Wilhelm Gideon

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Wilhelm Friedrich Franz Hermann Gideon (born November 15, 1898 in Osternburg , † February 23, 1977 in Oldenburg ) was a German SS Hauptsturmführer and commandant of the Groß-Rosen concentration camp .

Career

After finishing school, Gideon began training as a mechanical engineer, which he broke off after the outbreak of the First World War to do military service as a volunteer. From 1919/20 he was employed by the Oldenburgische Glashütte and from 1932 as a representative for publishing houses.

After the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists , Gideon joined the SS in 1933 (SS no. 88.569) and in 1937 the NSDAP ( membership number 4.432.258). Gideon, who became the SS leader of the administrative service , initially took over the management of the 9th SS equestrian standard in Oldenburg on a voluntary basis from 1934 and from the beginning of March 1939 full-time management of the 88th SS standard in Bremen . A few weeks after the beginning of the Second World War , Gideon came to the front as SS-Untersturmführer of the reserve of the SS-Totenkopfdivision and was wounded at Demyansk in early January 1942 .

After a stay in the hospital, Gideon was assigned to the inspection of the concentration camps at the end of January 1942 , and from there he was assigned to the Neuengamme concentration camp as head of administration from mid-February 1942 . Through Oswald Pohl , Gideon was deployed as camp commandant in the Groß-Rosen concentration camp from mid-September 1942 and replaced Arthur Rödl at this post . As an administrative specialist in this position, Gideon was an absolute exception and was not up to the task during his command. He hardly appeared in the camp, was often drunk and was considered by his subordinates as not assertive. For these reasons, he was replaced as camp commandant by Johannes Hassebroek in October 1943 . Then Gideon became administrative leader of the higher SS and police leader in Denmark Günther Pancke and remained in this position until the end of the war.

After the end of the war, Gideon denied having served in the camp SS during his first interrogation at the end of May 1947. He was denazified as part of a panel proceedings . Investigations were initiated against Gideon, who returned to Oldenburg, in Hanover and closed in 1962.

literature

  • Karin Orth : The concentration camp SS . dtv, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-423-34085-1 .
  • Tom Segev : The Soldiers of Evil. On the history of the concentration camp commanders . Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1995, ISBN 3-499-18826-0 .
  • Ernst Klee : The personal lexicon for the Third Reich: Who was what before and after 1945. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2005. ISBN 3-596-16048-0 .
  • Isabell Sprenger: Groß-Rosen. A concentration camp in Silesia . Dissertation 1995 at the University of Stuttgart. Böhlau, Cologne 1996, ISBN 3-412-11396-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Birth register, registry office Osternburg, No. 338/1898
  2. ↑ Death register, registry office Oldenburg (Oldb), No. 294/1977
  3. ↑ a b Isabell Sprenger: Groß-Rosen. A concentration camp in Silesia , Cologne 1996, p. 93
  4. ↑ Karin Orth: The Concentration Camp SS , Munich 2004, p. 211
  5. ↑ Karin Orth: The Concentration Camp SS , Munich 2004, pp. 211f.
  6. ↑ Karin Orth: The Concentration Camp SS , Munich 2004, p. 212f.
  7. ↑ Karin Orth: The Concentration Camp SS , Munich 2004, p. 213, p. 229.
  8. ^ A b Ernst Klee: Das Personenlexikon zum Third Reich , Frankfurt am Main 2007, p. 475.
  9. ↑ Karin Orth: The Concentration Camp SS , Munich 2004, p. 213
personal data
SURNAME Gideon, Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gideon, Wilhelm Friedrich Franz Hermann (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German concentration camp commander
DATE OF BIRTH November 15, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Easter castle
DATE OF DEATH February 23, 1977
Place of death Oldenburg