Ernst Zierke | |
|---|---|
 Ernst Zierke with German police unit in Italy | |
| Born | (1905-05-06)6 May 1905 Köslin,Kingdom of Prussia,German Empire |
| Died | 23 May 1972(1972-05-23) (aged 67) Celle,Lower Saxony,West Germany |
| Allegiance |  Nazi Germany |
| Service |  Schutzstaffel |
| Rank | Unterscharführer (Junior section leader) |
| Unit | Bełżec Sobibor Camp III |
Ernst Zierke (6 May 1905 – 23 May 1972) was a low-ranking member in theSS who took part in theAktion T4 forced euthanasia program inNazi Germany, and after theinvasion of Poland worked atBełżec andSobibór extermination camps duringOperation Reinhard. Zierke helped to perpetratethe Holocaust. He was charged with being an accessory to the murder of 360,000 Jews atdeath camps, acquitted twice, in theBelzec andSobibor trials of 1965 on grounds of acting under duress and set free.[1]
Zierke was born on 6 May 1905 inKöslin. His father, a railroad worker, died in 1917. Zierke joined theNazi Party andSA in 1930. He trained as a nurse at theNeuruppin hospital and eventually received a permanent civil service appointment. In late 1939, he was recruited byAction T4 and worked as staff in the euthanasia program at both theGrafeneck andHadamar gassing centers. Zierke was transferred to Eichberg euthanasia center in late 1941. From January to March 1942, he was part of T4'sOrganisation Todt in the Soviet Union, then returned to Eichberg.[2]
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From June 1942 to March 1943 he was a member of theBełżec extermination camp staff. At Bełżec, Zierke worked primarily on the unloading ramp of arriving transports and supervised the undressing of the victims prior to them entering the gas chambers.[3] He then worked briefly at theDorohucza transit camp, from which he was sent toSobibór extermination camp on 5 November 1943. Zierke's final task at Sobibor was to supervise the dismantling of the camp's structures. He participated in the mass murder of the last group of more than thirty commando Jews (Arbeitsjuden) who had dismantled the camp at Sobibor. In the hands-on killings, Zierke was aided bySS-Unterscharführer Erich Sporleder, andSS-Scharführer Robert Jührs.[1]
In December 1943 he was ordered to Italy to serve withGlobocnik (his death camp superior), atRisiera di San Sabba camp complex. After the end of the war Zierke was arrested in a POW camp and released. He became a saw mill worker.[4] Zierke was rearrested on 31 January 1963 in West Germany along with a group of Holocaust perpetrators facing trial. He was acquitted twice, both at theBełżec Trial inMunich in 1964, and at theSobibor Trial inHagen (1965). He was released from custody a free man, and died of health complications inCelle eight years later.[1]
Sources: Arad, Friedlander, Klee, Tregenza.
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