Oswald Kaduk

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Oswald Kaduk (26 August 1906 – 31 May 1997) was a German

Nazi era. He served as Rapportführer at the Auschwitz concentration camp
.

Biography

The son of a

fire fighting services at the municipal fire brigade in Chorzów
and at a chemical plant.

World War II

In 1939 he joined the

watch tower duties in 1942, then became Blockführer and finally Rapportführer.[1] One prisoner reported that he had a weakness for schnapps.[2]

Kaduk was considered "one of the cruelest, brutalest, most vulgar"[3] of SS men at Auschwitz:

"In the evening rollcall one late summer's evening of 1944, a prisoner was missing. Inmates present had to wait until the missing prisoner was accounted for. Kaduk and another Rapportführer beat the prisoner until he fell to the floor several times. [...] Eventually the prisoner remained on the ground lying on his back but still alive. Using all their strength, Kaduk and the other Rapportführer trod on the prisoner's ribcage with the heels of their boots — according to the declaration of the court — until his ribs cracked. They did not cease [...] until the prisoner was dead."[4]

Historian Andrew Roberts in his book The Storm of War recounted Kaduk's practice of handing Jewish children balloons just before they were murdered with a phenol injection to the heart at a rate of ten children per minute.[5]

Kaduk witnessed the mass murder of people in gas chambers, and describing his SS colleagues inserting the Zyklon B gas, he said:

"It's hard for me to say. But I have personally seen it. Only the doctors gave the orders to insert the gas. I have even seen SS men who were supposed to be involved in gassing operations cry. And to them, the then doctor, Dr. Mengele said, 'You have to do it'. He said... I can remember Theuer well. I knew him from... was my fellow countryman, been a young man. And he said, 'You have to do it.' He did it, with tears in his eyes. He inserted it and immediately shut the hatch. I was there."[6]

— Oswald Kaduk, "Auschwitz, Stimmen."

Kaduk is also known for Kaduk's chapel,[7][8] a tiny tower between the barracks and the main camp of Auschwitz.

Criminal convictions

After Germany's surrender, Kaduk worked in a sugar factory in

hard labour, but he was released in April 1956.[3]

Kaduk then went to

nurse. Despite his violent reputation at Auschwitz, he earned himself the nickname "Papa Kaduk" among patients.[9]

In July 1959 Kaduk was again arrested and appeared in the

clemency
.

While in prison, Kaduk was interviewed as part of a TV documentary about SS men stationed at Auschwitz. When asked about Holocaust denial, Kaduk says:

(Interviewer) Today there are many people that say Auschwitz was a lie, that nobody at all was gassed.

(Kaduk) I have to say, I do not consider these people normal. We have to stick to the truth. There are people denying it, but what happened, happened, and it is not up for dispute."[10]

— Oswald Kaduk, "Drei Deutsche Mörder. Aufzeichnungen über die Banalität des Bösen"

After the 1984 transfer to open prison (Offener Vollzug), Kaduk was released from the Schwalmstadt prison in 1989 due to health reasons (Haftunfähigkeit).[10] He died in Langelsheim, Harz, as a pensioner in 1997, at the age of 90.[10]

Literature

  • Demant, Ebbo (Hg.): Auschwitz — "Direkt von der Rampe weg…" Kaduk, Erber, Klehr: Drei Täter geben zu Protokoll: Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1979
    ISBN 3-499-14438-7
  • ISBN 3-596-16048-0
  • ISBN 3-548-33014-2
    .
  • ISBN 83-85047-35-2
    .

References

  1. ^ "Oswald Kaduk Kurzportrait" (in German). Retrieved 2008-07-28.
  2. ^ Langbein, Hermann (2004). People in Auschwitz. p. 391: University of North Carolina Press.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  3. ^ a b c d e "Oswald Kaduk" (in German). Der Spiegel. May 1979. Retrieved 2008-07-28.
  4. ^ Demant, p. 73.
  5. ^ National Review 6/20/11, pg. 53
  6. ISBN 3-86538-505-2. Cited in Aktenzeichen: 4 Ks 2/63 - Eine Lange Nacht über den 1. Frankfurter Auschwitz-Prozess 1963-1965
    . Retrieved on 2008-08-26.
  7. ^ "Kaduk's chapel". Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  8. ^ "Auschwitz Death Camp". Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  9. ^ Wolf, Joachim. "Leugnen aus Tradition - Die Frankfurter Auschwitz-Prozesse" (in German). Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung. Retrieved 2008-07-28.
  10. ^ a b c Drei Deutsche Mörder. Aufzeichnungen über die Banalität des Bösen, Germany 1998 (filmed in 1978). Directed by Ebbo Demant, produced by Südwestrundfunk.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oswald_Kaduk&oldid=1192555576"