Martin Roth (SS member)

Martin Roth (born August 11, 1914 in Ob ; † February 6, 2003 in Seeg ) was a German SS-Hauptscharführer and head of the crematorium in Mauthausen concentration camp .

Life

Martin Roth was the son of the farmer Martin Roth and his wife Kreszentina. After primary school, he attended the advanced training school for three years, from which he was released in 1930.

On April 1, 1932, he became a member of the SA . On March 1, 1933, he joined the NSDAP (membership number 1.484.266). After voluntarily registering with the Reichswehr , he served from November 1, 1934 in a mountain troop unit stationed in Kempten . At the end of his year of service, he left the Reichswehr on October 12, 1935 and returned home to work again in his parents' company. In December 1935 he became a member of the SS (SS no. 280,558).

On January 15, 1936, Roth joined the 1st SS Totenkopfsturmbann "Upper Bavaria" in the Dachau concentration camp . After completing his training, he was first employed by the guard. In 1938 Roth was finally transferred to the headquarters staff as deputy block leader and prisoner transport escort. On April 1, 1939, he was transferred to Mauthausen concentration camp. From May 1940 to 1945 he was head of the crematorium. In this role he was responsible for the operation of the gas chamber .

At the beginning of May 1945, Roth left. With Hans Spatzenegger he drove to Salzburg , from where he went on to Germany on foot alone . He then came to work on a farm near Kempten. In December 1945 he found work with a farmer in Kisslegg . He stayed in this region until 1951, working as an agricultural worker for several farmers. On 12 October 1951 he was at a passport control in Konstanz arrested and in custody taken. He was released on January 19, 1952. He then moved to Austria , where he worked as a machinist in various power plants. In 1958 he returned to Germany and settled with his family in his hometown, where he worked as a machinist for a Munich construction company.

In 1961, the Linz Regional Court issued an arrest warrant for Roth. On May 28, 1968, the Kaufbeuren district court issued an arrest warrant. In August 1968, the investigating public prosecutor finally determined the end of the exemption from detention , as Roth was suspected of murder in 25 cases and there was therefore a risk of escape. On March 16, 1970, the main hearing against Roth and Werner Fassel began . On July 24, 1970, he was sentenced to seven years in prison by the Hagen district court for accessory to murder in 51 cases. In November 1972 the revision of the judgment was rejected by the Federal Court of Justice . On January 18, 1973, he began his sentence in the Straubing correctional facility , from where he was released on April 20, 1977 with four years probation . Until his death in 2003, Roth returned regularly to Mauthausen, where he was a welcome guest in an inn near his former workplace.

literature

• Gregor Holzinger (Ed.): The second row: perpetrator biographies from the Mauthausen concentration camp . new academic press, Vienna, 2016 ISBN 978-3700319788
• Christian Rabl : Mauthausen in court: Post-war trials in international comparison . new academic press, Vienna 2019, ISBN 978-3700321149

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c} Gregor Holzinger: The second row: perpetrator biographies from the Mauthausen concentration camp , Vienna, 2016, p. 131.
2. ^ Gregor Holzinger: The second series: perpetrator biographies from the Mauthausen concentration camp , Vienna, 2016, p. 132.
3. ^ ^{A b c} Gregor Holzinger: The second row: perpetrator biographies from the Mauthausen concentration camp , Vienna, 2016, p. 133.
4. ↑ Christian Rabl: Mauthausen in front of the court: Post-war trials in international comparison , Vienna, 2019, p. 229.
5. ^ Christian Rabl: Mauthausen in front of the court: Post-war trials in international comparison , Vienna, 2019, p. 230.
6. ↑ Gregor Holzinger: The second series: perpetrator biographies from the Mauthausen concentration camp , Vienna, 2016, p. 135.