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Maximilian Grabner | |
|---|---|
 SS-Untersturmführer Maximilian Grabner | |
| Head of the Political Department in Auschwitz | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1905-10-02)2 October 1905 |
| Died | 24 January 1948(1948-01-24) (aged 42) |
| Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
| Party | National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) |
| Military service | |
| Rank | Untersturmführer |
Maximilian Grabner (2 October 1905 – 24 January 1948) was anAustrianGestapo chief inAuschwitz. At Auschwitz he was in command of thetorture chamberBlock 11, where he gained a reputation of brutality. He was executed forcrimes against humanity in 1948.
Born inVienna, Grabner joined the Austrian police force in 1930 and became a member of the then-illegalNazi Party in 1933. After theAnschluß of Austria in 1938, he joined theSS and became a member of theGestapo. He arrived atKatowice at the outbreak ofWorld War II. He was transferred toAuschwitz concentration camp less than one year later where he became Chief of thePolitische Abteilung ("Political Department").
As Gestapo chief, Grabner was responsible, among other things, for the fight against the resistance movement in the camp, as well as for the prevention of escapes and all contact with the outside world. These tasks were carried out with horrendous cruelties against the prisoners and a large number ofincarcerations in the bunker in Block 11. Grabner's staff members, such asWilhelm Boger, who was only brought to justice in the early 1960s, carried out so-calledsharpened interrogations, during which the victims were systematicallytortured.
Grabner, together with the commander of theSchutzhaftlager, initiated, on a regular basis, clearings of the bunker: the inmates were examined and many of them were sent directly to the inner courtyard between Block 10 and Block 11, where they were shot. He once orderedSS-UntersturmführerHans Stark to dropZyklon B into a gas chamber.[1] Along with Stark, Grabner personally took part in the shooting of RussianCommissars.
In 1943, Grabner was arrested fortheft, graft and corruption and was put on trial inWeimar a year later. He was found guilty and sentenced to 12 years in prison. After the trial, he returned toKatowice. It is not known if he served any time in prison. Grabner was then arrested by the Allies in 1945 and turned over toPoland in 1947. In theAuschwitz Trial he was found guilty ofcrimes against humanity and sentenced to death. Grabner washanged on 24 January 1948.
