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Fritzsch, Karl

Date of birth:
July 10th, 1903 (Nassengrub, Austria-Hungary)
Date of death:
May 2nd, 1945
Nationality:
Austrian (1938-1945, Reichsgau)

Biography

Fritzsch joined the Nazi Party and the SS in 1930 at the age of 27. He became a career SS man. Almost as soon as it opened, he acquired a position in Dachau concentration camp in 1934.
Because of his camp experience, a few months after the German invasion of Poland, in May 1940 he became deputy to Rudolf Höss and the head of the Auschwitz economic operation (Schutzhaftlagerführer). Fritzsch quickly gained a reputation as the horror of Auschwitz. According to the testimony of his superior Rudolf Höss, it was also Fritzsch who first came up with the idea of ​​using poison gas Zyklon B for mass murder.

On January 15, 1942, Fritzsch was transferred to KZ Flossenbürg as Schutzhaftlagerführer. From the beginning of August to October 1942 he was temporarily deputy commander of the camp.
In October 1943 he was arrested as part of an internal SS corruption investigation. An SS court charged him with murder. As punishment he was transferred to the front line (SS-Panzergrenadier-Ersatzbatallion 18). He is believed to have died in the Battle of Berlin in May 1945.

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Sources

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