Hans Günther (SS officer)

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Hans Günther (22 August 1910 – 5 May 1945) was an

Holocaust
. He was killed by Czech partisans in 1945.

Career

Günther worked as an accountant until 1931. He joined the

Theresienstadt and from there to the extermination camps. The prisoners in the camp called him the "smiling executioner".[1]

Theresienstadt film

In order to counter Allied propaganda about the concentration camps Günther commissioned a film, "

Jewish
actor/director, made the film in return for a promise that he and his family would live. Shortly after he finished shooting the film, however, both he and his family were "evacuated" to Auschwitz where they were gassed upon arrival.

The film was intended for foreign audiences, but as it was completed shortly before the collapse of Nazi Germany, it was only seen by a few representatives of foreign organizations. Günther also set up a museum of Jewish artefacts in Prague containing items from destroyed synagogues.[3]

Death

In May 1945, when the Prague uprising broke out, Günther, travelling with a heavily armed motorcade, was stopped at a roadblock near Beroun by Czech partisans. He was arrested and disarmed. According to the partisans, he attempted to grab a weapon from a guard and was mortally wounded in the ensuing struggle when he was injured by a hand-grenade; he later died from his injuries. The Czech authorities later accepted this account of his death, which was given to the German judicial authorities.[1]

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 3-596-16048-0
  2. ^ Bred Prager, "Interpreting the Visible Traces of Theresienstadt", Journal of Modern Jewish Studies, 7:2, 175-194, 2008, p.178.
  3. ISBN 3-593-37060-3
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