Karl Friedrich Titho
Karl Friedrich Titho | |
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Fossoli di Carpi Transit CampBolzano Transit Camp |
Karl Friedrich Titho (14 May 1911 – 18 June 2001) was a Germany military officer (ranked
Biography
Titho joined the
Cibeno massacre
Shortly before the Fossoli di Carpi camp was closed as a transit camp for Jews, on July 12 1944, Camp Commander Titho oversaw the execution of 67 prisoners, in reprisal for a partisan attack on German soldiers at Genoa, in what became known as the Cibeno massacre. 70 prisoners were selected, and had their names read out by Titho, who told them they were being taken to Germany. Instead, they were trucked to a local shooting range and killed, but three managed to escape. For his role in the execution of the prisoners the Italian media latter referred to him as the Executioner of Fossoli.[2][3]
During his time as commander at both camps, Titho's deputy was SS-Hauptscharführer Hans Haage, who was predominantly responsible for the political prisoners.[4]
Shortly after the war, Commissioner of Criminal Police for the Province of Bolzano Arthur Schoster described Titho as "not an especially brutal type, rather a weak character who merely carried out the orders of his superiors" and as somebody that was mostly interested in having a comfortable life. Schoster, who did not know Titho well, thought that Titho was not directly responsible for the atrocities but certainly knew all about them. Schoster felt that Titho's deputy Haage was a cruel and brutal man, in truth running the Bolzano camp as Titho was too weak for the task.
Of the main German officers at Bolzano, Titho was the only one still present in the town during the allied liberation, as all others had escaped.[5]
After the war
In 1951 Titho was convicted in the Netherlands for war crimes committed while he was a camp guard there, having been involved in the execution of Soviet prisoners, and was sentenced to six years in jail. He was given an additional year for his mistreatment of Dutch prisoners, but was deported to Germany in 1953 after the Netherlands had declined an earlier extradition request by Italy in 1951.[1][2]
In the early 1970s, his role in the Cibeno Massacre, and the deportation of Jewish camp inmates to Auschwitz from the Fossoli and Bolzano camps were investigated by the state prosecutor in Dortmund, Germany. The two heads of the department investigating Titho had both been members of the Nazi Party from an early date,[2] and the case was terminated on grounds that it could not be proven that Titho knew that the Jews deported to Auschwitz would be killed there, and that, given the late state of the war, it was unclear whether they had eventually been killed at all. The official statement also held that the Cibeno reprisal for the partisan attack did not classify as murder but, at the most as manslaughter, and the charge was therefore invalid because of the statute of limitations.
Deathbed confession
Shortly before his death Titho admitted that he was, as a member of the SS, guilty of crimes committed in his area of operation and that it had affected him all his life. He apologised to the victims and their family members.[2]
References
- ^ a b "Titho, Karl (1911–2001)" (in German). Gedenkorte Europa 1939–1945. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
- ^ a b c d e Schwarzer, Marianne (17 February 2016). "Dem "Henker von Fossoli" blieb ein Prozess auf deutschem Boden erspart" [The "Executor of Fossoli" is spared from a trial on German soil]. Lippische Landes-Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 9 September 2018.
- ^ "Poligono del Cibeno, Fossoli, Carpi, 12.07.1944" (in Italian). Atlas of Nazi and Fascist Massacres in Italy. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
- ISBN 9783406572388. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
- ^ "Roderick "Steve" Hall". Central Intelligence Agency. 22 September 1993. Archived from the original on 27 March 2010. Retrieved 12 September 2018.