Ernst Emil Heinrich Biberstein (or Bieberstein) (15 February 1899 – 8 December 1986) was an SS- Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel), member of the SD and commanding officer of Einsatzkommando 6. He was born Ernst Schzymanowski or Szymanowski.

Early life

Ernst Biberstein was born Ernst Szymanowski in

Hilchenbach Hilchenbach () is a town in the Siegen-Wittgenstein ''Districts of Germany, Kreis'' (district) of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Location Hilchenbach is about northeast of Siegen. The town borders in the south on Netphen, in the west ...

Province of Westphalia The Province of Westphalia () was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946. In turn, Prussia was the largest component state of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918, of the Weimar ...

. His early education was at

Mülheim Mülheim, officially Mülheim an der Ruhr (, ; ; ) and also described as ''"City on the River"'', is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany. It is located in the Ruhr Area between Duisburg, Essen, Oberhausen and Ratingen. It is ho ...

. He was a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

from March 1917 to 1919. Upon discharge, he studied

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

from March 1919 through 1921 and became a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

on 28 December 1924. In 1935 he entered the and was later transferred to the

Reichssicherheitshauptamt 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 ...

Nazism

Biberstein 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 ...

in 1926 and the SS on 13 September 1936 (membership number 272692). From March through October 1940 he was again a soldier. On 1 June 1941, Biberstein became head of the Gestapo office in

Opole Opole (; ; ; ) is a city located in southern Poland on the Oder River and the historical capital of Upper Silesia. With a population of approximately 127,387 as of the 2021 census, it is the capital of Opole Voivodeship (province) and the seat of ...

. There, he was complicit in the deportations of Jews. The same year, he changed his surname from Szymanowski to the supposedly original name, Biberstein. After the

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

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 ...

, he was assigned command of Einsatzkommando 6 in June 1942.

Nuremberg and later life

Biberstein was a defendant at the

Einsatzgruppen Trial ''The United States of America vs. Otto Ohlendorf, et al.'', commonly known as the trial, was the ninth of the twelve " subsequent Nuremberg trials" for war crimes and crimes against humanity after the end of World War II between 1947 and 1948 ...

during the

Nuremberg Trials #REDIRECT Nuremberg trials {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from move ...

. His trial began in September 1947 and ended on 9 April 1948. At his arraignment, along with all other defendants, he pleaded not guilty on all charges. Einsatzkommando 6 was charged with having executed some two to three thousand people. It was brought to light that at Rostow, Biberstein had personally supervised the execution of some 50 to 60 people. The victims were stripped of valuable articles (and partially of clothes), gassed, and left in a mass grave. He was also present at executions where victims were made to kneel at the edge of a pit and killed with a submachine gun. Biberstein was ultimately found guilty and 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 ...

. His sentence was reviewed by the " Peck Panel", and later commuted to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...

in 1951. Biberstein was denied parole several times. In 1958, the

Federal Foreign Office The Federal Foreign Office (, ; abbreviated AA) is the Foreign minister, foreign ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany, a federal agency (Germany), federal agency responsible for both the country's foreign policy and its relationship with ...

filed parole applications on the behalf of all four inmates still serving time in Landsberg Prison. Biberstein was denied parole, but the board unanimously voted for his life sentence and that of the other three to be commuted to time served. The commutations became official on 6 May 1958, and Biberstein was released three days later. He temporarily returned to the clergy, and died in 1986 in Neumünster.

In media

Biberstein was portrayed in the 1978

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

television miniseries by Edward Hardwicke.

References

External links

Eidesstattliche Erklärung, Dokument NO-4314
from NS-Archiv

from the

University of the West of England The University of the West of England (also known as UWE Bristol) is a Public university, public research university, located in and around Bristol, England, UK. With more than 39,912 students and 4,300 staff, it is the largest provider of hi ...

Biberstein photograph
{{DEFAULTSORT:Biberstein, Ernst 1899 births 1986 deaths 20th-century German Lutheran clergy People from Hilchenbach Nazi Party politicians SS-Obersturmbannführer German Army personnel of World War I German police chiefs German police officers convicted of crimes against humanity German prisoners sentenced to death Gestapo personnel People from the Province of Westphalia Einsatzgruppen personnel Holocaust perpetrators in Poland Holocaust perpetrators in Ukraine Holocaust perpetrators in Russia People sentenced to death by the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals German people of Polish descent