Gustav Willhaus

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Gustav Willhaus (born September 2, 1910 in Forbach / Lorraine , † March 29, 1945 killed near Steinfischbach ) was a German SS-Obersturmführer and concentration camp commandant of the Lemberg-Janowska forced labor camp .

biography

The son of a head waiter started an apprenticeship as a building fitter after finishing elementary school. This was followed by a stay abroad in France from 1928 to 1929. Willhaus was active in the SA from 1924 to 1928 and in the HJ from 1929 to 1930 . In the summer of 1932 he became a member of the NSDAP ( membership number 129.296) and the SS (SS number 40.675). He suffered serious injuries in a street battle, which made him stay in hospital for a long time. In 1935 Willhaus became head of sales for the National Socialist newspaper Westmark . He did this job despite his severe spelling weakness - in some reports he is referred to as "illiterate".

From 1940 he was a member of the Waffen SS . From November 1941 he worked as a Untersturmführer in the SS main office for administration and economics , was transferred to Lemberg in March 1942 and was initially responsible for accommodating the Jewish forced laborers in an SS-owned company owned by the German equipment works . A little later he left there and was appointed by Friedrich Katzmann in July 1942 as commandant of the Lemberg-Janowska camp, which he directed until June 1943. His successor as camp commandant was Friedrich Warzok .

From July 19, 1943, Willhaus was assigned to a Croatian SS volunteer division and later deployed to other units of the Waffen SS. In mid-August 1944, proceedings against him for looting were dropped. In November 1944 he was promoted to SS-Obersturmführer. He was fatally wounded in March 1945.

Camp commandant

As camp commandant, Willhaus was responsible for the completely inadequate conditions in the camp. Forced laborers were selected and murdered under his supervision. He had "test runs" carried out in the morning, during which the brigades ran along the camp street at a run. Sometimes 150 inmates were selected in this way and then killed. Willhaus is described as a "downright sadist" who is said to have shot prisoners from the veranda of his official apartment. Willhaus also let the sick freeze to death on the roll call square or put them in water barrels.

"He killed people like another chop cuts."

literature

  • Thomas Sandkühler: Final solution in Galicia. The murder of Jews in Eastern Poland and the rescue initiatives of Berthold Beitz 1941-1944 . Dietz successor, Bonn 1996, ISBN 3-8012-5022-9 .
  • Dieter Pohl : National Socialist Persecution of Jews in East Galicia, 1941-1944. Oldenbourg, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-486-56233-9 .
  • Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich: Who was what before and after 1945. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Thomas sand cooler: Final solution in Galicia. The murder of Jews in Eastern Poland and the rescue initiatives by Berthold Beitz 1941-1944 , Bonn 1996, p. 435.
  2. ^ A b c Dieter Pohl: National Socialist Persecution of Jews in East Galicia, 1941-1944. , Munich 1997, p. 423.
  3. ^ Ernst Klee: Das Personenlexikon zum Third Reich , Frankfurt am Main 2007, p. 656
  4. ↑ Thomas Sandkühler: 'Endlösung', p. 187, p. 435.
  5. ↑ Eyewitness to the Stuttgart public prosecutor's office 12 Js 1464/61, quoted from: Ernst Klee: Das Personenlexikon zum Third Reich: Who was what before and after 1945. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2007, p. 678.
personal data
SURNAME Willhaus, Gustav
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German concentration camp commander
DATE OF BIRTH September 2, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Forbach
DATE OF DEATH March 29, 1945
Place of death Steinfischbach