August Miete
Encyclopedia
August Wilhelm Miete was a member of the SS
who rose to the rank of Scharführer
(Sergeant). He worked at the Grafeneck and Hadamar Euthanasia Centres, and then at Treblinka extermination camp
. Miete was arrested in 1960 and tried in West Germany
for participating in the mass murder
of at least 300,000 people. In 1965, he was found guilty and sentenced to the maximum penalty, life imprisonment.
of the German Empire
, the son of a miller
and farmer
. Miete completed elementary school before his father died in 1921, and together with his brother, he worked on the family farm and as a grinder in the flour mill. Miete was married and had three children.
At the beginning of 1940, Miete joined the Nazi Party, and he soon became involved in the T-4 Euthanasia Program. The local Münster agriculture chamber advised Miete about a job at Grafeneck Euthanasia Centre, and he accepted an offer to work on the farm that was attached to this killing center. From May 1940 to October 1941 he worked at Grafeneck. Miete then became more involved in the killing process at Hadamar Euthanasia Centre, where he worked as a stoker; that is, one who removed corpses from the gas chambers, broke out gold teeth, burned the bodies and performed other tasks around the gas chambers and crematoria. At the end of June 1942, he was transferred to Operation Reinhard
and dispatched to Treblinka.
At Treblinka, Miete gained a notorious reputation for his cruelty. He was nicknamed the "Angel of Death" by the prisoners. Miete was in charge of the Infirmary or "hospital" , where the sick, elderly and infirmed were taken directly from newly arrived transports to be shot. Miete carried out most of these killings with his own hand.
Miete also supervised the nearby "selection" square (for forced labor prisoners) in the camp. He would walk about, checking Jewish prisoners. Those whom he deemed too sick or weak to work at the required pace were taken from the selection area to the Lazarett. Miete would stand each man near a pit in which a fire was constantly burning, calmly aim his gun and shoot them. Sometimes Miete would instruct the victim to undress first.
Miete would also search prisoners. If Miete found money, food, or anything at all, he would beat them brutally before marching them to the Lazarett. In events where Miete found nothing incriminating, he would still fabricate a reason to beat the prisoner and bring him to the Lazarett. Miete also visited the living barracks and hospital room for the prisoners, where he would remove the sick and shoot them.
Miete described his own actions in testimony:
Miete also sought out victims from other parts of the camp to be brought to the Lazarett and shot; victims whom Kurt Franz
had injured with his hunting rifle or boxing gloves, prisoners who had been whipped for various "crimes" or other reasons. Miete would decide that these prisoners were too weakened from the blows sustained and no longer fit for work, so he would shoot them.
After Treblinka's closure in November 1943, Miete was sent to Trieste
.
. He was finally arrested on 27 May 1960 and held in prison at Düsseldorf-Derendorf
. On 3 September 1965, at the First Treblinka Trial
, Miete was found guilty of participating in the mass murder of at least 300,000 people and at least nine people who were shown in detail to him. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, and died in prison on 25 July 1978.
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
who rose to the rank of Scharführer
Scharführer
Scharführer was a Nazi Party title that was used by several paramilitary organizations from 1925 to 1945. Translated as “Squad Leader”, the title of Scharführer can trace its origins to the First World War, where a Scharführer was often a Sergeant or Corporal who commanded special action or shock...
(Sergeant). He worked at the Grafeneck and Hadamar Euthanasia Centres, and then at Treblinka extermination camp
Treblinka extermination camp
Treblinka was a Nazi extermination camp in occupied Poland during World War II near the village of Treblinka in the modern-day Masovian Voivodeship of Poland. The camp, which was constructed as part of Operation Reinhard, operated between and ,. During this time, approximately 850,000 men, women...
. Miete was arrested in 1960 and tried in West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
for participating in the mass murder
Mass murder
Mass murder is the act of murdering a large number of people , typically at the same time or over a relatively short period of time. According to the FBI, mass murder is defined as four or more murders occurring during a particular event with no cooling-off period between the murders...
of at least 300,000 people. In 1965, he was found guilty and sentenced to the maximum penalty, life imprisonment.
Biography
Miete was born in 1908 in WesterkappelnWesterkappeln
Westerkappeln is a municipality in the district of Steinfurt, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated approx. 15 km north-west of Osnabrück....
of the German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
, the son of a miller
Miller
A miller usually refers to a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a cereal crop to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalents in other languages around the world...
and farmer
Farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
. Miete completed elementary school before his father died in 1921, and together with his brother, he worked on the family farm and as a grinder in the flour mill. Miete was married and had three children.
At the beginning of 1940, Miete joined the Nazi Party, and he soon became involved in the T-4 Euthanasia Program. The local Münster agriculture chamber advised Miete about a job at Grafeneck Euthanasia Centre, and he accepted an offer to work on the farm that was attached to this killing center. From May 1940 to October 1941 he worked at Grafeneck. Miete then became more involved in the killing process at Hadamar Euthanasia Centre, where he worked as a stoker; that is, one who removed corpses from the gas chambers, broke out gold teeth, burned the bodies and performed other tasks around the gas chambers and crematoria. At the end of June 1942, he was transferred to Operation Reinhard
Operation Reinhard
Operation Reinhard was the code name given to the Nazi plan to murder Polish Jews in the General Government, and marked the most deadly phase of the Holocaust, the use of extermination camps...
and dispatched to Treblinka.
At Treblinka, Miete gained a notorious reputation for his cruelty. He was nicknamed the "Angel of Death" by the prisoners. Miete was in charge of the Infirmary or "hospital" , where the sick, elderly and infirmed were taken directly from newly arrived transports to be shot. Miete carried out most of these killings with his own hand.
Miete also supervised the nearby "selection" square (for forced labor prisoners) in the camp. He would walk about, checking Jewish prisoners. Those whom he deemed too sick or weak to work at the required pace were taken from the selection area to the Lazarett. Miete would stand each man near a pit in which a fire was constantly burning, calmly aim his gun and shoot them. Sometimes Miete would instruct the victim to undress first.
Miete would also search prisoners. If Miete found money, food, or anything at all, he would beat them brutally before marching them to the Lazarett. In events where Miete found nothing incriminating, he would still fabricate a reason to beat the prisoner and bring him to the Lazarett. Miete also visited the living barracks and hospital room for the prisoners, where he would remove the sick and shoot them.
Miete described his own actions in testimony:
Miete also sought out victims from other parts of the camp to be brought to the Lazarett and shot; victims whom Kurt Franz
Kurt Franz
Kurt Hubert Franz was an SS officer and one of the commanders of the Treblinka extermination camp. Franz was one of the major perpetrators of genocide during the Holocaust.-Early life:...
had injured with his hunting rifle or boxing gloves, prisoners who had been whipped for various "crimes" or other reasons. Miete would decide that these prisoners were too weakened from the blows sustained and no longer fit for work, so he would shoot them.
After Treblinka's closure in November 1943, Miete was sent to Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
.
Post-war life
After the war, Miete fell into American captivity, but was soon released. Miete worked in the family's farming/milling business until 1950, and then as Managing Director of the Savings and Loan Association in LotteLotte, Germany
Lotte is a municipality in the district of Steinfurt, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Geography:Lotte is situated on the north side of the Teutoburg Forest, close to the border of Lower Saxony and approx. 10 km west of Osnabrück....
. He was finally arrested on 27 May 1960 and held in prison at Düsseldorf-Derendorf
Düsseldorf-Derendorf
Derendorf is a borough of Düsseldorf, Germany. It is located north of Pempelfort and the central district, west of Rath, south of Kaiserswerth.Derendorf has an area of 3.3 km2. About 5,000 people live there. The median age is about 43 years....
. On 3 September 1965, at the First Treblinka Trial
Treblinka trials
Two judicial trials directly concerning the Treblinka extermination camp have been held after World War II, both of them in Düsseldorf, Germany. These Treblinka trials belong to similar trials held during the early 1960's, such as the Jerusalem Adolf Eichmann trial and the Frankfurt Auschwitz...
, Miete was found guilty of participating in the mass murder of at least 300,000 people and at least nine people who were shown in detail to him. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, and died in prison on 25 July 1978.