Command 99

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Front part of the camouflaged neck shot system (replica)
Rear part of the camouflaged neck shot system (replica)

Command 99 was the internal name of an execution squad in Buchenwald concentration camp , which was composed of members of its headquarters company. “99” was the call number of the extension of the concentration camp's former stables, in which Kommando 99 systematically killed mainly Soviet prisoners of war using a shot-in-the- neck system installed there .

The executions by Kommando 99 were carried out on soldiers of the Red Army who had previously been selectively singled out in the prisoner of war camps. They were political commissioners , Jews , members of the intelligentsia and former state, party and economic functionaries of the Soviet Union. The basis of this procedure was the illegal deployment orders No. 8 and No. 9 of the Security Service of the Reich Security Main Office , the so-called Commissioner's orders .

Command 99 carried out the executions using a shot in the neck, in which members of the commando pretended to conduct medical examinations. Under the pretext of wanting to determine their height, they led the prisoners to the mock-up of a measuring stick, where they were then shot from behind by another perpetrator who was hiding in a chamber behind the measuring stick.

Between 1941 and 1945, around 8,000 Soviet prisoners of war and many other prisoners perished in this way. From 1943 onwards, Kommando 99 also carried out strangulation on special wall hooks in the basement of the crematorium , the morgue .

According to the former Buchenwald prisoner Heinz Misslitz, Wolfgang Otto , who was later accused of participating in the murder of Ernst Thälmann , was the head of the command. At least Otto, Max Schobert and Werner Berger were tried in the Buchenwald main trial for their committed crimes as members of Kommando 99.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Benz , Barbara Distel (ed.): The place of terror . History of the National Socialist Concentration Camps. Volume 3: Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald. CH Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-52963-1 , p. 310.
  2. ↑ infobitte.de - Second World War Lexicon: Command 99 ( Memento of the original from August 2, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.infobitte.de
  3. ^ German Historical Museum, Document: The Commissar Order
  4. ↑ Based on the deployment order No. 8, the number 8 included the entire area of ​​the Reich as an area of ​​action.
  5. ↑ The story of Buchenwald: Details on the structure of the camp
  6. ^ Christiane Roßberg: doctor without exam ; Military Publishing House of the GDR , TB No. 243, 1982, p. 38.
  7. ↑ Buchenwald Memorial: Chronicle of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp ( Memento of the original from September 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.buchenwald.de
  8. ↑ Kaul, Friedrich Karl: "... is to be executed!" - A profile of the German class justice , Neues Leben Verlag, 2006, p. 160.
  9. ↑ United States v. Josias Prince zu Waldeck et al. - Case No. 000-50-9 , November 15, 1947 (PDF; 33.0 MB). On: online.uni-marburg.de
  10. ↑ United States v. Werner Alfred Berger et al. - Case No. 000-Buchenwald-50 , February 20, 1948 (PDF; 4.8 MB). On: jewishvirtuallibrary.org