Karl Francioh

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Karl Francioh (born October 5, 1912 in Wriezen , Brandenburg ; † December 13, 1945 in Hameln ) was an SS Rottenführer and cook in the SS kitchens in various concentration camps . He was convicted and executed as a war criminal after the end of the Second World War in the first Bergen-Belsen trial .

Life

Karl Francioh, a miner by trade, was married and had four children. After the beginning of the Second World War, he was initially employed as a cook in the Wehrmacht . On April 17, 1940, he became a member of the SS and worked as a cook in the SS kitchen in Poznan. Soon afterwards, Francioh was transferred to the Auschwitz concentration camp , where he first worked as a cook in the SS kitchen and later in the same position in the officers' mess there. In December 1944 he was transferred to Blechhammer , a subcamp of the Auschwitz III Monowitz concentration camp .

At the end of December 1944, Francioh was placed under arrest in Auschwitz for three weeks and accompanied a transport of deserted SS men to the Groß-Rosen concentration camp on January 18, 1945 during the evacuation of Auschwitz . On January 19, 1945, he briefly returned to Blechhammer and, probably on an evacuation transport, was returned to the Groß-Rosen concentration camp in February 1945. There he met Ansgar Pichen again, whom he already knew from the Blechhammer subcamp in Auschwitz. From there he was taken to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp between March 10 and 11, 1945, probably again on an evacuation transport .

In the first week after his arrival in Bergen-Belsen, Francioh did not hold a position in the camp, after which he was ordered to the Neuengamme concentration camp to accompany a transport of sick prisoners to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. After his return, Francioh worked for two days in the women's camp and, with a short interruption, was arrested for twelve days in Bergen-Belsen because he had left the camp without permission to visit his wife in Bergen. From April 12, 1945 he worked again as a cook in the SS canteen.

Former SS members buried dead prisoners in a mass grave in the liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp

On April 15, 1945, the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was liberated by British troops who found over 10,000 dead and around 60,000 survivors there. At this point Francioh was not inside the camp, but outside with his wife. Francioh could have escaped with his wife, who had already packed up their common belongings, but saw it as his duty to return to the camp. After the liberation of the camp, Francioh continued to work as a cook until he was arrested by the British Army on April 17 or 18, 1945. Like the other SS camp personnel, he was obliged to remove the corpses and bury them in mass graves .

In the first Bergen-Belsen trial (September 17 to November 17, 1945) he was charged with the crimes committed in Bergen-Belsen. The prosecution accused him of having shot several prisoners in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, as various surviving prisoners testified. Among other things, Francioh shot prisoners when they bent down to pick up potato peels in front of his window. Francioh stated in his testimony that he had not mistreated or shot any prisoners.

Francioh, who pleaded "not guilty", was found guilty on November 17, 1945 and sentenced to death by hanging . The British executioner Albert Pierrepoint carried out the sentence on December 13, 1945 in Hameln penitentiary .

literature

  • United Nations War Crimes Commission (Ed.): Law reports of trials of war criminals, selected and prepared by the United Nations War Crimes Commission. 3 volumes, William S. Hein Publishing, Buffalo (New York) 1997, ISBN 1-57588-403-8 (English; reprint of the original edition from 1947 to 1949).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b First Bergen-Belsen Trial: Protocols - interrogation and testimony of Francioh on October 20, 1945 on BergenBelsen.co.uk (English); accessed on February 27, 2018.
  2. ^ Neil Belton: The Good Listener. Helen Bamber . A Life Against Cruelty . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1998, ISBN 0-297-81904-6 (English, excerpt from Google books ).
personal data
SURNAME Francioh, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German SS Rottenführer, cook in the SS kitchens in various concentration camps as well as convicted and executed war criminals
DATE OF BIRTH October 5, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Spices
DATE OF DEATH December 13, 1945
Place of death Hamelin