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Albert Widmann (8 June 1912 – 24 December 1986) was an SS officer and German
chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...
who worked for the
Action T4 (German, ) was a campaign of Homicide#By state actors, mass murder by involuntary euthanasia which targeted Disability, people with disabilities and the mentally ill in Nazi Germany. The term was first used in post-WWII, war trials against d ...
euthanasia program during the regime of
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
. He was convicted in two separate trials in the West German courts in the 1960s for his criminal activities during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.


Early life

Widmann was born in
Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
. His father was a
railroad engineer A train driver is a person who operates a train, railcar, or other rail transport vehicle. The driver is in charge of and is responsible for the mechanical operation of the train, train speed, and all of the train handling (also known as bra ...
. Widmann studied at the University of Stuttgart, receiving his certificate in
chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...
in 1936 and his doctorate in September 1938. Soon after, he was hired by Walter Heess, the chief of the Technical Institute for the Detection of Crime ('' Kriminaltechnisches Institut der Sicherheitspolizei'', or KTI), who had previously employed Widmann as a temporary consultant. By 1940 Widmann had been promoted to chief of the KTI's section for chemical analysis. Widmann was not particularly involved in politics. However, in July 1933, as a student, Widmann joined the
National Socialist Motor Corps The National Socialist Motor Corps (, NSKK) was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) that officially existed from May 1931 to 1945. The group was a successor organisation to the older National Socialist Automobile Corps (, NS ...
(''Nationalsozialistisches Kraftfahrkorps'', NSKK). He was admitted into the
Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...
in May 1937. After Widmann joined the KTI, in December 1939 he was transferred from the NSKK to the SS with the rank of SS-'' Untersturmführer'' (second lieutenant).


Action T4

Widmann became involved with
Action T4 (German, ) was a campaign of Homicide#By state actors, mass murder by involuntary euthanasia which targeted Disability, people with disabilities and the mentally ill in Nazi Germany. The term was first used in post-WWII, war trials against d ...
from its inception. Along with
August Becker August Becker (17 August 1900 – 31 December 1967) was a mid-ranking functionary in the Schutzstaffel, SS of Nazi Germany and chemist in the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA). He helped design the vans with a gas chamber built into the back ...
and Helmut Kallmeyer, he was one of the three chemists primarily involved with the program. Although Widmann was not directly employed by
Action T4 (German, ) was a campaign of Homicide#By state actors, mass murder by involuntary euthanasia which targeted Disability, people with disabilities and the mentally ill in Nazi Germany. The term was first used in post-WWII, war trials against d ...
, he and his KTI office provided the program with the needed support services. Widmann took part in the early discussions about killing methods, participated in the first
Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...
gassing experiment, tested gassing and dynamiting in the occupied parts of the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
and, through KTI, obtained the necessary gas and poisons for T-4. Widmann submitted the paperwork and obtained the
carbon monoxide Carbon monoxide (chemical formula CO) is a poisonous, flammable gas that is colorless, odorless, tasteless, and slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the si ...
gas needed for the T4 killing centers to operate, as well as the "medicines" needed for killings in children's wards and "wild" euthanasia hospitals within the T-4 program. These wards were established in selected hospitals, eventually at least 22 throughout the German Reich, where doctors were recruited to kill infants sent to them. This was usually done by an overdose of common medication, supplied by Widmann. Over time the age limit moved from infants and children under three to older children and in some cases teenagers. Parents were deceived by local health authorities into believing that their children would receive special medical treatment. If they resisted, they could be threatened with loss of custody. An estimated 5,000 children had been murdered by this program by the end of the war. Widmann also shared his technological knowledge. While others in the T-4 program were in charge of supervising and administration, Widmann instructed and experimented with gassing techniques. In the early stages of T-4, Widmann discussed possible gassing methods with Viktor Brack to determine the best way to kill patients with gas. For example, Widmann suggested releasing gas into the hospital dormitories while the patients slept, but this idea was dismissed as impractical. Widmann appeared at
Brandenburg Euthanasia Centre The Brandenburg Euthanasia Centre (), officially known as the Brandenburg an der Havel State Welfare Institute (''Landes-Pflegeanstalt Brandenburg a. H.''), was a killing centre established in 1939 as part of the Nazi euthanasia programme, known af ...
to administer the first gassing experiment and teach the proper gassing method (for instance, how to measure the correct dose of carbon monoxide). Others who attended the first gassing included Philipp Bouhler, Karl Brandt, Viktor Brack, Leonardo Conti and Christian Wirth as well as other officials and physicians from T4 headquarters in Berlin. Widmann visited other T-4 centers only when solutions to technical problems needed to be tested, such as, when the crematorium in Sonnenstein Euthanasia Centre did not function correctly. For
Action T4 (German, ) was a campaign of Homicide#By state actors, mass murder by involuntary euthanasia which targeted Disability, people with disabilities and the mentally ill in Nazi Germany. The term was first used in post-WWII, war trials against d ...
, Widmann had tested gassing on animals before recommending it as the means to kill human beings. One of the main goals of Widmann's work was to minimize the psychological impact that the killings bore upon the killers. Laurence Rees (2006). ''Auschwitz: A New History'', Public Affairs, p. 53. With Arthur Nebe, commander of '' Einsatzgruppe B'', and an unnamed explosives expert, Widmann experimented with
dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern German ...
as a means to kill patients, and also tested ways to pipe gas from a motor exhaust to the interior of a chamber: Another source states that instead of adding a second car, the first car was replaced with a truck. The idea to use gas was partly inspired by an incident involving Nebe. One night after a party Nebe had driven home drunk, parked in his garage and fell asleep with the car engine running. He had nearly died of carbon monoxide poisoning from the exhaust fumes. This engine exhaust testing inspired the development of gas vans. Back in Berlin,
Reinhard Heydrich Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( , ; 7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was a German high-ranking SS and police official during the Nazi era and a principal architect of the Holocaust. He held the rank of SS-. Many historians regard Heydrich ...
immediately set to work within the
RSHA The Reich Security Main Office ( , RSHA) was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as ''Chef der Deutschen Polizei'' (Chief of German Police) and , the head of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS). The organization's stat ...
for the development of, in the words of Heydrich's subordinate Walter Rauff, a "more humane method of execution" than the ''Einsatzgruppen'' firing squads which had been used. When a prototype gas van was driven to KTI, Widmann explained to his young chemists that by adjusting the timing of the ignition, one could maximize the amount of poisonous carbon monoxide in the exhaust. Widmann further explained that firing squads on the eastern front could be spared. Christopher Browning. ''The Origins of the Final Solution : The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939 – March 1942'' (With contributions by Jürgen Matthäus), Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, 2004. pp. 355–356 Some of Widmann's other experiments included testing poisoned ammunition on prisoners 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 prisoners t ...
, which killed the subjects. By 1944, he had been promoted to SS-'' Sturmbannführer'' (major). Problem solving was Widmann's specialty, and the kind of problem involved did not affect him. Widmann did not appear to be motivated by Nazi ideology, but rather saw himself as an expert determined to keep his job. After the war, Widmann was interned by U.S. occupying forces for several days before taking a job in a paint factory. He had worked his way up to chief chemist by the time of his arrest in January 1959. He was sentenced by a Düsseldorf court to five years in prison for aiding and abetting murder through poisoned ammunitions experiments. After appealing, he was sentenced to three years and six months in October 1962. During his prosecution, Widmann was asked how Arthur Nebe's order to kill mental patients in
Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
was related to Nebe's and Widmann's supposed assignment there - antipartisan warfare. Widmann's response:
I never thought about that question. After Nebe told me that he had orders to kill the mental patients in his area, there was nothing for me to think about. After all, mental patients were also killed in the Reich.
Widmann was tried again in Stuttgart in 1962. In September 1967, he was sentenced to six years and six months in prison. With time served before and after the trial, his remaining sentence was suspended in exchange for a payment of 4,000 DM to a non-profit institution for the disabled.


See also

*
August Becker August Becker (17 August 1900 – 31 December 1967) was a mid-ranking functionary in the Schutzstaffel, SS of Nazi Germany and chemist in the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA). He helped design the vans with a gas chamber built into the back ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Widmann, Albert 1912 births 1986 deaths Engineers from Stuttgart Aktion T4 personnel Einsatzgruppen personnel SS-Sturmbannführer Holocaust perpetrators in Belarus Sachsenhausen concentration camp personnel Nazi human subject research German chemical engineers 20th-century German chemists National Socialist Motor Corps members People from the Kingdom of Württemberg Reich Security Main Office personnel Nazis convicted of war crimes Prisoners and detainees of Germany