Hans Loritz (12 December 1895,

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

– 31 January 1946,

Neumünster Neumünster () is a city in the middle of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. With more than 79,000 registered inhabitants, it is the fourth-largest municipality in Schleswig-Holstein (behind Kiel, Lübeck and Flensburg). History The city was fi ...

) was an officer in the ''

Schutzstaffel The ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS; also stylized as ''ᛋᛋ'' with Armanen runes; ; "Protection Squadron") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe d ...

'' (SS) who was the commandant of several

concentration camps Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

-occupied Europe. He committed suicide in captivity after the war.

Early life

After completing primary school, Loritz started an apprenticeship as a baker. In 1914, he volunteered to join the Bavarian 3rd Infantry Regiment. During the war he was wounded several times and was promoted to be a non-commissioned officer. In 1917 he volunteered for the German Air Corps and was accepted as a gunner. He was shot down over France, where he was held as a Prisoner of War until 1920. On his return to Augsburg, he joined local police (where his father worked) transferring subsequently to the motorcycle squad. His first marriage in 1922 produced a son. In 1927, following several disciplinary issues, he was dismissed and became a debt collector for the gas company. His marriage was dissolved in 1935 and he married for second time in 1936 but in the same year fathered a child with another woman.

Commander in concentration camps

Loritz joined the NSDAP in August 1930 (membership number 298668) and joined the SS one month later (membership number 4165). Following several personal clashes with the SA in Augsburg, the SS assigned Loritz to the

Dachau concentration camp , , commandant = List of commandants , known for = , location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany , built by = Germany , operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) , original use = Political prison , construction ...

in the Summer 1933, where he was to oversee junior SS volunteers from Austria. He quickly began to admire and idolize the new camp commandant,

Theodor Eicke Theodor Eicke (17 October 1892 – 26 February 1943) was a senior SS functionary and Waffen SS divisional commander during the Nazi era. He was one of the key figures in the development of Nazi concentration camps. Eicke served as the seco ...

. In July 1934, he was given command of KZ Esterwegen in the North of Germany. He made camp rules stricter, interrogated prisoners and ordered torture. In 1935, he was promoted to SS-Oberführer. After the close of Esterwegen, Loritz returned to Dachau as camp commandant in April 1936. Loritz was known as one of the most brutal camp commanders at Dachau, personally cruel, he allowed barbaric behavior by the guards. His self-enrichment and

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

brought scrutiny from the SS-Verwaltungsamt. He took prisoners to work at his private villa in St. Gilgen at the

Wolfgangsee Lake Wolfgang (german: Wolfgangsee) is a lake in Austria that lies mostly within the state of Salzburg and is one of the best known lakes in the Salzkammergut resort region. The municipalities on its shore are Strobl, St. Gilgen with the villages ...

. In July 1939, Loritz was sent against his will to

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

. He immediately tried to return to concentration camp service. In December 1939, Loritz was transferred to

KZ Sachsenhausen Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners ...

. He became the camp commandant in place of

Walter Eisfeld Walter Eisfeld (born 11 July 1905 in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt – died 3 April 1940 in Dachau) was a German SS functionary and concentration camp commandant during the Nazi era. Eisfeld had been a member of the Artamanen-Gesellschaft, a völkisch ...

in March 1940 on the orders of

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...

. He selected prisoners unable to work, who were killed in June 1941 in

Sonnenstein Euthanasia Centre The Sonnenstein Euthanasia Clinic (german: NS-Tötungsanstalt Sonnenstein; literally "National Socialist Killing Institution Sonnenstein") was a Nazi euthanasia or extermination centre located in the former fortress of Sonnenstein Castle near Pirn ...

. In the same year, he organized the shooting of at least 10,000 Soviet prisoners of war. Loritz became a section leader of the

General SS The ''Allgemeine SS'' (; "General SS") was a major branch of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany; it was managed by the SS Main Office (''SS-Hauptamt''). The ''Allgemeine SS'' was officially established in the autu ...

Klagenfurt Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...

.Hoess et al., p 202 He remained until 1942, when he was removed at the suggestion of Oswald Pohl, leader of the SS-WVHA. He was then sent to oversee camps in

Beisfjord Beisfjord is a village in Narvik Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The village is located about southeast of the town of Narvik, at the southeastern end of the long Beisfjorden (an arm off of the large Ofotfjorden). The village sits i ...

Elsfjord Elsfjord is a village in Vefsn Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The village is located at the end of the Elsfjorden, about northeast of the town of Mosjøen. The European route E06 highway is accessed about south of the village. El ...

Rognan Rognan is a village and the administrative centre of the municipality of Saltdal in Nordland county, Norway. The village is located at the innermost part of Skjerstad Fjord, called Saltdal Fjord. It is located about north of the village of R ...

and

Karasjok ( se, Kárášjohka ; fkv, Kaarasjoki) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Karasjok. Other villages include Dorvonjárga, Šuoššjávri, and Váljohka. Th ...

in northern Norway where

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

n prisoners were used as forced labour to construct roads and military installations.

Arrest and suicide

After the war, he was arrested and imprisoned at the internment camp in

to await trial by the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

s. Loritz was interned in

after the war and committed suicide in January 1946.

Ranks and promotions

Notes

Bibliography

* Dirk Riedel: ''Ordnungshüter und Massenmörder im Dienst der "Volksgemeinschaft": Der KZ-Kommandant Hans Loritz''. Metropol Verlag, Berlin 2010, . * Rudolf Hoess, Constantine Fitzgibbon, Primo Levi
''Commandant of Auschwitz: The Autobiography of Rudolf Hoess''
Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2000. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Loritz, Hans 1895 births 1946 suicides Military personnel from Augsburg Dachau concentration camp personnel Holocaust perpetrators in Germany Holocaust perpetrators in Norway Nazis who committed suicide in prison custody German people who died in Soviet detention Sachsenhausen concentration camp personnel SS-Oberführer Nazi concentration camp commandants People from the Kingdom of Bavaria Nazis who committed suicide in Germany Waffen-SS personnel