Josef Oberhauser (21 January 1915 – 22 November 1979) was a low-ranking German SS commander during the Nazi era. He participated in

Action T4 (German, ) was a campaign of mass murder by involuntary euthanasia in Nazi Germany. The term was first used in post-war trials against doctors who had been involved in the killings. The name T4 is an abbreviation of 4, a street address of t ...

and Operation Reinhard. Oberhauser was the only person to be successfully convicted of crimes committed at the

Belzec extermination camp Belzec (English: or , Polish: ) was a Nazi German extermination camp built by the SS for the purpose of implementing the secretive Operation Reinhard, the plan to murder all Polish Jews, a major part of the "Final Solution" which in total ...

. He was charged with 450,000 counts of accessory to murder and sentenced to 4.5 years imprisonment during the Belzec Trial of 1964.Sentence by the First Munich District Court (Belzec-Prozess - Urteil, ''LG München I'')

SS career

Oberhauser was born in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. After finishing ''

Volksschule The German term ''Volksschule'' generally refers to compulsory education, denoting an educational institution every person (i.e. the people, ''Volk'') is required to attend. In Germany and Switzerland it is equivalent to a combined primary ('' ...

'', he found employment on his uncle's farm in Markt Schwaben. In 1934, Oberhauser enlisted for 18 months in the

Reichswehr ''Reichswehr'' () was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first years of the Third Reich. After Germany was defeated in World War I, the Imperial German Army () was dissolved in order to be reshape ...

and was posted to Munich. He joined the SS in November 1935, specifically joining the '' SS-Wachverbände'' (SS member no. 288,121). In April 1937, he was stationed at

Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoner ...

. He was a member of the

Nazi party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

. Oberhauser served in the "SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler".

Action T4

In 1939, Oberhauser was assigned to ''Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft für Heil- und Pflegeanstalten'', part of the office for

and one of several front organizations of Hitler's Chancellery, in November 1939. This organization was responsible for the killing of approximately 100,000 mentally ill and disabled people during

. At the killing centers of

Grafeneck Grafeneck is a small rural village in the German municipality of Gomadingen, south of Stuttgart. World War II history Grafeneck Castle, which had previously been an asylum for crippled people, was turned by the Nazis into an extermination fa ...

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 sq ...

and

Bernburg Bernburg (Saale) is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, capital of the Salzlandkreis district. The former residence of the Anhalt-Bernburg princes is known for its Renaissance castle. Geography The town centre is situated in the fertile Magdeburg ...

, where these people were murdered en masse by gas (

carbon monoxide poisoning Carbon monoxide poisoning typically occurs from breathing in carbon monoxide (CO) at excessive levels. Symptoms are often described as " flu-like" and commonly include headache, dizziness, weakness, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion. Large ...

), Oberhauser was a ''Brenner'' (burner), or ''Leichenbrenner'' (corpse burner): he was responsible for the burning of the bodies in the specially installed crematory ovens.

Operation Reinhard

After finishing Action T4 in August 1941, in November Oberhauser was transferred to the staff of the SS and Police Leader (SSPF) for the Lublin district, SS-''

Brigadeführer ''Brigadeführer'' (, ) was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) that was used between the years of 1932 to 1945. It was mainly known for its use as an SS rank. As an SA rank, it was used after briefly being known as ''Untergruppenf ...

Odilo Globocnik Odilo Lothar Ludwig Globocnik (21 April 1904 – 31 May 1945) was an Austrian Nazi and a perpetrator of the Holocaust. He was an official of the Nazi Party and later a high-ranking leader of the SS. Globocnik had a leading role in Operation Re ...

, to take part in Operation Reinhard, the extermination of Poland's three million Jews. From November 1941 until 1 August 1942, Oberhauser was posted to Bełżec extermination camp as the leader of a guard platoon. He first visited Bełżec in the fall of 1941, before the extermination camp existed, to remove military equipment at the site. He was responsible for the development of the camp. In December 1941, Oberhauser returned to Bełżec with construction materials and a team of Ukrainian Trawnikis. He was under the command of camp commandant

Christian Wirth ), Christian the CruelZenter, Christian and Bedürftig, Friedemann (1991). ''Encyclopedia of the Third Reich'' (pg. 1053), New York: Macmillan; , allegiance = , branch = Schutzstaffel , serviceyears = , rank = Sturmbannführer (Major) , ...

, and he also served as Wirth's liaison to Globocnik. Christopher Browning. ''The Origins of the Final Solution : The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939 – March 1942'' (With contributions by

Jürgen Matthäus Jürgen Matthäus (born 1959) is a German historian and head of the research department of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. He is an author and editor of multiple works on the history of World War II and the Holocaust. Matthäus was ...

), Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, 2004. pp. 419-420 For his work in the implementation of Operation Reinhard, Oberhauser was promoted from SS-''

Hauptscharführer __NOTOC__ ''Hauptscharführer'' ( ) was a Nazi paramilitary rank which was used by the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) between the years of 1934 and 1945. The rank was the highest enlisted rank of the SS, with the exception of the special Waffen-SS ran ...

'' to SS-''

Untersturmführer (, ; short: ''Ustuf'') was a paramilitary rank of the German ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) first created in July 1934. The rank can trace its origins to the older SA rank of ''Sturmführer'' which had existed since the founding of the SA in 1921. ...

'', effective 20 April 1943, reaching officer rank in the SS. Previously, the ''

Reichsführer-SS (, ) was a special title and rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945 for the commander of the (SS). ''Reichsführer-SS'' was a title from 1925 to 1933, and from 1934 to 1945 it was the highest rank of the SS. The longest-servi ...

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...

had made a personal visit to the Operation Reinhard camps, including Bełżec, on 12 February 1943, and had decided to promote Oberhauser. In the 21 January 1965 judgment of the Munich District Court I (Case No. 110 Ks 3/64), his work at Belzec is described as follows (translated to English):

Transfer to Italy

After the completion of Operation Reinhard, Oberhauser, along with many of his colleagues, was sent to northern Italy in the group '' Sonderabteilung Einsatz R'' to participate in anti-partisan warfare and the deportation and killing of Jews there. He was promoted to the rank of SS-''

Obersturmführer __NOTOC__ (, ; short: ''Ostuf'') was a Nazi Germany paramilitary rank that was used in several Nazi organisations, such as the SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK. The rank of ''Obersturmführer'' was first created in 1932 as the result of an expa ...

'' on 30 January 1945. Purportedly, Oberhauser was commandant of

Risiera di San Sabba Risiera di San Sabba ( sl, Rižarna) is a five-storey brick-built compound located in Trieste, northern Italy, that functioned during World War II as a Nazi concentration camp for the detention and killing of political prisoners, and a transit ca ...

until its closure in late April 1945 (3,000 to 5,000 people died there). He then went to

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

with his unit, and was arrested by the British authorities in May 1945 in

Bad Gastein Bad Gastein (; formerly ''Badgastein''; Southern Bavarian: ''Bod Goschdei'') is a spa town in the district of St. Johann im Pongau, in the Austrian state of Salzburg. Picturesquely situated in a high valley of the Hohe Tauern mountain range, it ...

Arrest and trial

After his release, Oberhauser was employed as a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

worker in

Bevensen Bevensen is a former ''Samtgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") in the Uelzen (district), district of Uelzen, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Its seat was in the town Bad Bevensen. At the 1 November 2011 local government reform, the ''Samtgemeinden'' ...

. On 13 April 1948, he was arrested during a stay in the

Soviet occupation zone The Soviet Occupation Zone ( or german: Ostzone, label=none, "East Zone"; , ''Sovetskaya okkupatsionnaya zona Germanii'', "Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany") was an area of Germany in Central Europe that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a ...

. On 24 September 1948, he was convicted by the

Soviet Military Administration in Germany The Soviet Military Administration in Germany (russian: Советская военная администрация в Германии, СВАГ; ''Sovyetskaya Voyennaya Administratsiya v Germanii'', SVAG; german: Sowjetische Militäradministrat ...

of violating "Control Council Law No. 10" of 20 December 1945 (which also served as a basis at the

Nuremberg Trials The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. Between 1939 and 1945, Nazi Germany invaded m ...

), by his membership in a criminal organization (the SS) and his killing of victims in Grafeneck, Brandenburg and Bernburg. Oberhauser was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 10 years deprivation of

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...

. He was granted an amnesty on 28 April 1956, and released after only 8 years. Following his release, Oberhauser served as a casual labourer, bartender and waiter in Munich. In 1963 the Bełżec trial began and Oberhauser was one of 8 defendants charged with war crimes committed at the extermination camp. On 30 January 1964, all of the defendants but Oberhauser were acquitted due to the collapse of the prosecution case but re-arrested shortly thereafter. Oberhauser appeared before the court again in January 1965. He was found guilty of a number of charges, namely: * Accessory to 300,000 cases (charged with 450,000) of collective murder; *Five other crimes of aiding and abetting collective murder in each of 150 cases. Oberhauser was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison with hard labor. He was released after serving half of his sentence. Oberhauser was sentenced to life imprisonment ''in absentia'' for his crimes committed in Italy, but the Italian extradition request failed. Oberhauser died on 22 November 1979 in Munich. Oberhauser was unwillingly filmed for Claude Lanzmann's documentary '' Shoah'', released in 1985.''This article contains a translation of the corresponding article in the

French Wikipedia The French Wikipedia (french: Wikipédia en français) is the French-language edition of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. This edition was started on 23 March 2001, two months after the official creation of Wikipedia. It has articl ...

Notes and references

Jewish Virtual Library

Bibliography

Ernst Klee Ernst Klee (15 March 1942, Frankfurt – 18 May 2013, Frankfurt) was a German journalist and author. As a writer on Germany's history, he was best known for his exposure and documentation of medical crimes in Nazi Germany, much of which was concer ...

: ''Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich''. Fischer, Frankfurt, 2007. . (updated 2nd edition) * Ernst Klee : ''Was sie taten – Was sie wurden.'' Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt, 1986, * Ernst Klee, Willi Dreßen, Volker Rieß: ''"Schöne Zeiten."'' S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt, 1988, * Claude Lanzmann: '' Shoah'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Oberhauser, Josef 1915 births 1979 deaths German people convicted of crimes against humanity Holocaust perpetrators in Poland SS-Obersturmführer Belzec extermination camp personnel Aktion T4 personnel People from the Kingdom of Bavaria Sachsenhausen concentration camp personnel German prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Italy Nazis convicted in absentia Nazi concentration camp commandants Military personnel from Munich Waffen-SS personnel People convicted of crimes against humanity