Ernst Biberstein
Encyclopedia
Hilchenbach
Hilchenbach is a town in the Siegen-Wittgenstein Kreis of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Location: The map shows Hilchenbach's location in Siegen-Wittgenstein district. It is about 15 km northeast of Siegen...
- December 8, 1986) was an SS
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...
-Obersturmbannführer
Obersturmbannführer
Obersturmbannführer was a paramilitary Nazi Party rank used by both the SA and the SS. It was created in May 1933 to fill the need for an additional field grade officer rank above Sturmbannführer as the SA expanded. It became an SS rank at the same time...
(Lieutenant Colonel), member of the SD
Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst , full title Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS, or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. The organization was the first Nazi Party intelligence organization to be established and was often considered a "sister organization" with the...
and
commanding officer of Einsatzkommando 6 . He was born Ernst Schzymanowski or Szymanowski.
Early life
Ernst Biberstein was born Ernst Szymanowski in HilchenbachHilchenbach
Hilchenbach is a town in the Siegen-Wittgenstein Kreis of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Location: The map shows Hilchenbach's location in Siegen-Wittgenstein district. It is about 15 km northeast of Siegen...
, Province of Westphalia
Province of Westphalia
The Province of Westphalia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946.-History:Napoleon Bonaparte founded the Kingdom of Westphalia, which was a client state of the First French Empire from 1807 to 1813...
. His early education was at Mülheim
Mülheim
Mülheim an der Ruhr, also called "City on the River", is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It is located in the Ruhr Area between Duisburg, Essen, Oberhausen and Ratingen...
. He was a private in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
from March 1917 to 1919. Upon discharge, he studied theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
from March 1919 through 1921 and became a Protestant pastor
Pastor
The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....
on December 28, 1924. In 1935 he entered the Reichskirchenministerium and was later transferred to the Reichssicherheitshauptamt.
Nazism
He joined the Nazi party in 1926 and the SS on September 13, 1936 (membership number 272692). From March through October 1940 he was again a soldier. In 1941, Biberstein changed his name from Szymanowski to Biberstein. After the assassinationAssassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
of Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich , also known as The Hangman, was a high-ranking German Nazi official.He was SS-Obergruppenführer and General der Polizei, chief of the Reich Main Security Office and Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia...
, he was assigned command of Einsatzgruppe C in June 1942.
Nuremberg and later life
Biberstein was a defendant at the Einsatzgruppen TrialEinsatzgruppen Trial
The Einsatzgruppen Trial was the ninth of the twelve trials for war crimes the U.S. authorities held in their occupation zone in Germany in Nuremberg after the end of World War II. These twelve trials were all held before U.S...
during the Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
. His trial began in September 1947 and ended April 9, 1948. At his arraignment, along with all other defendants, he pled not guilty on all charges. Einsatzgruppe 6 was charged with having executed some two to three thousand people. It was brought to light that at Rostow
Rostow
Rostow is a surname, and may apply to* Elspeth Rostow, American educator and policy advisor* Eugene V. Rostow, American jurist* Walt Whitman Rostow, American economist...
, Biberstein had personally supervised the execution of some 50 to 60 people. The victims were stripped of valuable articles (and partially of clothes), gassed, and left in a mass grave. Biberstein was also present at executions where victims were made to kneel at the edge of a pit and killed with a submachine gun.
He was ultimately found guilty and sentenced to death
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
by hanging
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
, which was later commute
Commutation of sentence
Commutation of sentence involves the reduction of legal penalties, especially in terms of imprisonment. Unlike a pardon, a commutation does not nullify the conviction and is often conditional. Clemency is a similar term, meaning the lessening of the penalty of the crime without forgiving the crime...
d to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
in 1951. He was released in 1958 and temporarily returned to the clergy. He died in 1986 in Neumünster
Neumünster
Neumünster is an independent town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, which has a total of four independent towns.-Current Situation:Neumünster station is major railway junction with lines running in six directions, including the important Hamburg-Altona–Kiel and Neumünster–Flensburg lines.Near...
.
In media
Biberstein was portrayed in the 1978 NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
Holocaust television miniseries by Edward Hardwicke
Edward Hardwicke
Edward Hardwicke , sometimes credited as Edward Hardwick, was an English actor.-Early life and career:...
.