Gustav Kaufmann (SA member)

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Adolf Gustav Kaufmann , also Gustl Kaufmann , (* December 20, 1902 in Przemyśl , today in Poland ; † August 20, 1974 in Freising ) was in the National Socialist German Reich SA - Standartenführer , head of the inspection department of the Central Office T4 , deputy district leader of the NSDAP in the general district of Tauria / Crimea and district leader in Budweis .

Life

Kaufmann's birthplace, Przemysl, belonged to Austria-Hungary at the time , and his father was an Austrian railway inspector. Gustav Kaufmann attended school in Ried im Innkreis in Upper Austria . In September 1917 he volunteered for the Austrian Navy and took part in the First World War. After the end of the war, Kaufmann learned the mechanical engineering trade in Ried. From 1921 to 1934 he worked in the commercial area at the Austrian Federal Railways . In addition to his job, he graduated from the Federal Trade School for Mechanical and Electrical Engineering in Linz in 1923 .

He joined the SA on January 3, 1923; in the same year he became a member of a predecessor NSDAP organization. He joined the local branch Linz of the NSDAP on October 1, 1926 ( membership number 50.524). In the SA he reached the rank of storm leader on January 1, 1933, on November 9 of the same year he was promoted to SA-Obersturmführer. In 1934 he was arrested for treason , possession of weapons and explosives and therefore lost his job as a railway official. After four and a half months in custody, he moved to Germany.

From 1935 Kaufmann worked full-time for the SA. In 1937 he took over the position of a district inspector at the Pommern district administration in Stettin , where Franz Schwede-Coburg was the district leader . In the SA Kaufmann was promoted further and reached on January 30, 1942 the rank of SA standard leader.

In 1939 Kaufmann was drafted into the Navy , but was on leave from around January 1940: Kaufmann switched to the Central Office T4, the organization that was responsible for the implementation of the National Socialist “euthanasia” program, i.e. the murder of the sick and the disabled (in post-war usage, “ Aktion T4 ") was commissioned. There he took over as head of the inspection department, which had to set up and check the various gassing plants and negotiate with authorities and party offices. The settlement of the accommodation costs with the corresponding cost and pension funds was outsourced to the central clearing office under its new head Hans-Joachim Becker from spring 1941 . At times, Kaufmann was also the manager of the “Schoberstein” house, a T4 rest home in Weißenbach am Attersee .

His two brothers Rudolf and Reinhold were also employed in the Fuehrer's office or were involved in the T4 campaign.

On January 31, 1942, after the end of the first phase of the “euthanasia” program, Kaufmann returned to Pomerania as head of the NSDAP district leadership. From October 1942 he worked for the Reichskommissar Ukraine as deputy district leader of the NSDAP in the general district of Tauria / Crimea . A year later he had to return to the Gauleitung in Pomerania due to the course of the war. In July 1944, Kaufmann was promoted to senior director of the NSDAP as acting district leader in the Budweis district .

After the war, Kaufmann worked as a controller at BMW and as a representative for laboratory equipment. He was not arrested until July 21, 1965. The trial against him and against Dietrich Allers , the former managing director of the T4 central office and Reinhold Vorberg , the head of the " Gemeinnützige Krankentransport GmbH " began on April 25, 1967. Two months later, on June 29, 1967, the 18th day of the trial, the case against Kaufmann was suspended for health reasons after he suffered a heart attack on June 25, 1967. Two reports of July 9, 1968 and September 8, 1969 finally declared him unable to stand trial.

Gustav Adolf Kaufmann died on August 20, 1974 in Freising .

literature

personal data
SURNAME Kaufmann, Gustav
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Businessman, Adolf Gustav; Kaufmann, Gustl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian-German head of the inspection department of Aktion T4
DATE OF BIRTH December 20, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Przemyśl
DATE OF DEATH 20th August 1974
Place of death Freising