August 2, 1897 - Karl-Otto Koch
Koch's career as a concentration camp commandant placed him at the administrative center of mass killing at three separate facilities, including Buchenwald and Majdanek. What distinguishes his case historically is that he was ultimately arrested and executed not by Allied forces but by the SS itself, prosecuted for corruption and embezzlement after systematically looting valuables from victims of the camps he ran.
From Wikipedia
Karl-Otto Koch (German: [kɔx]; 2 August 1897 – 5 April 1945) was a German military officer who was a mid-ranking commander in the Schutzstaffel (SS) of Nazi Germany, and the first commandant of the Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen. From September 1941 until August 1942, he served as the first commandant of the Majdanek concentration camp in German-occupied Poland, stealing vast amounts of valuables and money from murdered Jews. His wife, Ilse Koch, also participated in the crimes at Buchenwald.
Further reading
- The Beasts of Buchenwald
Chronicles the reign of terror at Buchenwald under its first commandant Karl Koch and his wife Ilse, whose brutality included murder and the grotesque use of inmates' tattooed skin.
View on Amazon → - Ilse Koch on Trial
An authoritative reassessment of Ilse Koch, wife of Buchenwald's commandant, whose notoriety as the 'Bitch of Buchenwald' made her a scapegoat that obscured the broader reality of Nazi atrocity.
View on Amazon →
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