Alfred Trzebinski (29 August 1902 – 8 October 1946) was an SS-physician at the

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

Majdanek Majdanek (or Lublin) was a Nazi concentration and extermination camp built and operated by the SS on the outskirts of the city of Lublin during the German occupation of Poland in World War II. It had seven gas chambers, two wooden gallows, a ...

and

Neuengamme Neuengamme was a network of Nazi concentration camps in Northern Germany that consisted of the main camp, Neuengamme, and more than 85 satellite camps. Established in 1938 near the village of Neuengamme in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg, th ...

concentration camps in Nazi Germany. He was sentenced to death and executed for his involvement in war crimes committed at the Neuengamme subcamps.

Life

Trzebinski was born in Jutroschin,

Province of Posen The Province of Posen (german: Provinz Posen, pl, Prowincja Poznańska) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1848 to 1920. Posen was established in 1848 following the Greater Poland Uprising as a successor to the Grand Duchy of Posen, w ...

. After his study and graduation he became a physician in Saxony. Trzebinski was a member of the Nazi Party and SS. Trzebinski was a '' camp physician'' (German: ''Lagerarzt'') at

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

from July 1941 to October 1941, and from October 1941 to September 1943 at the Majdanek camp. He was then transferred to Neuengamme concentration camp. At Neuengamme he was the supervisor for SS physician

Kurt Heissmeyer Kurt Heissmeyer (26 December 1905 – 29 August 1967) was a Nazi SS physician involved in medical experimentation on concentration camp inmates including children, notably seven-year old Sergio de Simone. Medical experiments In order to obtain a ...

. Heißmeyer had done medical experiments on adult concentration camp prisoners and children. Trzebinski was liable for the medical care of the inmates of the Neuengamme camp and all its subcamps. Of 100,000 inmates, at least 42,900 died between 1938 and 1945.

Murder of children

Trzebinski was involved in the murder of 20 children at the subcamp ''

Bullenhuser Damm The Bullenhuser Damm School is located at ''92–94 Bullenhuser Damm'' in the Rothenburgsort section of Hamburg, Germany – the site of the Bullenhuser Damm Massacre, the murder of 20 children and their adult caretakers at the very end of W ...

'', a former school partly destroyed during the bombing of Hamburg in World War II. Heißmeyer had ordered 20 Jewish children (10 boys and 10 girls) from Auschwitz to continue his experiments. His purpose had been to inject tuberculosis bacteria and to excise the axillary lymph nodes. On the night of 20 April 1945, Trzebinski injected morphine into the children (to sedate them) after which they were hanged in the basement of the ''Bullenhuser Damm'' school. That same night, 28 adults died as well, the children's four adult caretakers and 24 Soviet prisoners.

Trial and execution

Trzebinski was able to escape at the end of the Second World War. On 1 February 1946 he was arrested—after working for the British forces in the POW camp Neumünster—because of the persistency of Walter Freud, a grandchild of Sigmund Freud. Trzebinski was sentenced to death during the "Curiohaus Trials" in Rotherbaum in March 1946, also for his complicity in the homicide of the children. At his trial he confessed freely and frankly, saying, "If I had acted as a hero the children might have died a little later, but their fate could no longer be averted" and admitted "you cannot execute children, you can only murder them" but they were "only" Jews. Trzebinski was executed by hanging on 8 October 1946 by Albert Pierrepoint at

Hamelin Prison Hamelin Prison, also known as the ''Stockhof'', was a prison and penitentiary in Hamelin. The penal institution, which had a predecessor since 1698, existed from 1827 to 1980. It was located between the old town and the river Weser. The listed pri ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trzebinski, Alfred 1902 births 1946 deaths People from Rawicz County Executed Nazi concentration camp personnel People from the Province of Posen Physicians in the Nazi Party Nazi human subject research Neuengamme concentration camp personnel Executed German people Nazis convicted of war crimes Curiohaus Trial executions Majdanek concentration camp personnel Auschwitz concentration camp medical personnel SS-Hauptsturmführer Waffen-SS personnel