August Eigruber (16 April 1907 – 28 May 1947) was an Austrian-born

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

Gauleiter A ''Gauleiter'' () was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a ''Administrative divisions of Nazi Germany, Gau'' or ''Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party, rank in ...

and ''

Reichsstatthalter The ''Reichsstatthalter'' (, ''Reich lieutenant'') was a title used in the German Empire and later in Nazi Germany. ''Statthalter des Reiches'' (1879–1918) The office of ''Statthalter des Reiches'' (otherwise known as ''Reichsstatthalter'' ...

'' of Reichsgau Oberdonau (Upper

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

) and Landeshauptmann of

Upper Austria Upper Austria ( ; ; ) is one of the nine States of Austria, states of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg (state), Salzbur ...

. He was convicted of war crimes at Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp and hanged.

Early life and Nazi career

August Eigruber was born in

Steyr Steyr (; ) is a statutory city (Austria), statutory city, located in the Austrian federal state of Upper Austria. It is the administrative capital, though not part of Steyr-Land District. Steyr is Austria's 12th most populated town and the 3rd lar ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

in 1907. After finishing middle school, Eigruber underwent training in

geodesy Geodesy or geodetics is the science of measuring and representing the Figure of the Earth, geometry, Gravity of Earth, gravity, and Earth's rotation, spatial orientation of the Earth in Relative change, temporally varying Three-dimensional spac ...

and fine

mechanics Mechanics () is the area of physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among Physical object, physical objects. Forces applied to objects may result in Displacement (vector), displacements, which are changes of ...

at the

n Federal Teaching Institution for Iron and Steelworking. Thereafter, he was active in his profession. In November 1922 he joined the National Socialist Worker Youth of Austria, whose leader he became in 1925. In April 1928, he joined 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 ...

, whose Steyr-Land district leadership he took up in October 1930. For his activities in the NSDAP, which was banned in Austria, Eigruber was sentenced to several months in

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

. From May 1935, Eigruber was the Gau Director (''Gaugeschäftsführer'') for the banned Party in the Upper Austria Gau, and he took over complete leadership of the Gau as of 1936.

Career in the Nazi state

After the ''

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...

'', he was appointed '' Landeshauptmann'' of

on 14 March 1938. At the 10 April parliamentary election, he was elected as a deputy of the German '' Reichstag'', representing the newly renamed Ostmark. On 1 June 1938, Eigruber joined the SA, with the rank of SA-'' Brigadeführer'' effective 12 March. On 25 July, he also joined the SS as a '' Standartenführer'' also with an effective date of 12 March. On 22 May

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

appointed him ''Gauleiter'' of Reichsgau Oberdonau. He thus united under his control the highest party and governmental offices in his jurisdiction. In September 1938, ''Gauleiter'' Eigruber attended the ''Reichsparteitag'' in Nuremberg. When Passau Nazis met at the ''Deutschmeister'' Inn, Eigruber joined his allies and reminisced about their venture during the ''Kampfjahre''. He rose to the rank of SS-'' Brigadeführer'' in January 1939 and to SS-'' Gruppenführer'' in November 1940. On 1 April 1940, he was installed as ''

'' (Reich Governor) of Oberdonau. In July 1940, the ''Donau-Zeitung'' announced that August Eigruber would travel to

Passau Passau (; ) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is also known as the ("City of Three Rivers"), as the river Danube is joined by the Inn (river), Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's population is about 50,000, of whom ...

by ship. There, he would be ceremonially welcomed at City Hall, and attend the latest play by Hans Baumann. On 16 November 1942 came his appointment as Reich Defense Commissioner (''Reichsverteidigungskommissar'') for his Gau. On 21 June 1943, Eigruber was promoted to the rank of SS-''

Obergruppenführer (, ) was a paramilitary rank in Nazi Germany that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) and adopted by the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) one year later. Until April 1942, it was the highest commissioned SS rank after ...

''. He was also made an SA-''Obergruppenführer'' on 9 November 1943. In February 1945, 500 Soviet POWs escaped from Mauthausen. In response, SS soldiers,

Sturmabteilung The (; SA; or 'Storm Troopers') was the original paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party of Germany. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and early 1930s. I ...

detachments, and

Volkssturm The (, ) was a ''levée en masse'' national militia established by Nazi Germany during the last months of World War II. It was set up by the Nazi Party on the orders of Adolf Hitler and established on 25 September 1944. It was staffed by conscri ...

men, who were acting on Eigruber's orders, hunted the POWs down in the Mühlviertler Hasenjagd. Nearly all of them were murdered. As for those who were captured, a witness said they heard Eigruber telling commandant Franz Ziereis that "All these pigs will have to be finished."''Review and Recommendations of the Deputy Judge Advocate for War Crimes: United States of America v. Hans Altfuldisch et al. − Case No. 000.50.5'
Originaldokument Mauthausen-Hauptprozess
(PDF; 75 MB) 30. April 1947 (englisch), S. 29–30. Toward the end of the war, as U.S. forces approached his capital at

Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...

, he proclaimed the city a "fortress" to be defended to the bitter end. In April 1945, shortly before the arrival of U.S. forces, he ordered the mass executions of 42 resistance fighters. However, shortly after the beginning of the offensive on 5 May 1945, he fled and proclaimed Linz an open city. He managed to hide out using forged identification papers until 11 August 1945, but was arrested by US Army Counterintelligence, in Sankt Pankraz (a few miles south of Kirchdorf an der Krems).

Conviction and execution

At the Mauthausen-Gusen camp trials, held under the jurisdiction of the Dachau International Military Tribunal, he was sentenced to death by

hanging Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...

on 13 May 1946 for his responsibility for crimes at

Mauthausen concentration camp Mauthausen was a German Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 f ...

, where tens of thousands of prisoners died. The sentence was carried out in the prison yard at

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 ...

on 28 May 1947. Eigruber's last words were "Lord, take care of Germany. Lord, take care of my family. Lord, take care of my children. I regard it as an honor to be hanged by the most brutal of victors. Long live Germany!"

Decorations and awards

* Anschluss Medal, c.1938 * Sudetenland Medal, 1939 * Honour Chevron for the Old Guard, 25.5.1938 * Golden Party Badge, 30.1.1939 *Clasp to the Sudetenland Medal, 1939 * NSDAP Long Service Award in Bronze, Silver and Gold, 1940–1942

References

Citations

Works cited

* Florian Freund: ''Der Mauthausen-Prozeß'', in: ''Dachauer Hefte 13 − Gericht und Gerechtigkeit''; Hrsg.: Comité International de Dachau, Brüssel 1997 * Ernst Klee: ''Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich: Wer war was vor und nach 1945.'' Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2007, . * * * Erich Stockhorst: ''5000 Köpfe – Wer war was im Dritten Reich''. Arndt, Kiel 2000, .

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Eigruber, August 1907 births 1947 deaths Austrian Nazis executed for war crimes Austrian people executed abroad Executed Austrian mass murderers Gauleiters Governors of Upper Austria Heads of government convicted of war crimes Heads of government who were later imprisoned Holocaust perpetrators in Austria Mauthausen Trial executions Members of the Reichstag 1938–1945 People from Steyr Perpetrators of World War II prisoner of war massacres Prisoners and detainees of Austria SA-Obergruppenführer SS-Obergruppenführer