Franz Reichleitner | |
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| Birth name | Franz Karl Reichleitner |
| Born | (1906-12-02)2 December 1906 |
| Died | 3 January 1944(1944-01-03) (aged 37) |
| Allegiance | Nazi Germany |
| Branch | Schutzstaffel |
| Years of service | 1937–1944 |
| Rank | SS-Hauptsturmführer[1] |
| Unit | SS-Totenkopfverbände |
| Commands | Sobibór extermination camp, September 1942 — October 1943 |
Franz Karl Reichleitner (2 December 1906 – 3 January 1944) was an Austrian member in theSS ofNazi Germany who participated inOperation Reinhard duringthe Holocaust. Reichleitner served as the second and last commandant ofSobibór extermination camp from 1 September 1942 until the camp's closure on or about 17 October 1943.[2] As the commanding officer of the camp, Franz Reichleitner directly perpetrated thegenocide ofJews.
Reichleitner joined theNazi Party in 1936 as member number 6,369,213 and theSchutzstaffel (SS) in 1937 as member number 357,065. He began his career as aKriminalsekretär of theGestapo inLinz. Later Reichleitner was assigned to work in theAction T4 euthanasia program at the nearbyHartheim Euthanasia Centre.[3] He first served as an assistant supervisor (together withFranz Stangl) under officerChristian Wirth before assuming Wirth's position of chief supervisor at Hartheim. Reichleitner was also partly responsible for getting Stangl a supervising job in T-4.[4]
Reichleitner married Anna Baumgartner fromSteyr.[5]
On 1 September 1942, at the rank of SS-Obersturmführer (first lieutenant), on the orders of Wirth andOdilo Globocnik, Reichleitner took command of theSobibór extermination camp withFranz Stangl's departure toTreblinka. Upon assuming command, he ordered that the bodies of those killed during Stangl's tenure be exhumed and burned.[6] Camp inmates referred to him as "Idiot" (Trottel) because they did not know his name and he usually addressed them in this manner.[7] Reichleitner rarely showed his face in the camp, and it has been claimed that he was a heavy drinker, but his command at Sobibór was even more strict than that of his predecessor. Moshe Bahir, a camp inmate, wrote:
Reichleitner, a man in his late forties, with an Austrian accent, was dressed always with great elegance and wore gloves. He did not have direct contact with the Jews and the transports. He knew that he could rely on his subordinates, who were very frightened of him. He ran the camp with German precision. During his time theAktionen went smoothly, and all the transports that arrived on a certain day were liquidated. He never left them for the following day...[8]
Reichleitner is estimated to have overseen the deaths of around 100,000 inmates during his time at Sobibór.[6] On one occasion, when an old man from the transports slapped SS officerKarl Frenzel, Reichleitner took the man aside and shot him on the spot in front of his family and the entire convoy of people.[8]
AfterReichsführer-SSHeinrich Himmler visited Sobibór on 12 February 1943, he promoted Reichleitner to SS-Hauptsturmführer (captain).[1] Reichleitner was on leave on the day of the successfulSobibór revolt, 14 October 1943. With about 300 of the 600 prisoners having escaped, the remainder were shot dead per the direct orders of Himmler. Sobibór was closed within a few days and the Nazis attempted to remove any traces of its existence.
In autumn 1943, like so many of the perpetrators of Operation Reinhard, Reichleitner was then transferred to theFiume area of Italy to kill Jews and quell the partisan resistance movement there. Reichleitner was killed by partisans on 3 January 1944 atFiume,Italy.[1]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)| Military offices | ||
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| Preceded by SS-ObersturmführerFranz Stangl | Commandant ofSobibór extermination camp 1 September 1942 — 17 October 1943 | Succeeded by None |