August Raimond Bogusch (5 August 1890 – 24 January 1948) was an SS-''

Scharführer ''Scharführer'' (, ) was a title or rank used in early 20th Century German military terminology. In German, ''Schar'' was one term for the smallest sub-unit, equivalent to (for example) a "troop" , " squad", or "section". The word ''führer'' ...

'' and member of staff at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prosecuted at the

Auschwitz Trial The Auschwitz trial began on November 24, 1947, in Kraków, when Poland's Supreme National Tribunal tried forty former staff of the Auschwitz concentration camps. The trials ended on December 22, 1947. The best-known defendants were Arthur Lie ...

, sentenced to death and hanged.

Life

Bogusch was born in

Lubliniec Lubliniec (german: Lublinitz) is a town in southern Poland with 23,784 inhabitants (2019). It is the capital of Lubliniec County, part of Silesian Voivodeship (since 1999); previously it was in Częstochowa Voivodeship (1975–1998). Geograp ...

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, locate ...

. He joined 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 ...

in October 1932 and the SS in April 1933 (number 51922). On 21 August 1939 he was drafted into the SS-Totenkopfverbände and was posted to Buchenwald concentration camp. He was at Auschwitz from 27 January 1941 to 18 January 1945, where he was - among other things - a ''Schutzhaftlagerführer'' (protective custody) guard and a ''Blockführer'' (''block leader''). After the evacuation of Auschwitz he was sent to Mysen concentration camp near

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

, and in February 1945, was transferred back to Buchenwald. He was also deployed to

Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp Mauthausen was a Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with nearly 100 further subcamps located throughout Austria and southern Germa ...

. In the summer of 1943, Bogusch participated in the extermination process, where he selected Jews from arriving transports to the

gas chamber A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or other 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 ...

s. During the occupation of Poland, the Polish underground declared on London radio that he would be punished by death.

After the war

Bogusch was captured by the Allies and released to the Polish authorities. He was tried by the

Supreme National Tribunal The Supreme National Tribunal ( pl, Najwyższy Trybunał Narodowy TN}) was a war-crime tribunal active in communist-era Poland from 1946 to 1948. Its aims and purpose were defined by the State National Council in decrees of 22 January and 17 Oc ...

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

and

sentenced to death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

. His sentence was carried out by

hanging Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging ...

Montelupich Prison The Montelupich prison, so called from the street in which it is located, the ''ulica Montelupich'' ("street of the Montelupi family"),Ulica Montelupich or "street of the Montelupis" itself is named after the Montelupi manor house (Kamienica (arch ...

, Kraków.

Bibliography

*Cyprian T., Sawicki J., ''Siedem wyroków Najwyższego Trybunału Narodowego'', Poznań 1962 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bogusch, August 1890 births 1948 deaths Auschwitz trial executions Holocaust perpetrators in Poland People from the Province of Silesia Auschwitz concentration camp personnel Buchenwald concentration camp personnel Mauthausen concentration camp personnel German people convicted of crimes against humanity SS non-commissioned officers People from Lubliniec Executed people from Silesian Voivodeship Executed mass murderers