Egon Gustav Adolf Zill (28 March 1906 in Plauen – 23 October 1974 in

Dachau , , commandant = List of commandants , known for = , location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany , built by = Germany , operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) , original use = Political prison , construction ...

) was a German '' Schutzstaffel'' (SS) '' Sturmbannführer'' and concentration camp commandant. Zill was born in Plauen. The son of a brewer from Plauen, Zill's father was severely injured in the First World War and as such Zill was apprenticed to a

baker A baker is a tradesperson who bakes and sometimes sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient history Since grains ha ...

at an early age in order to bring in much needed money to the family. Tom Segev, ''Soldiers of Evil'',

Berkley Books Berkley Books is an imprint of the Penguin Group. History Berkley Books began as an independent company in 1955. It was founded as "Chic News Company" by Charles Byrne and Frederick Klein, who had worked for Avon; they quickly renamed it Berk ...

, 1991, p. 138 As a 17-year-old Zill enlisted in both the Nazi Party and the ''

Sturmabteilung The (; SA; literally "Storm Detachment") was the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Its primary purposes were providing protection for Nazi ral ...

'' (SA), switching to the SS as soon as it came to his hometown (in fact Zill was the 535 member of the SS nationally). Zill would later work as a security guard in a curtain factory and it was not until 1934 that he became a full-time SS man, serving as a guard at a minor concentration camp at

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany a ...

. From this low beginning Zill began to rise through the ranks at the camps. His first appointment at a major camp was at Lichtenburg where he, along with fellow future commandant

Arthur Rödl Arthur Rödl (13 June 1898 – 5 April 1945) was a German '' Standartenführer'' (Colonel) in the Waffen-SS and a Nazi concentration camp commandant. Rödl was born into a Catholic family. His father worked as a messenger and his mother ran a n ...

, guarded the camp borders.Segev, ''Soldiers of Evil'', p. 139 He moved between camps, seeing service at

, Ravensbrück and Hinzert in various capacities. His first commandant role was at Natzweiler-Struthof before taking charge at Flossenbürg. As a commandant Zill expected his guards to act with the discipline of soldiers whilst also supporting the idea that camp inmates who had been indoctrinated into Nazism should be allowed to fight for Nazi Germany in return for their freedom. His regime as a commandant was also marked by extreme cruelty and according to the testimonies of inmates Zill's crimes included tying prisoners to trees before allowing his dogs to savage their genitalia. Zill was replaced in April 1943 by Max Koegel after being judged ineffective as a commandant. The move followed letters of complaint to Fritz Sauckel from the villagers about the high standards of living enjoyed by camp guards and their wives in contrast to the impoverished standards in the village, as well as a culture of corruption amongst the guards.Alicia Nitecki, Jack Terry, ''Jakub's World: A Boy's Story of Loss and Survival in the Holocaust'', SUNY Press, 2005, p. 60 He was transferred to the Eastern Front in 1943. Nicknamed "Little Zill" because of his short stature he went underground after the Second World War, but revealed himself when he put his real name on the birth certificate of an illegitimate child.Segev, ''Soldiers of Evil'', p. 140 Sentenced to life imprisonment by a Munich court the sentence was reduced on appeal to fifteen years in 1955. Following his release Zill settled in Dachau where he died in 1974.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zill, Egon 1906 births 1974 deaths People from Plauen Nazi Party politicians Dachau concentration camp personnel Flossenbürg concentration camp personnel Ravensbrück concentration camp personnel SS-Sturmbannführer Nazi concentration camp commandants People from the Kingdom of Saxony Hinzert concentration camp personnel Waffen-SS personnel Schutzhaftlagerführer Lichtenburg concentration camp personnel