Werner Greunuss

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Werner Greunuss as a prisoner 2369 in Dachau in April 1947.
Werner Greunuss in August 1947 at the main Buchenwald trial on the right in the picture

Werner Greunuss , also Werner Greunuss , (born February 20, 1908 in Strasbourg , † after May 21, 1949) was a German SS-Untersturmführer and German camp doctor in Buchenwald concentration camp .

Life

Greunuss studied medicine and received his doctorate in 1934 from the University of Greifswald . Then he became medical advisor at the health department in Hamburg-Harburg . From November 1944 to the end of December 1944, Greunuss, a member of the SS , acted as a camp doctor in the Buchenwald concentration camp. According to the inmate doctor Edwin Katzenellenbogen , he is said to have carried out ophthalmological examinations on inmates together with Katzenellenbogen. After this familiarization period, Greunuss was transferred to the Buchenwald sub-camp in Ohrdruf on January 1, 1945 , where he was the chief camp doctor until April 2, 1945. Greunuss was responsible for the medical care of the 10,000 prisoners, the camp crew and the civilian workers. After the end of the Second World War , he stated that, after the medical examination of all 10,000 prisoners, he had arranged to transfer 2,000 prisoners unable to work back to the Buchenwald concentration camp. For this purpose, he created extensive patient files and used trained inmate doctors and nurses from the sub-camp exclusively to provide medical care for the sick inmates. According to his information, the daily deaths would have therefore reduced from 10 to 15 in January 1945 to about five daily in February 1945.

After the end of the war, Greunuss was arrested and charged with 30 other accused as part of the Dachau trials before a US military court in the Buchenwald main trial. According to testimony of former prisoners, Greunuss is said to have beaten sick prisoners and sent two transports with seriously ill prisoners to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp for convalescence and was also responsible for the catastrophic conditions in the prisoner infirmary. On the other hand, exonerating witnesses testified for Greunuss in court that he was supposed to have organized medication from troop stocks for the prisoners. On August 14, 1947, Greunuss was sentenced to life imprisonment for helping and participating in the violent crimes in the Buchenwald concentration camp, which was later reduced to 20 years imprisonment. Greunuss was then imprisoned in the Landsberg war crimes prison , from which he is said to have fled on May 21, 1949. Nothing is known about his further life.

literature

Web links

Commons : Werner Greunuss  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

credentials

  1. ↑ Ernst Klee: Auschwitz, Nazi medicine and its victims. 3. Edition. S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 1997, p. 50
  2. ^ Edwin Black: The Story of the New Jersey Doctor Who Helped Kill Prisoners at Buchenwald in the Name of Eugenics , 2003 - Article based on the book "War Against the Weak" by Edwin Black
  3. ↑ Buchenwald main process: Deputy Judge Advocate's Office 7708 War Crimes Group European Command APO 407: (United States of America v. Josias Prince zu Waldeck et al. - Case 000-50-9), November 1947, p. 47ff.
  4. ↑ Buchenwald main process: Deputy Judge Advocate's Office 7708 War Crimes Group European Command APO 407: (United States of America v. Josias Prince zu Waldeck et al. - Case 000-50-9), November 1947, p. 48f.
  5. ↑ See New York Times, May 23, 1949, pp. 4f. - mentioned in the Axis History Forum
personal data
SURNAME Greunuss, Werner
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Greunuss, Werner
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German camp doctor in Buchenwald concentration camp
DATE OF BIRTH February 20, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Strasbourg
DATE OF DEATH after May 21, 1949