Arthur Liebehenschel | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Official portrait,c. 1940 | |
| Born | (1901-11-25)25 November 1901 Posen, German Empire |
| Died | 24 January 1948(1948-01-24) (aged 46) Montelupich Prison, Kraków, Polish People's Republic |
| Criminal status | Executed by hanging |
| Children | 5 |
| Motive | Nazism |
| Conviction | Crimes against humanity |
| Trial | Auschwitz trial |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| SS career | |
| Allegiance | Nazi Germany |
| Branch | SS-Totenkopfverbände |
| Years of service | 1934–1945 |
| Rank | SS-Obersturmbannführer |
| Commands | Auschwitz, 1 December 1943 – 8 May 1944 Majdanek, 19 May – 22 July 1944 |
Arthur Liebehenschel (German:[ˈaʁtuːɐ̯ˈliːbəhɛnʃl̩]ⓘ; 25 November 1901 – 24 January 1948) was a German commandant at theAuschwitz andMajdanek concentration camps during theHolocaust. After the war, he was convicted ofwar crimes by thePolish government and executed in 1948.
Liebehenschel was born on 25 November 1901 in Posen (nowPoznań). He studiedeconomics andpublic administration. Too young to serve inWorld War I, Liebehenschel enrolled in theFreikorps "Grenzschutz Ost" in 1919. He also served as a sergeant major in the German armed forces (Reichswehr) afterwards.
In 1932, Liebehenschel joined theNazi Party and in 1934 theSS, where he served in theSS-Totenkopfverbände (SS-TV). Liebehenschel became the adjutant in theLichtenburg concentration camp, and two years later was transferred to theConcentration Camps Inspectorate in Berlin. In 1942, when theSS Main Economic and Administrative Office was founded, Liebehenschel was assigned to the Department D (Concentration Camps) as head of DI (Central Office).[1]
On 1 December 1943, Liebehenschel was appointed commandant ofAuschwitz I concentration camp, succeedingRudolf Höss. While continuing mass executions, he made some minor "improvements" including removing thestanding cells and halting the selections togas chambers among regular prisoners.[2] According toHermann Langbein, a prisoner at Auschwitz infirmary: "in general one could establish that even those SS members who were very bloodthirsty before became a bit more reserved because they realized that their fanaticism would not necessarily be tolerated anymore."[2]
On 8 May 1944, Höss returned to Auschwitz, replacing Liebehenschel, who was appointed commandant of the already emptied Majdanek camp on 19 May, succeedingMartin Gottfried Weiss. The camp was evacuated because of the Soviet advance intoGerman-occupied Poland. Liebehenschel relocated toTrieste, Italy to the office ofOdilo Globocnik, theSS and Police Leader forOperational Zone Adriatic Coast (OZAK). Liebehenschel became head of the SS Manpower Office there.
At the war's end, Liebehenschel was arrested by theU.S. Army andextradited toPoland. After being convicted ofcrimes against humanity at theAuschwitz Trial inKraków, he was sentenced to death and subsequently executed byhanging on 24 January 1948.[3]
Liebehenschel had one son and three daughters by his first wife, Gertrud,[4][5] the youngest of whom, Barbara Cherish (born 1943), now lives in theUnited States.
In 2009, Cherish published her bookMy Father, the Auschwitz Commandant, in which she outlined actions by Liebehenschel that improved the prisoners' lives, but also discussed his participation in agenocidal system.[6] Together with another daughter, Antje, Cherish was interviewed in 2002 byZDF, the German television channel, about living with their father's guilt.[5] Liebehenschel had a son by his second wife, Anneliese. Liebehenschel's first wife, whom he left during the war, suffered from mental health issues after the war and committed suicide in a hospital for the mentally ill in 1966.[6]
Source:Encyclopaedia Judaica. Bibliography: Naumann,Auschwitz (Eng., 1966); H. Langbein,Der Auschwitz-Prozess: eine Documentation, 2 vols. (1965); Brand, in:Yad Vashem Bulletin, 15 (1964), 43–117.
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by SS-ObersturmbannführerRudolf Höss | Commandant ofAuschwitz December 1943 – 8 May 1944 | Succeeded by SS-ObersturmbannführerRudolf Höss |
| Preceded by SS-ObersturmbannführerMartin Gottfried Weiss | Commandant ofMajdanek concentration camp 19 May 1944 – 22 July 1944 | Succeeded by None |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
