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) and was created due to an expansion of the enlisted positions ...

'' at

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...

. He was in charge of the

crematoria Cremation is a method of final disposition of a corpse through burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India, Nepal, and Syria, cremation on an open-air pyr ...

Early life

Erber was an ethnic German born Josef Houstek in Ottendorf,

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

, on October 16, 1897. The town had a population of around 820 at the time. This region of the Czech Republic would not become part of Czechoslovakia until 1918.

Auschwitz

In November of 1940, Houstek was deployed to serve at Auschwitz as a guard. After a stint working in the armory at Auschwitz, he was replaced by Josef Gustav Wieczorek in mid-1942 and promoted to a more powerful position in neighboring Auschwitz II-Birkenau. There, he was responsible for identifying which incoming detainees should be kept alive and which should be sent to the

gas chambers A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. History Gener ...

. Houstek was also in charge of the women's camp at Birkenau. Personally killing dozens of detainees, he is mentioned several times in the account of

Sonderkommando ''Sonderkommandos'' (, ) were Extermination through labor, work units made up of Nazi Germany, German Nazi death camp prisoners. They were composed of prisoners, usually Jews, who were forced, on threat of their own deaths, to aid with the di ...

member

Filip Müller Filip Müller (3 January 1922 – 9 November 2013) was a Jewish Slovak Holocaust survivor and a member of the ''Sonderkommando'' at Auschwitz, the largest Nazi German concentration camp during World War II, where he witnessed the murders of tens ...

with a reputation as one of the most notoriously cruel members of the SS personnel.

Capture

After serving at Auschwitz, Josef Houstek changed his name to Josef Erber in 1944. Auschwitz was liberated in January of 1945. Erber was taken prisoner in May of 1945 by the Americans. He was released on December 25, 1947, after which he worked at a spinning mill in

Hof, Bavaria Hof () is a town on the banks of the Saale in the northeastern corner of the German state of Bavaria, in the Franconian region, at the Czech border and the forested Fichtel Mountains and Franconian Forest upland regions. The town has 47,296 in ...

for 15 years.

Arrest and trial

On October 1, 1962, Erber was arrested. He was tried at the

Frankfurt Auschwitz trials The Frankfurt Auschwitz trials, known in German language, German as , was a series of three trials running from 20 December 1963 to 14 June 1968, charging 25 defendants under German criminal law for their roles in the Holocaust as mid- to lower- ...

where he earned the nickname "the horror of Birkenau." Erber claimed to be nothing more than a clerk at Auschwitz who had no authority, merely counting the number of arrivals without deciding their fate. He was found guilty of mass murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Later life

In 1985, the 87-year-old Erber was nearly released from prison because of his age in a decision by a lower court. But the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt overturned this ruling and kept him imprisoned. However, Erber was released from prison the following year. He was killed in a traffic accident at the age of 90 on October 31, 1987.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Erber, Josef 1897 births 1987 deaths SS non-commissioned officers Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I People from Opava District Silesian-German people Waffen-SS personnel People convicted in the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United States Road incident deaths in West Germany