Richard Baer
Encyclopedia
Richard Baer was a German Nazi
official with the rank of SS-Sturmbannführer
(major) and commander of the Auschwitz I concentration camp from May 1944 to February 1945. He was a member of N.S.D.A.P. (no. 454991) and the SS (no. 44225).
in 1911; originally a trained confectioner, he became a guard in Dachau concentration camp after becoming unemployed in 1930. In 1939, he joined the SS-Totenkopfverbände
, and was appointed adjutant of Neuengamme concentration camp in 1942 following spells in Oranienburg
, Columbia-Haus and Sachsenhausen
. At Neuengamme he participated in the killing of Soviet prisoners of war in a special gas chamber
and in the selection of prisoners for the so-called Operation 14f13 in the T-4 Euthanasia Program.
From November 1942 until May 1944, Baer was adjutant of "SS-Obergruppenführer
" Oswald Pohl
, then chief of the Wirtschaftsverwaltungshauptamt (SS office of economic policy). In November 1943, he took over the department D I, the "inspectorate for concentration camps". He succeeded Arthur Liebehenschel
, considered by Himmler
to be too "soft" with the prisoners, as the third and final commandant of Auschwitz from May 11, 1944 until the final dissolution of the camp in early 1945. From November 1943 until the end of 1944 Fritz Hartjenstein
and Josef Kramer
were responsible for the extermination camp Auschwitz II, Birkenau, so that Baer was only Commandant of this part of the camp from the end of 1944 until January 1945. Near the end of the war Richard Baer, having replaced Otto Förschner
as commandant of the Dora-Mittelbau camp in Thuringia Nordhausen
, was responsible for the execution of Russian prisoners at mass gallows. His final rank was SS-Sturmbannführer (Major).
as Karl Egon Neumann, a forestry worker. In the course of investigation in the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials
a warrant for his arrest was issued in October 1960 and his photograph was printed in newspapers. He was recognised by a co-worker and arrested in December 1960 after Adolf Eichmann
's arrest. On the advice of his lawyer he refused to testify and died of a heart attack in pre-trial detention in 1963.
The story of Baer's arrest is vividly recounted by Devin Pendas in his book The Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial (2006), p. 48f. After seeing a wanted picture in the Bild-Zeitung, a co-worker on Otto von Bismarck's estate reported that Baer was working as a forester there. When officials confronted "Neumann" in the forest on the early morning of December 20, 1960, he at first denied everything. Having already addressed Baer as her "husband", the woman in the house subsequently gave her name as "Frau Baer", but still claimed that Baer was named Neumann. Baer, however, finally admitted his true identity.
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...
official with the rank of SS-Sturmbannführer
Sturmbannführer
Sturmbannführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party equivalent to major, used both in the Sturmabteilung and the Schutzstaffel...
(major) and commander of the Auschwitz I concentration camp from May 1944 to February 1945. He was a member of N.S.D.A.P. (no. 454991) and the SS (no. 44225).
Nazi career
Baer was born in BavariaBavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
in 1911; originally a trained confectioner, he became a guard in Dachau concentration camp after becoming unemployed in 1930. In 1939, he joined the SS-Totenkopfverbände
SS-Totenkopfverbände
SS-Totenkopfverbände , meaning "Death's-Head Units", was the SS organization responsible for administering the Nazi concentration camps for the Third Reich....
, and was appointed adjutant of Neuengamme concentration camp in 1942 following spells in Oranienburg
Oranienburg concentration camp
Oranienburg concentration camp was one of the first detention facilities established by the Nazis when they gained power in 1933. It held the Nazis' political opponents from the Berlin region, mostly members of the Communist Party of Germany and social-democrats, as well as a number of homosexual...
, Columbia-Haus and Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May, 1945. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used as an NKVD...
. At Neuengamme he participated in the killing of Soviet prisoners of war in a special gas chamber
Gas chamber
A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. The most commonly used poisonous agent is hydrogen cyanide; carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide have also been used...
and in the selection of prisoners for the so-called Operation 14f13 in the T-4 Euthanasia Program.
From November 1942 until May 1944, Baer was adjutant of "SS-Obergruppenführer
Obergruppenführer
Obergruppenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the SA and until 1942 it was the highest SS rank inferior only to Reichsführer-SS...
" Oswald Pohl
Oswald Pohl
Oswald Pohl was a Nazi official and member of the SS , involved in the mass murders of Jews in concentration camps, the so-called Final Solution.-Early years:...
, then chief of the Wirtschaftsverwaltungshauptamt (SS office of economic policy). In November 1943, he took over the department D I, the "inspectorate for concentration camps". He succeeded Arthur Liebehenschel
Arthur Liebehenschel
Arthur Liebehenschel was a commandant at the Auschwitz and Majdanek death camps during World War II. He was convicted of war crimes after the war and executed.-Biography:...
, considered by Himmler
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...
to be too "soft" with the prisoners, as the third and final commandant of Auschwitz from May 11, 1944 until the final dissolution of the camp in early 1945. From November 1943 until the end of 1944 Fritz Hartjenstein
Fritz Hartjenstein
Friedrich "Fritz" Hartjenstein was an SS-Obersturmbannführer in the SS-Totenkopfverbände...
and Josef Kramer
Josef Kramer
Josef Kramer was the Commandant of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Dubbed "The Beast of Belsen" by camp inmates; he was a notorious Nazi war criminal, directly responsible for the deaths of thousands of people...
were responsible for the extermination camp Auschwitz II, Birkenau, so that Baer was only Commandant of this part of the camp from the end of 1944 until January 1945. Near the end of the war Richard Baer, having replaced Otto Förschner
Otto Förschner
Otto Förschner was a German Schutzstaffel officer and Nazi concentration camp commandant....
as commandant of the Dora-Mittelbau camp in Thuringia Nordhausen
Nordhausen
Nordhausen is a town at the southern edge of the Harz Mountains, in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Nordhausen...
, was responsible for the execution of Russian prisoners at mass gallows. His final rank was SS-Sturmbannführer (Major).
Post war
At the end of the war, Baer fled and lived near HamburgHamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
as Karl Egon Neumann, a forestry worker. In the course of investigation in the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials
Frankfurt Auschwitz trials
The Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials, known in German as der Auschwitz-Prozess or der zweite Auschwitz-Prozess, was a series of trials running from December 20, 1963 to August 10, 1965, charging 22 defendants under German penal law for their roles in the Holocaust as mid- to lower-level officials in the...
a warrant for his arrest was issued in October 1960 and his photograph was printed in newspapers. He was recognised by a co-worker and arrested in December 1960 after Adolf Eichmann
Adolf Eichmann
Adolf Otto Eichmann was a German Nazi and SS-Obersturmbannführer and one of the major organizers of the Holocaust...
's arrest. On the advice of his lawyer he refused to testify and died of a heart attack in pre-trial detention in 1963.
The story of Baer's arrest is vividly recounted by Devin Pendas in his book The Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial (2006), p. 48f. After seeing a wanted picture in the Bild-Zeitung, a co-worker on Otto von Bismarck's estate reported that Baer was working as a forester there. When officials confronted "Neumann" in the forest on the early morning of December 20, 1960, he at first denied everything. Having already addressed Baer as her "husband", the woman in the house subsequently gave her name as "Frau Baer", but still claimed that Baer was named Neumann. Baer, however, finally admitted his true identity.
External links
- Richard Baer on the Jewish Virtual LibraryJewish Virtual LibraryJewish Virtual Library is an online encyclopedia published by the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise . Established in 1993, it is a comprehensive website covering Israel, the Jewish people, and Jewish culture.-History:...
- Karl Hoecker’s Album slideshow on The New YorkerThe New YorkerThe New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
's website - http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/03/17/080317fa_fact_wilkinson