Franz Ziereis

Franz Ziereis as SS-Obersturmbannführer in Mauthausen

Franz Xaver Ziereis (born August 13, 1905 in Munich , † May 25, 1945 in Gusen ) was a German National Socialist and commander of the Mauthausen concentration camp with the rank of SS standard leader .

Life

After Ziereis had attended a business school in Munich , he enlisted in the Reichswehr for twelve years in 1924 .

On September 30, 1936, Ziereis joined the SS as a training officer (membership number 276.998) and was initially assigned to the 4th SS standard "Oranienburg" as SS-Obersturmführer. In 1937 he took over the leadership of the 22nd Hundred in SS-Totenkopfverband II ("Brandenburg"). In March 1938 he took part in the occupation of Austria with mobile units of the SS-Totenkopfverband , on July 1st of the same year he became an instructor of the SS-Totenkopfstandarte III ("Thuringia"). He was also a member of the NSDAP (membership number 5,716,146).

From February 9, 1939, Ziereis was in Mauthausen concentration camp , which until April 1, 1939 was still officially headed by Albert Sauer . However, Ziereis had been the camp commandant since February 17, 1939. As camp commandant of Mauthausen, Ziereis was finally promoted to SS-Standartenführer . In 1942 he also became the operations director of the Mauthausen granite works with a works group leader in St. Georgen an der Gusen .

On May 3, 1945, two days before the camp was liberated by the US Army , Ziereis fled and went to his hunting lodge on the Pyhrn .

According to a sworn statement by Hans Maršálek , Ziereis was arrested by American soldiers and shot while trying to escape on May 22, 1945, in the presence of the commander of the 11th Armored Division , Seibel, the former prisoner and doctor Koszeinski and an unknown person Polish citizen interrogated for several hours in Gusen concentration camp. Meanwhile, he confessed to the murder of several thousand prisoners, including through assignment to criminal labor companies and blowing up in tunnels. Ziereis also reported that lampshades, book covers and leather cases were made from tattooed skin.

A second, shorter version of this confession can be found in a photo album by Oscar Roth that was bequeathed to Yale University, but in essential respects it agrees with Maršálek's statement. Ziereis succumbed to his injuries on May 25, 1945.

literature

Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945 . 2nd edition, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8 .
Confession of the camp commandant of Mauthausen, SS-Standartenführer Franz Ziereis . Working group “Das Licht”, [Baden-Baden] [1947] (14 pages).

Web links

Commons : Franz Ziereis - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Literature by and about Franz Ziereis in the catalog of the German National Library
Camp commandant Franz Ziereis ( memento from January 14, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ). In: mauthausen-memorial.at .

Individual evidence

^ Ziereis, Franz . In: Erich Stockhorst: 5000 heads. Who was what in the 3rd Reich . VMA-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1967.
↑ ^a ^b ^c camp commandant Franz Ziereis ( memento from January 14, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ). In: mauthausen-memorial.at , accessed on February 17, 2011.
^ Translation of document 3870-PS. Affidavit of Hans Marsalek of April 8, 1946. Chemielskwy and Seidler in Gusen had human skin specially tanned on which there were tattoos. From this leather they had books bound, and they had lampshades and leather cases made. At: Holocaust historiography. For the skin lampshades, see also the original document by General Georges Vanier : A lampshade was found - and this I saw - made from tattooed human skin. Telegram about observation in Buchenwald concentration camp , sent from Paris on April 27, 1945 to Canada .
↑ The deathbed confession of Commandant Franz Ziereis transcribed by Dr. Oscar Roth in German and then translated by Roth into English ( Memento from November 17, 2007 in the Internet Archive ). In: Oscar Roth Papers. Manuscripts and Archives. Yale University Library .

personal data
SURNAME	Ziereis, Franz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Ziereis, Franz Xaver
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German National Socialist and commandant of the Mauthausen concentration camp
DATE OF BIRTH	August 13, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH	Munich
DATE OF DEATH	May 25, 1945
Place of death	Gusen

[Stockhorst-1] Ziereis, Franz . In: Erich Stockhorst: 5000 heads. Who was what in the 3rd Reich . VMA-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1967.

[mauthausen-memorial-2] camp commandant Franz Ziereis ( memento from January 14, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ). In: mauthausen-memorial.at , accessed on February 17, 2011.

[3] Translation of document 3870-PS. Affidavit of Hans Marsalek of April 8, 1946. Chemielskwy and Seidler in Gusen had human skin specially tanned on which there were tattoos. From this leather they had books bound, and they had lampshades and leather cases made. At: Holocaust historiography. For the skin lampshades, see also the original document by General Georges Vanier : A lampshade was found - and this I saw - made from tattooed human skin. Telegram about observation in Buchenwald concentration camp , sent from Paris on April 27, 1945 to Canada .

[4] The deathbed confession of Commandant Franz Ziereis transcribed by Dr. Oscar Roth in German and then translated by Roth into English ( Memento from November 17, 2007 in the Internet Archive ). In: Oscar Roth Papers. Manuscripts and Archives. Yale University Library .