Helmut Kallmeyer (8 October 1910 – 27 September 2006) was a German chemist in the era of National Socialism. He served as a consultant in
Adolf Hitler's Chancellery (Kanzlei des Führers) for gasification methods. Later, he worked in the Technical Institute for the Detection of Crime (''
Kriminaltechnisches Institut der Sicherheitspolizei'', KTI). He was involved in
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 ...
, Nazi Germany's program to murder people with disabilities.
Life
Kallmeyer was born in
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
, the son of a senior government surveyor. He passed his ''
Abitur
''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...
'' in 1929, and then studied
chemistry
Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...
at various universities. In 1939, he completed his studies at the
Technische Hochschule Berlin and received his
doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...
the following year. He was then drafted into the ''
Kriegsmarine
The (, ) was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official military branch, branche ...
'', the navy of Nazi Germany, and served until September 1941. Kallmeyer never was 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 ...
, nor was he an
SS man, nor a policeman, but he did join the ''
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 ...
'' (SA), the Nazi Party's early paramilitary wing. He later claimed that, as a member of a German sailing club, he had been automatically transferred into the SA.
At the end of 1940, Kallmeyer married Gertrud Fröse, who had been working temporarily at
Grafeneck Euthanasia Centre
The Grafeneck Euthanasia Centre () housed in Grafeneck Castle was one of Nazi Germany's killing centres as part of their Involuntary euthanasia, forced euthanasia programme. Today, it is a memorial site dedicated to the victims of the state-aut ...
at this time, and whom he had met four years earlier at his sailing club.
Among the wedding guests was
Viktor Brack
Viktor Hermann Brack (9 November 1904 – 2 June 1948) was a member of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) and a convicted Nazi war criminal and one of the prominent organisers of the involuntary euthanasia programme Aktion T4; this Nazi initiative result ...
, from
Hitler's Chancellery and
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 ...
, and for whom the bride had worked as a secretary.
In September 1941, Kallmeyer was discharged from the ''
Kriegsmarine
The (, ) was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official military branch, branche ...
'' for special
home front
Home front is an English language term with analogues in other languages. It is commonly used to describe the civilian populace of the nation at war as an active support system for their military.
Civilians are traditionally uninvolved in com ...
duty.
Immediately following his discharge, Kallmeyer was personally recruited by Brack 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 ...
. 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
Albert Widmann, Kallmeyer was one of the three chemists primarily involved with the murderous program. These men, familiar with the uses of gas and poison, supplied professional services essential for the success of the killings. There exists little paperwork on Kallmeyer's involvement within T4, and the Kallmeyers' postwar testimonies appear to be withholding evidence. A letter from Alfred Wetzel of the Reich Ministry of the Occupied Eastern Territories to
Hinrich Lohse
Hinrich Lohse (2 September 1896 – 25 February 1964) was a German Nazi Party official, politician and convicted war criminal. He served as the ''Gauleiter'' and ''Oberpräsident'' of Province of Schleswig-Holstein, Schleswig-Holstein and was an S ...
attests that Viktor Brack wanted disabled Jews in Riga to be gassed by "Brack's devices". For this purpose, Brack offered his chemist, Dr. Kallmeyer, and other assistants. Ultimately, this plan was not carried out in the Baltic States.
After the war, Kallmeyer stated that he had never been in
Riga
Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...
. Rather, he was in
Lublin
Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...
in early 1942 for a particular job, the vocation of which he could not remember. At this time, the T4 perpetrators had been reporting to the Lublin region to start construction of the extermination camps.
Supposedly, Kallmeyer returned to
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
after a week, where he was ordered to start an analysis of drinking water. He was admitted to a hospital on 28 February 1942 with
typhus
Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposu ...
. Upon recovery, he was transferred to the Technical Institute for the Detection of Crime (KTI).
As with T4, Kallmeyer's name appears on KTI documents involving the delivery of gas and poisons to T4 euthanasia centres.
Kallmeyer's letter from 2 May 1944 includes an order, on behalf of KTI, for "15 bottles of Kohlenoyd".
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 ...
: ''Was sie taten - Was sie wurden.'' Frankfurt/Main 1986, , p. 105
After the war
In 1946, Kallmeyer was interrogated as a witness in connection with the
Doctors' trial in Nuremberg. He denied having been aware of anything concerning the euthanasia murders. He downplayed his subsequent work at KTI; he claimed that he had never had anything to do with gas and poison. Kallmeyer and his wife admitted only to what could be proven by documents. Even though the investigating authorities did not believe the claims, the couple could not be proven to have partaken in the mass murder.
After the war, Kallmeyer worked as a senior civil servant in the
Statistical Office for Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein in
Kiel
Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...
and later for the
Food and Agriculture Organization
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. Its Latin motto, , translates ...
of the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
in
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
and
Ghana
Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...
.
Raul Hilberg
Raul Hilberg (June 2, 1926 – August 4, 2007) was a Jewish Austrian-born American political scientist and historian. He was widely considered to be the preeminent scholar on the Holocaust. Christopher R. Browning has called him the founding f ...
: '' The Destruction of the European Jews''. Frankfurt, , Vol. 3, p. 1172 / Vol. 2, p. 938, Note 27 The Kallmeyers met with
Horst Schumann
Horst Schumann (1 May 1906 – 5 May 1983) was an ''SS-Sturmbannführer'' (major) and medical doctor who conducted sterilization and castration experiments at Auschwitz and was particularly interested in the mass sterilization of Jews by means ...
and his wife in Ghana in 1960. Schumann was wanted on account of his activities in the euthanasia centres of
Sonnenstein and
Grafeneck
Grafeneck is a small rural village in the Germany, German municipality of Gomadingen, south of Stuttgart.
World War II history
Grafeneck Castle, which had previously been an asylum for crippled people, was turned by the Nazism, Nazis into an e ...
, and his later experiments in
Auschwitz
Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kallmeyer, Helmut
1910 births
2006 deaths
Aktion T4 personnel
20th-century German chemists
Kriegsmarine personnel of World War II
Scientists from Hamburg
Sturmabteilung personnel
Technische Universität Berlin alumni