Hermann Pister
Encyclopedia
Hermann Pister was an SS Oberführer
(Senior Colonel) and commandant of Buchenwald concentration camp
from 21 January 1942 until April 1945.
Pister was the son of a financial secretary in Lubeck. He joined the German Imperial Navy in 1916 and served until the end of the war. In 1918 he began an apprenticeship as an auto mechanic and went on to become an automobile salesman and manager.
He joined the Nazi party (no. 918391) and the SS (No. 29892), being assigned to the SS Motor Echelon in 1932. In 1933 he was assigned to SS Motor Regiment Nineteen and in 1936 to SS Motor Regiment One. In 1937 he was assigned to Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler's
motor pool.
Pister was given the command of Hinzert concentration camp
and served there from 9 October 1939 to 21 December 1941. On 1 January 1942 he replaced Karl Otto Koch
as commandant of Buchenwald.
The prisoners were ordered evacuated from Buchenwald in early April 1945 to prevent their liberation by Allied troops. Pister ordered the first group to leave on foot on 7 April 1945 to be sent to Dachau. This group was marched to the railroad station and placed in open boxcars. This train came to be known as the "Death Train". It took until 27 April for the train to arrive at Dachau with many aboard dying of starvation and illness. There was also evidence that the train had been strafed. SS-Obersturmführer Hans Merbach was placed in charge of the evacuation of Buchenwald and the train.
Pister was arrested by the Americans in 1945; put on trial for war crimes by the American Military Tribunal at Dachau with 30 other defendants where he was charged with participation in a "common plan" to violate the Laws and Usages of war of the Hague Convention
of 1907 and the third Geneva Convention of 1929, in regard to the rights of Prisoners of War.The trial began on 11 April 1947. He was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. Pister died in Landsberg Prison
of acute myocardial paralysis on 28 September 1948.
Oberführer
Oberführer was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party dating back to 1921. Translated as “Senior Leader”, an Oberführer was typically a Nazi Party member in charge of a group of paramilitary units in a particular geographical region...
(Senior Colonel) and commandant of Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp was a German Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937, one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps on German soil.Camp prisoners from all over Europe and Russia—Jews, non-Jewish Poles and Slovenes,...
from 21 January 1942 until April 1945.
Pister was the son of a financial secretary in Lubeck. He joined the German Imperial Navy in 1916 and served until the end of the war. In 1918 he began an apprenticeship as an auto mechanic and went on to become an automobile salesman and manager.
He joined the Nazi party (no. 918391) and the SS (No. 29892), being assigned to the SS Motor Echelon in 1932. In 1933 he was assigned to SS Motor Regiment Nineteen and in 1936 to SS Motor Regiment One. In 1937 he was assigned to Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler's
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
motor pool.
Pister was given the command of Hinzert concentration camp
Hinzert concentration camp
Hinzert was a Nazi concentration camp located in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, 30 km from the Luxembourg border....
and served there from 9 October 1939 to 21 December 1941. On 1 January 1942 he replaced Karl Otto Koch
Karl Otto Koch
Karl-Otto Koch , a Standartenführer in the German Schutzstaffel , was the first commandant of the Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen, and later also served as a commander at the Majdanek concentration camp.-Early life:Koch was born in Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse on...
as commandant of Buchenwald.
The prisoners were ordered evacuated from Buchenwald in early April 1945 to prevent their liberation by Allied troops. Pister ordered the first group to leave on foot on 7 April 1945 to be sent to Dachau. This group was marched to the railroad station and placed in open boxcars. This train came to be known as the "Death Train". It took until 27 April for the train to arrive at Dachau with many aboard dying of starvation and illness. There was also evidence that the train had been strafed. SS-Obersturmführer Hans Merbach was placed in charge of the evacuation of Buchenwald and the train.
Pister was arrested by the Americans in 1945; put on trial for war crimes by the American Military Tribunal at Dachau with 30 other defendants where he was charged with participation in a "common plan" to violate the Laws and Usages of war of the Hague Convention
Hague Convention
The Hague Convention may refer to:* Hague Conventions , among the first formal statements of the laws of war and war crimes in international law...
of 1907 and the third Geneva Convention of 1929, in regard to the rights of Prisoners of War.The trial began on 11 April 1947. He was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. Pister died in Landsberg Prison
Landsberg Prison
Landsberg Prison is a penal facility located in the town of Landsberg am Lech in the southwest of the German state of Bavaria, about west of Munich and south of Augsburg....
of acute myocardial paralysis on 28 September 1948.