Guido Reimer

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Guido Reimer in April 1947

Guido Reimer (born July 31, 1901 in Ronsperg ; † unknown) was a German SS-Obersturmführer and commander of the SS-Sturmbann in Buchenwald concentration camp and head of the espionage and sabotage defense in Mauthausen concentration camp .

Life

Reimer, the son of a Sudeten German teacher, was married and trained as a banker. From September 1, 1939 to December 1944, Reimer, a member of the SS ( membership number 305.116), was a member of the SS-Sturmbann in Buchenwald concentration camp. At first Reimer acted as a spear of a guard team of the SS-Sturmbanns and headed the second guard company of the SS-Sturmbanns from February 1942 to August 1942. From August 1942 to December 1944 he was adjutant in the SS-Sturmbann. In September 1943 Reimer was temporarily commander of the SS-Sturmbann until May 1944, replacing Otto Förschner in this function .

"One of his first measures as commandant of the Sturmbann was the order for the guards to shoot the prisoners as soon as they got within five paces of them within the chain of guards, whereas up until then it had been handled in such a way that firing took place first when the prisoner had crossed the chain of guards; he had to lie with his head in the direction of escape and the fatal bullet in his back when he was subsequently found out. In daily guard instructions, which took place twice, Reimer had the teams incite the prisoners incessantly. He stayed Commander until the guard battalion was taken over by former Wehrmacht officers [...] .. "

From autumn 1944 to December 1944 Reimer was also employed in the Mittelbau concentration camp , a former Buchenwald sub-camp . Then Reimer was transferred to the Mauthausen concentration camp and acted there as head of the espionage and sabotage defense until the beginning of May 1945. On May 2, 1945, Reimer Louis Häfliger , a delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), is told of the plans Himmlers reported that the inmates of the Mauthausen and Gusen I and Gusen II camps were locked up in the extensive tunnel systems in St. Georgen and Gusen and killed by blowing up the tunnels. With Reimer and the support of the Vice Mayor of St. Georgen / Gusen, Häfliger reached a patrol of 23 soldiers from the 11th Armored Division of the 3rd US Army under the command of Sergeant Albert J. Kosiek . As a result of this intervention, the Mauthausen concentration camp was liberated by the US Army on May 5, 1945, thus preventing the planned demolition of the tunnel system.

After the end of the war, Reimer was arrested and charged with 30 other accused in the main Buchenwald trial , which took place as part of the Dachau trials . Reimer was accused of mistreating Allied prisoners and of having been responsible for the deaths of many prisoners as the commander of the SS-Sturmbann. On August 14, 1947, Reimer was sentenced to death by hanging , the sentence was later changed to life imprisonment. Reimer was released from the Landsberg War Crimes Prison on December 16, 1952 . Nothing is known about his further life.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. Eugen Kogon: Der SS-Staat. The system of the German concentration camps ; Frechen: Komet, 2000, p. 64f.
    Buchenwald main trial: Deputy Judge Advocate's Office 7708 War Crimes Group European Command APO 407: (United States of America v. Josias Prince zu Waldeck et al. - Case 000-50-9), November 1947, p. 78ff.
  2. ↑ quoted in: Eugen Kogon: Der SS-Staat. The system of the German concentration camps ; Frechen: Komet, 2000, p. 64
  3. ↑ Cf. Alphons Matt: One from the Dark. The liberation of the Mauthausen concentration camp by the bank clerk H. Schweizer Verlagshaus, Zurich 1988
    Hans Marsalek: The contribution of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva to the evacuation of prisoners from the Mauthausen concentration camp and the role of Louis Haefliger. In: Documentation archive of the Austrian resistance - yearbook 1989. Vienna 1989
  4. ↑ See Buchenwald main process: Deputy Judge Advocate's Office 7708 War Crimes Group European Command APO 407: (United States of America v. Josias Prince zu Waldeck et al. - Case 000-50-9), November 1947, p. 79f.
  5. ^ Cf. Ernst Klee: Das Personenlexikon zum Third Reich: Who was what before and after 1945. , Frankfurt am Main 2007, p. 486
personal data
SURNAME Reimer, Guido
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German SS-Obersturmführer in the Buchenwald and Mauthausen concentration camps
DATE OF BIRTH July 31, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Ronsperg
DATE OF DEATH after 1952