70
years ago on this date, April 5, 1945, SS Colonel Karl-Otto Koch was executed
by firing squad. I will post information about this SS Colonel from Wikipedia
and other links.
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SS-Sturmbannführer
Koch
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Born
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August 2, 1897
Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse |
Died
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April 5, 1945 (aged 47)
Buchenwald concentration camp, Germany |
Allegiance
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German Empire (to 1918)
Weimar Republic (to 1933)
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Service/branch
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Schutzstaffel
SS-Totenkopfverbände |
Years of service
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1916-1945
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Rank
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SS-Standartenführer
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Commands held
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Awards
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World War I Iron Cross 2. Class
World War I Observer's Badge World War I Wound Badge in Black |
Spouse(s)
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Ilse Köhler (m. 1936)
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Karl-Otto Koch (German: [kɔχ];
August 2, 1897 – April 5, 1945), a Standartenführer (Colonel) in the German Schutzstaffel
(SS), was the first commandant of the Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald
and Sachsenhausen. From September 1941 until August 1942 Koch also served as
the first commandant of the Majdanek concentration camp in occupied Poland,
stealing vast amounts of valuables and money from murdered Jews.
Life
Koch
was born in Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse on August 2, 1897. His father
worked in local registrar's office and died when Karl was only eight years old.
After completing elementary school in 1912, Koch began studying business and
worked as a messenger and an apprentice in a bookkeeping department in a local
factory. In 1916, he volunteered to join the army and fought on the Western
Front until he was captured by the British in 1918. Koch spent the rest of the
war as a POW and returned to Germany in 1919. As a soldier, he conducted
himself well and was awarded the Iron Cross Second Class, the Observer's Badge
and the Wound Badge in Black. Following World War I, Koch worked as an
accounting supervisor in a bank and later in the same role in an insurance
company. In 1931, Karl-Otto Koch joined the NSDAP and the Schutzstaffel.
Service
with the SS
Koch
served with several SS-Standarten until June 13, 1935, when he became
commander of the Columbia concentration camp in Berlin-Tempelhof. In April 1936
he was assigned to the concentration camp at Esterwegen. Four months later he
was moved to Sachsenhausen. On August 1, 1937, he was given command of the new
concentration camp at Buchenwald. He remained at Buchenwald until September 1941,
when he was transferred to the Majdanek concentration camp for POWs. That was
largely due to an investigation based on allegations of his improper conduct at
Buchenwald, which included corruption, fraud, embezzlement, drunkenness, sexual
offences and a murder. Koch commanded the Majdanek camp for only one year; he
was relieved from his duties after 86 Soviet POWs escaped from the camp in
August 1942. Koch was charged with criminal negligence and transferred to
Berlin, where he worked at the SS Personalhauptamt and as a liaison between the
SS and the German Post-Office.
Prosecution
and death
Koch's
actions at Buchenwald
first caught the attention of SS-Obergruppenführer
Josias, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont in 1941. In glancing over the death
list of Buchenwald, Josias had stumbled across the name of Dr. Walter Krämer, a
head hospital orderly at Buchenwald, which he recognized because Krämer had
successfully treated him in the past. Josias investigated the case and found
out that Koch, in a position as the Camp Commandant, had ordered Krämer and
Karl Peixof, a hospital attendant, killed as "political prisoners"
because they had treated him for syphilis and he feared it might be discovered. Waldeck also
received reports that a certain prisoner had been shot while attempting to
escape. By that time, Koch had been transferred to the Majdanek
concentration camp in Poland, but his wife, Ilse, was still living at the
Commandant's house in Buchenwald. Waldeck ordered a full-scale investigation of
the camp by Dr. Georg Konrad Morgen, an SS officer who was a
judge in a German court. Throughout the investigation, more of Koch's orders to
kill prisoners at the camp were revealed, as well as embezzlement of property
stolen from prisoners. It was also discovered that a prisoner who was
"shot while trying to escape" had been told to get water from a well
some distance from the camp, and he was shot from behind. He had also helped
treat Koch for syphilis. A charge of incitement to murder was lodged by Prince
Waldeck and Dr. Morgen against Koch, to which were later added charges of
embezzlement. Other camp officials were charged, including Koch's wife. The
trial resulted in Koch being sentenced to death for disgracing both himself and
the SS. Koch was executed by firing squad on 5 April 1945, one week before American allied troops arrived to
liberate the camp.
Family
Koch
first married in 1924 and had one son; however, his marriage ended in divorce
1931, due to his infidelity. On May 25, 1936 Koch married Ilse Koch
née Margarete Ilse Köhler, with whom he had a son and two daughters. Köhler
later became known as "The Witch of Buchenwald" (Die Hexe von
Buchenwald), usually rendered more alliteratively in English as "The
Bitch of Buchenwald." When Koch was transferred to Buchenwald, Ilse was
appointed an Oberaufseherin (overseer) by the SS and thus had an active,
official role in the atrocities committed there. She was known for extreme
cruelty to prisoners.
Ranks
and promotions
Koch's SS Ranks
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Date
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Rank
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15 March
1934
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November
1934
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13 September
1935
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9 November
1936
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12
September 1937
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