Otto Küsel

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Otto Küsel (born May 16, 1909 in Berlin ; † November 17, 1984 in Oberviechtach ) was a German prisoner functionary in the Auschwitz concentration camp , who used his limited room for maneuver in favor of other inmates.

Imprisonment in German concentration camps

Küsel had been arrested for various property crimes. On May 20, 1940, he was transferred from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp to the main camp of Auschwitz as one of 30 criminal prisoners . The 30 prisoners were accompanied by the SS man Gerhard Palitzsch . In Auschwitz, Küsel was given prisoner number 2 and was one of the first prisoners in this camp.

Küsel coordinated the deployment of the work details in Auschwitz as a prison officer. In contrast to many other inmates in similar positions, Küsel used his room for maneuver to help inmates, for example, by assigning easier jobs.

In 1969, in a conversation with Hermann Langbein, Küsel said : “Of course I couldn't help everyone get a good command who asked me to. If I had to turn someone away, I would tell him: just keep coming back! One day it succeeded. I divided the newcomers into the bad commands and transferred those who had to work there for a while to better ones. "

On the afternoon of December 29, 1942, Otto Küsel fled Auschwitz together with the three Poles Jan Baraś (actually Jan Komski ), Mieczysław Januszewski and Bolesław Kuczbara. The four prisoners escaped by means of a horse and cart organized by the labor service, which was left outside the catchment area of ​​the Auschwitz concentration camp. Küsel left a letter in the horse-drawn carriage that was later found by members of the camp SS. In this letter he referred to the stove in the room of the camp elder of the main camp, Bruno Brodniewicz (inmate number 1), who was feared among the inmates . Brodniewicz had illegally hidden gold and other valuables in the furnace, which the camp SS had found after Küsel's advice. Brodniewicz then came into the bunker and was replaced as camp elder.

Küsel, who was subsequently active in a Polish resistance group in Warsaw , was arrested there by the Gestapo after nine months. From September 1943 to November 1943 Küsel was interned in Auschwitz again. While in custody, he met again the notorious SS Oberscharführer Gerhard Palitzsch , who was also imprisoned in the bunker. Palitzsch had been arrested for an illegal intimate relationship with a female Jewish prisoner.

As part of an amnesty when the new camp commandant Arthur Liebehenschel took office , Küsel was released from the bunker. On November 9, 1944, he was transferred from Auschwitz to the Flossenbürg concentration camp .

After the war

After the war ended, Küsel was offered honorary Polish citizenship in 1945. Küsel later lived in seclusion in Bavaria and received many letters of thanks from former inmates for his assistance. He made his living as a representative.

Küsel was one of 211 Auschwitz survivors who testified in the first Auschwitz trial in Frankfurt .

literature

  • Monika Bernacka: Otto Küsel- Green Triangle. On the 100th Anniversary of his Birth . In: Oś — Oświęcim, People, History, Culture magazine , No. 5, May 2009, pp. 8–9 (digitized version, English) , last accessed on April 29, 2010.
  • Danuta Czech : Calendar of events in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp 1939–1945 . 1st edition, 1989. Quoted from the Italian translation by Gianluca Picchinini (digitized, Italian) .
  • Sebastian Dregger: The role of prison functionaries in the Auschwitz extermination camp - and the example of Otto Küsels. In: Aventinus. The historical internet magazine by students for students , issue 04 - winter semester 07/08.
  • Ernst Klee : Auschwitz. Perpetrators, accomplices and victims and what became of them. A dictionary of persons . S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2013, ISBN 978-3-10-039333-3 .
  • Hermann Langbein : People in Auschwitz . Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Vienna: Ullstein, 1980, ISBN 3-548-33014-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Precise life dates according to Ernst Klee: Auschwitz. Perpetrators, accomplices and victims and what became of them. An encyclopedia of persons , Frankfurt am Main 2013, p. 242
  2. ↑ a b Dregger, The role of prison functionaries in the Auschwitz extermination camp - and the example of Otto Küsels. , Chapter 2B
  3. ↑ Czech, Danuta: Kalendarium, p. 5 (PDF; 264 kB)
  4. ^ Hermann Langbein: People in Auschwitz , Ullstein, Munich and Frankfurt a. M., 1980, p. 180 u. 181
  5. ↑ Czech, Danuta: Kalendarium. P. 107f.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.associazioni.milano.it  
  6. ↑ a b c Hermann Langbein: People in Auschwitz ; Frankfurt am Main, 1980; P. 181
  7. ^ A b Czech, Danuta: Kalendarium. 1942-2.pdf, p. 108. Footnote 1
  8. ^ Hermann Langbein: People in Auschwitz ; Frankfurt am Main, 1980; P. 458
  9. ↑ Bernacka, Otto Küsel- Green Triangle. On the 100th Anniversary of his Birth , 2009, p. 8f
  10. ^ Ernst Klee: Auschwitz. Perpetrators, accomplices and victims and what became of them. An encyclopedia of persons , Frankfurt am Main 2013, p. 242
  11. ^ 1. Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial (1963–1965)
personal data
SURNAME Küsel, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German prisoner functionary in concentration camps
DATE OF BIRTH May 16, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH 17th November 1984
Place of death Oberviechtach