Percival Treite

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Percival "Percy" Treite (born September 10, 1911 in Berlin , † April 8, 1947 in Hamburg ) was a German doctor ( gynecologist ) and Obersturmführer of the SS .

Life

Percival Treite's father was a finance secretary and a British citizen. His son passed his Abitur at the Kantschule in Berlin-Karlshorst at Easter 1931 with the grade “good”. He then studied medicine and chemistry for a few semesters in Berlin, and passed the state examination in 1936 with the grade “good”. After his exams he worked as an intern from January 1 to June 30, 1937 at the 2nd Medical Clinic of the Charité under Gustav von Bergmann and from July 1 to December 31, 1937 at the University Women's Clinic in Berlin under Walter Stoeckel . The appointment as a doctor took place on January 1, 1938th

He then worked as a trainee doctor until September 30, 1938 and later as a research assistant at Stoeckel on the one hand and at the University's Institute of Pathology under Robert Meyer on the other , particularly in the field of gynecological pathology . In December 1938 he received his doctorate on "Chemical-analytical investigations on the uterine muscles " and continued his research. Since 1940 the clinic has continued training in gynecology, obstetrics and radiation therapy. In 1943 he obtained his habilitation and on May 19, 1943 he was appointed lecturer for gynecology and obstetrics at Berlin University.

From an assessment by Prof. Stoeckel on December 18, 1943 on the occasion of his habilitation to the rector of the University of Berlin: “He [diTreite] is still in training at my clinic, the clinical part of which has not yet been completed. But one can already claim that he is a scientifically unusually talented and rarely creative person. His achievements to date in the pathological-anatomical field have already earned him the greatest recognition not only from his colleagues, but also from pathologists, and it seems that he will work out as authoritative a position as his teacher Robert Meyer, whose undoubtedly the best and most capable student he is. For the time being, of course, he is not eligible for a full professorship, and it remains to be seen whether he will also prove to be sufficiently qualified in clinical terms. "

He had been a member of the General SS since October 1933 (according to another source March 1934) (SS no. 220.796, NSDAP 5.386.859), and was drafted into the Waffen SS on April 1, 1943, initially in Stettin . His attempts to get back into civilian life failed. He attended the course for "Doctors in the Field" in Graz , after which he worked in the SS hospital in Prague . At the end of August and beginning of September 1943 he was transferred to the Oranienburg concentration camp , where he was assigned as a concentration camp doctor. The promise initially given, according to him, that he would be transferred to the front after six months was withdrawn (see Gerhard Schiedlausky ).

Initially, his superiors considered a delegation to the Auschwitz or Mauthausen concentration camps . However, when it became known that Treite was a gynecologist, he was transferred to the Ravensbrück women's concentration camp in September 1943.

There he reported to Richard Trommer and was the second camp doctor until April 1945 in selections (arbitrary selection of people for murder) and human experiments , e.g. B. Sterilizations involved.

There were various testimonies about his work in Ravensbrück. Some reported that he was very polite but selected women based on their age and “marching ability”. Many referred to him as the chief doctor in charge. Together with Richard Trommer, he carried out sterilization experiments on gypsy women. Treite denied having anything to do with the experiments of the Hohenlychen doctors .

In support of his exoneration, a former prisoner woman testified that he had saved the lives of many English women and Americans by posing as French women and smuggling them onto the transports of the International Red Cross . In court u. a. submitted a petition from eight Dutch women who reported a significant improvement in medical care in Ravensbrück since Treite took up his post there. These positive statements were confirmed in another petition signed by several former inmate women in Poland.

On February 3, 1947, he was sentenced to death by a British military court in Hamburg for his crimes as part of the first of seven Ravensbrück trials . He anticipated the planned execution of the sentence in Hameln on April 8, 1947 by suicide with poison. At 12:50 p.m. he was found dying in the Fuhlsbüttel prison in Hamburg , and at 1:35 p.m. he was found dead.

literature

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  • Material collection MS / 10 Archive Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Ravensbrück

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personal data
SURNAME Treite, Percival
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Treite, Percy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German concentration camp doctor
DATE OF BIRTH September 10, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH April 8, 1947
Place of death Hamburg