Richard Wolfgang Thomalla | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait,c. 1940 | |
| Born | (1903-10-23)23 October 1903 |
| Died | 12 May 1945(1945-05-12) (aged 41) |
| Cause of death | Execution by shooting |
| Allegiance | Nazi Germany |
| Branch | Schutzstaffel |
| Service years | 1932–1945 |
| Rank | SS-Hauptsturmführer |
| Commands | Headed construction ofBełżec,Sobibor andTreblinka extermination camps duringOperation Reinhard |
Richard Thomalla (German:[toˈmala]; 23 October 1903 – 12 May 1945)[1] was a German war criminal andSS commander ofNazi Germany. Acivil engineer by profession, he was head of the SS Central Building Administration atLublin reservation inoccupied Poland. Thomalla was in charge of construction for theOperation Reinhard death campsBełżec,Sobibor andTreblinka during theHolocaust in Poland.
Born inSabine in the formerUpper Silesia region of theGerman Empire (now, the village ofSowin, Opole Voivodeship, Poland). Thomalla became a member of theNazi Party in 1932: (no. 1,238,872) andSchutzstaffel (SS no. 41,206).[2]
The first death camp to be constructed under Thomalla's supervision wasBełżec. Construction started on 1 November 1941 and was completed in March 1942. He then proceeded to design and supervise the construction ofSobibor in March 1942. Workers employed for building the camp were local people from neighboring villages and towns.[3] These workers consisted of about eighty Jews from ghettos within the vicinity of the camp. A squad of ten watchmen trained atTrawniki concentration camp guarded these workers. Upon completion of the camp, these Jews were shot.[4] When Thomalla completed his building assignment in Sobibor he was replaced there as commandant byFranz Stangl in April 1942. He then proceeded toTreblinka which copied the design of Sobibor, with some improvements.[2]
SS commanderErwin Lambert who had previously been assigned to theAction T4euthanasia program and had constructed the new gas chambers in Treblinka, testified about Thomalla:
I and Hengs – euthanasia man – went to Treblinka by car. SS-Hauptsturmführer Richard Thomalla was the camp commander. The Treblinka camp was still in the process of construction. Thomalla was in Treblinka for about four to eight weeks. I was attached to a building team there. Thomalla was there for a limited time only and conducted the construction work of the extermination camp. During that time no extermination actions were carried out. ThenDr. Eberl arrived as camp commander. Under his direction the exterminationAktionen of the Jews began. — Erwin Lambert[4]
Between July 1942 and October 1943, around 850,000 people were murdered in Treblinka.[5][6] Thomalla was reportedly executed by theNKVD (Soviet secret police) inJičín,Czechoslovakia on 12 May 1945; he was formally declared deadin absentia by a court in Ulm in 1957.[4][7]
