Alexander Bernhard Hans Piorkowski (11 October 1904 – 22 October 1948) was a German SS functionary during the

Nazi era Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

and commandant of

Dachau concentration camp Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...

. Following the war, he was convicted and executed.

Life

Born in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

, Piorkowski and was a trained mechanic who worked as a traveling merchant in the 1920s. He joined the SA on 1 June 1929 and moved from there to the SS on 1 June 1933 (member no. 8,737). On 1 November 1929, Piorkowski became a member of 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 ...

(member no. 161,437). He first led the ''SS-Standarte'' in Bremen on 20 July 1935, and in the following year, the ''SS-Standarte Allenstein''. For health reasons, he retired from the service on 19 September 1936. Johannes Tuchel: ''Konzentrationslager: Organisationsgeschichte und Funktion der Inspektion der Konzentrationslager 1934–1938''. 1991, p. 385 From July 1937 to December 1937, Piorkowski was provisionally commandant of

Lichtenburg concentration camp Lichtenburg was a Nazi concentration camp, housed in a Renaissance castle in Prettin, near Wittenberg in the Province of Saxony. Along with Sachsenburg, it was among the first to be built by the Nazis, and was operated by the SS from 1933 to ...

, and after its conversion into a women's concentration camp, deputy to ''Lagerdirektor'' Günther Tamaschke until August 1938. From there he was transferred to the

in early August 1938, where he served as '' Schutzhaftlagerführer''. From February 1940 to mid-September 1942, he was the commandant of

. Due to corruption charges, he was discharged from service on 31 August 1943.

Post-war life and death

After the

Second World War 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 ...

, Piorkowski, along with his adjutant Heinrich Detmers, had to answer to a U.S. military tribunal at the

Dachau trials The Dachau trials, also known as the Dachau Military Tribunal, handled the prosecution of almost every war criminal captured in the U.S. military zones in Allied-occupied Germany and in Allied-occupied Austria, and the prosecutions of military ...

from 6 to 17 January 1947. The charges were war crimes for his complicity in the deportation, abduction and ill-treatment of prisoners in the former concentration camp at Dachau, his supervision of inhumane experiments conducted by

Sigmund Rascher Sigmund Rascher (12 February 1909 – 26 April 1945) was a German ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) doctor. He conducted deadly experiments on humans pertaining to high altitude, freezing and blood coagulation under the patronage of ''Reichsführer-SS'' Hei ...

and Claus Schilling, and the mass shootings of Soviet POWs. Piorkowski was found guilty and sentenced to death. Making futile petitions for a pardon, Piorkowski was hanged in the

Landsberg Prison Landsberg Prison is a prison in the town of Landsberg am Lech in the southwest of the German state of Bavaria, about west-southwest of Munich and south of Augsburg. It is best known as the prison where Adolf Hitler was held in 1924, after the ...

for war crimes. His last words were "Long live Germany, long live my family. Be well, Herr Pfarrer, I am ready. My son, take revenge for me." At the request of his family, prison officials transferred Piorkowski's remains to

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

.''This article contains a translation of the corresponding article in the

German Wikipedia The German Wikipedia () is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online encyclopedia. Founded on 16 March 2001, it is the second-oldest Wikipedia edition (after the English Wikipedia). It has articles, ma ...

Citations

General sources

* Martin Gruner. ''Verurteilt in Dachau. Der Prozess gegen den KZ-Kommandanten Alex Piorkowski vor einem US-Militärgericht''. Wißner-Verlag, Augsburg 2008, * Stefan Hördler, Sigrid Jacobeit (Hrsg.). ''Dokumentations- und Gedenkort KZ Lichtenburg – Konzeption einer neuen Dauerausstellung für Werkstattgebäude und Bunker''. Lit-Verlag, Berlin 2009, *

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 conce ...

. ''Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich: Wer war was vor und nach 1945''. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2007, * Johannes Tuchel. ''Konzentrationslager: Organisationsgeschichte und Funktion der Inspektion der Konzentrationslager 1934–1938''. (= Schriften des Bundesarchivs, Band 39). H. Boldt, 1991,

External links

Recommendations
for military trials at www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org (PDF-Datei; 1.98 MB) {{DEFAULTSORT:Piorkowski, Alexander 1904 births 1948 deaths Dachau trials executions Executed German mass murderers Executed Nazi concentration camp commandants German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United Kingdom Holocaust perpetrators in Germany Lichtenburg concentration camp personnel Military personnel from Bremen (city) Schutzhaftlagerführer SS-Sturmbannführer Sturmabteilung personnel Waffen-SS personnel