Roland Puhr (21 January 1914 – 15 April 1964) was an SS-Unterscharführer who committed numerous atrocities at

Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners t ...

during

World War II 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 ...

. After the war, he settled down in

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

using forged papers. Puhr was exposed as a war criminal in 1963, and executed the following year.

Early life

Puhr was born in

Staré Křečany Staré Křečany (until 1946 Starý Ehrenberk; ) is a municipality and village in Děčín District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,200 inhabitants. Administrative division Staré Křečany consists of six muni ...

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

in 1914. He joined the

Sudeten German Party The Sudeten German Party (, SdP, ) was created by Konrad Henlein under the name ''Sudetendeutsche Heimatfront'' ("Front of the Sudeten German Homeland") on 1 October 1933, some months after the First Czechoslovak Republic had outlawed the Germ ...

in 1936.

Wartime activities

In the 1930s, Puhr joined the

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

n military. In 1938, he deserted to join the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

. In 1939, Puhr 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 ...

. He was then assigned to the

SS-Totenkopfverbände (SS-TV; or 'SS Death's Head Battalions') was a major branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary (SS) organisation. It was responsible for administering the Nazi concentration camps, concentration camps and extermination camps of Nazi Germany ...

and sent to work as a guard at Sachsenhausen concentration camp. During his time, Puhr participated in the shootings of multiple Soviet POWs at the camp's execution site. He personally murdered approximately 30 to 40 prisoners. One prisoner whose murder he participated in was the beating to death of Austrian prosecutor Karl Tuppy, who had initiated the case against SS men Otto Planetta and Franz Holzweber for the murder of Austrian Chancellor

Engelbert Dollfuss Engelbert Dollfuss (alternatively Dollfuß; 4 October 1892 – 25 July 1934) was an Austrian politician and dictator who served as chancellor of Federal State of Austria, Austria between 1932 and 1934. Having served as Minister for Forests and ...

during the

July Putsch The July Putsch () was a failed coup d'état in Austria against the Fatherland Front government of Engelbert Dollfuss by Austrian Nazis from 25 to 30 July 1934. The Austrian Legion and Austrian '' Schutzstaffel'' soldiers with support from ...

in 1934. Planetta and Holzweber were both found guilty of killing Dollfuss and executed. Tuppy had also been involved in the prosecutions of

Anton Rintelen Anton Rintelen (15 November 187628 January 1946) was an Austrian academic, jurist and politician. Initially associated with the right wing Christian Social Party, he became involved in the July Putsch, a Nazi coup d'état plot, in 1934. Early ...

, one of the ringleaders in the coup, and

Otto Steinhäusl Otto Steinhäusl (10 March 1879 – 20 June 1940) was an Austrian-born SS-''Oberführer'', Polizeipräsident (police president) of Vienna, and President of Interpol (1938–1940). Early career In 1902/03 he served in the 17th Infantry Regiment a ...

, a police officer who had collaborated. Rintelen and Steinhäusl both received prison terms for treason, albeit they were later released under amnesty agreements with Germany. German communist Rudolf Wunderlich, a survivor of Sachsenhausen, later described finding Tuppy after he was beaten by Puhr and other SS men.

"I had never seen anything like it. His face was gone. Just a piece of completely undefined meat, full of blood, cuts, the eyes completely swollen up."

Tuppy died shortly after being beaten further by SS guards Gustav Sorge and Wilhelm Schubert. Puhr was suspected of additional targeted killings at an

SS construction brigade The SS-Baubrigaden were a type of subcamp of Nazi concentration camps that were first established in Autumn 1942. These units were usually made up of male non-Jewish prisoners—most were Poles or Soviets. Chances of survival were higher in these ...

near

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

. Puhr was also the first commandant of the Lager Sylt camp in the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...

Exposure, trial, and execution

After war ended, Puhr went into hiding using forged papers. He started a new life in

Schönhausen Schönhausen (Low German, Low Saxon: ''Schöönhusen'') is a municipality in the district of Stendal (district), Stendal in Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. It is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Elbe-Havel-Land. Geograp ...

. However, in June 1963, Puhr was exposed and arrested by East German authorities. He was charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. On 16 December 1963, Puhr was found guilty by a court in

Neubrandenburg Neubrandenburg (, Low German ''Niegenbramborg'', both lit. ''New Brandenburg an der Havel, Brandenburg'') is a city in the southeast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is located on the shore of a lake called Tollensesee and forms the urban c ...

and sentenced to death. His appeal was rejected, and Chairman of the State Council

Walter Ulbricht Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht (; ; 30 June 18931 August 1973) was a German communist politician. Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar republic, Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and later in the early development ...

rejected his petition for clemency. Puhr was

guillotine A guillotine ( ) is an apparatus designed for effectively carrying out executions by Decapitation, beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secur ...

d at Leipzig Prison on 15 April 1964. His remains were then cremated, and he was buried in an unmarked grave in an undisclosed location.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Puhr, Roland 1914 births 1964 deaths Executed East German people Executed German mass murderers Executed Nazi concentration camp commandants German people convicted of crimes against humanity Holocaust perpetrators in Germany Nazis executed by East Germany by guillotine People executed for crimes against humanity Sachsenhausen concentration camp personnel SS non-commissioned officers Sudeten German people