Ernst Zierke
Encyclopedia
Ernst Zierke was an SS
-Unterscharführer
(Corporal) who took part in Nazi Germany
's Action T4
program and later worked at Bełżec and Sobibor extermination camp
s during Operation Reinhard
. Zierke helped to perpetrate the Holocaust
.
Zierke was born on 6 May 1905. His father, a railroad worker, died in 1917. Zierke took eight years of public schooling before working as a woodcutter on several estates. By 1930, Zierke was unemployed, and he joined the Nazi Party and SA
. He trained as a nurse at the Neuruppin
hospital and eventually received a permanent civil service appointment. In late 1939, he was recruited by Action T4
and worked as a nurse in the euthanasia program at the Grafeneck and Hadamar gassing centers. Zierke transferred to Eichberg hospital in late 1941. From January to March 1942, he was part of T4's Organization Todt in Russia, then returned to Eichberg. From June 1942 to March 1943 he was a member of the Bełżec 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.
He then worked briefly at the Dorohucza
camp, from which he was sent to Sobibor extermination camp
on November 5, 1943. Zierke's assigned task at Sobibor was to supervise the dismantling of the camp's structures. Zierke took part in the mass murder of the last group of more than thirty "worker Jews" (Arbeitsjuden) who had dismantled the camp at Sobibor. Zierke was acquitted at the Bełżec Trial in Munich
in 1964, and released from custody during the Sobibor Trial in Hagen
on health grounds.
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...
-Unterscharführer
Unterscharführer
Unterscharführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party used by the Schutzstaffel between 1934 and 1945. The SS rank was created after the Night of the Long Knives...
(Corporal) who took part in Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
's Action T4
Action T4
Action T4 was the name used after World War II for Nazi Germany's eugenics-based "euthanasia" program during which physicians killed thousands of people who were "judged incurably sick, by critical medical examination"...
program and later worked at Bełżec and Sobibor extermination camp
Sobibór extermination camp
Sobibor was a Nazi German extermination camp located on the outskirts of the town of Sobibór, Lublin Voivodeship of occupied Poland as part of Operation Reinhard; the official German name was SS-Sonderkommando Sobibor...
s during 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...
. Zierke helped to perpetrate the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
.
Zierke was born on 6 May 1905. His father, a railroad worker, died in 1917. Zierke took eight years of public schooling before working as a woodcutter on several estates. By 1930, Zierke was unemployed, and he joined the Nazi Party and SA
Sturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...
. He trained as a nurse at the Neuruppin
Neuruppin
Neuruppin is a town in Brandenburg, Germany. Located on the shore of Ruppiner See , it is the capital of the district of Ostprignitz-Ruppin. Population: 32,800 .-Overview:...
hospital and eventually received a permanent civil service appointment. In late 1939, he was recruited by Action T4
Action T4
Action T4 was the name used after World War II for Nazi Germany's eugenics-based "euthanasia" program during which physicians killed thousands of people who were "judged incurably sick, by critical medical examination"...
and worked as a nurse in the euthanasia program at the Grafeneck and Hadamar gassing centers. Zierke transferred to Eichberg hospital in late 1941. From January to March 1942, he was part of T4's Organization Todt in Russia, then returned to Eichberg. From June 1942 to March 1943 he was a member of the Bełżec 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.
He then worked briefly at the Dorohucza
Dorohucza
Dorohucza is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Trawniki, within Świdnik County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. It lies approximately east of Świdnik and east of the regional capital Lublin.The village has a population of 753....
camp, from which he was sent to Sobibor extermination camp
Sobibór extermination camp
Sobibor was a Nazi German extermination camp located on the outskirts of the town of Sobibór, Lublin Voivodeship of occupied Poland as part of Operation Reinhard; the official German name was SS-Sonderkommando Sobibor...
on November 5, 1943. Zierke's assigned task at Sobibor was to supervise the dismantling of the camp's structures. Zierke took part in the mass murder of the last group of more than thirty "worker Jews" (Arbeitsjuden) who had dismantled the camp at Sobibor. Zierke was acquitted at the Bełżec Trial in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
in 1964, and released from custody during the Sobibor Trial in Hagen
Hagen
Hagen is the 39th-largest city in Germany, located in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the eastern edge of the Ruhr area, 15 km south of Dortmund, where the rivers Lenne, Volme and Ennepe meet the river Ruhr...
on health grounds.