Maximilian Grabner
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Maximilian Grabner | |
---|---|
Head of the Political Department in Auschwitz | |
Personal details | |
Born | Vienna, Austria-Hungary | 2 October 1905
Died | 24 January 1948 Montelupich Prison, Kraków, Polish People's Republic | (aged 42)
Cause of death | Executed |
Conviction(s) | Crimes against humanity |
Trial | Auschwitz trial |
Criminal penalty | Death |
Political party | National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) |
Military service | |
Rank | Untersturmführer |
Maximilian Grabner (2 October 1905 – 24 January 1948) was an
Early life
Born in Vienna, Grabner joined the Austrian police force in 1930 and became a member of the then-illegal Nazi Party in 1933. After the Anschluß of Austria in 1938, he joined the SS and became a member of the Gestapo. He arrived at Katowice at the outbreak of World War II. He was transferred to Auschwitz concentration camp less than one year later where he became Chief of the Politische Abteilung ("Political Department").
Career at Auschwitz
As Gestapo chief, Grabner was responsible, among other things, for the fight against the resistance movement in the camp, as well as for the prevention of escapes and all contact with the outside world. These tasks were carried out with horrendous cruelties against the prisoners and a large number of
Grabner, together with the commander of the Schutzhaftlager, initiated, on a regular basis, clearings of the bunker: the inmates were examined and many of them were sent directly to the inner courtyard between Block 10 and Block 11, where they were shot. He once ordered SS-Untersturmführer Hans Stark to drop Zyklon B into a gas chamber.[1] Along with Stark, Grabner personally took part in the shooting of Russian Commissars.
Trial and conviction
In 1943, Grabner was arrested for
Bibliography
- ISBN 3-596-16048-0
- ISBN 3-548-33014-2
- Staatliches Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau (Hrsg.): Auschwitz in den Augen der SS. Oswiecim 1998; ISBN 83-85047-35-2
- Wacław Długoborski, ISBN 83-85047-76-X.
- Staatliches Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau (Hrsg): Auschwitz in den Augen der SS. Oswiecim 1998; ISBN 83-85047-35-2.
- ISBN 0-563-52117-1.
References
- ^ Rees, Laurence: Auschwitz - the Nazis and the 'Final Solution' - BBC Books - 2005 - IBN 0-563-52117-1 (page 96)