Theodor Bongartz
Theodor Heinrich Bongartz (born December 25, 1902 in Krefeld , † May 15, 1945 in Böckingen ) was a German SS-Oberscharführer and as head of the crematorium in the Dachau concentration camp was responsible for the murder of numerous prisoners, including Georg Elser .
Life
Bongartz was trained as a plasterer and worked as such in Krefeld from 1922 to 1930. After passing the master craftsman's examination, he joined the SA in 1928 and the SS and NSDAP in 1932 ( membership number 1,270,287). He then worked as a stoker and machinist for the Krefeld Army Base Administration. In November 1939 he became a member of the Brno Skull Standard . From 1940 he was a member of the command staff of the Dachau concentration camp and was initially assigned to the guard battalion. He then headed the crematorium command in Dachau concentration camp.
Bongartz 'wife, with whom he had four daughters, took 1941 lives .
On April 9, 1945 at around 11 p.m., Bongartz murdered the Hitler assassin Georg Elser by shooting in the neck . The order came from Adolf Hitler personally; it should look like Elser died in an air raid.
After the inmates had marched away on five death marches and the crematorium had been blown up, Bongartz, disguised as a Wehrmacht soldier, fled the advancing US Army with other SS men from the Dachau concentration camp on April 28, 1945. However, he was discovered by US soldiers in Württemberg and taken to the prisoner of war camp in Heilbronn-Böckingen . Bongartz died there on May 15, 1945. The official cause of death is tuberculosis , but Bongartz may have had hepatitis or cirrhosis of the liver .
His grave stone in the war cemetery at Heilbronn-Böckingen cemetery was removed by the administration in 2001 and has been in the Georg-Elser memorial in Königsbronn since 2008 .
literature
- 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
- Georg Elser working group: Georg Elser's end in the Dachau concentration camp
- Georg Elser Working Group: Georg Elser's murder
- Hellmut G. Haasis: Georg Elser's murderer found with a photo by Bongartz
Individual evidence
- ↑ Peter Koblank: Theodor Bongartz's missing gravestone , online edition Mythos Elser 2008
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bongartz, Theodor |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Bongartz, Theodor Heinrich (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German director of the crematorium in Dachau concentration camp, murderer Georg Elsers |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 25, 1902 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Krefeld |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 15, 1945 |
| Place of death | Boeckingen |