Heinz Thilo (8 October 1911 in
Elberfeld 13 May 1945 in
Hohenelbe) was a
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
SS officer and a physician in the
Nazi concentration camp
From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as concen ...
Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
.
Thilo joined the
Nazi party in December 1930 and the SS in 1934. From 1938 to 1941 he worked as a
gynaecologist
Gynaecology or gynecology (see American and British English spelling differences, spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with ...
for the
Lebensborn organization. After six months of war service he was assigned to the Auschwitz concentration camp in July 1942.
There he became responsible for the infirmary camp with the rank of ''
Obersturmführer''.
Thilo called the camp the "anus mundi" ("anus of the world").
He was one of the physicians commonly performing the "
selections" in which incoming Jews were divided into those deemed able to work and those who were to be gassed immediately. Thilo also participated in the liquidation of the
Theresienstadt family camp on March 8, 1944, when 3,791 Jews were murdered in the gas chambers.
In October 1944 Thilo was transferred to
Gross-Rosen where he served as camp physician until February 1945. He fled shortly before the camp's liberation.
After the war, Thilo was arrested. He committed suicide in prison.
References
External links
Image of Dr Thilo on the ramp, making selections
1911 births
1945 suicides
Auschwitz concentration camp medical personnel
German gynaecologists
Physicians in the Nazi Party
Nazis who committed suicide in prison custody
SS-Hauptsturmführer
Gross-Rosen concentration camp personnel
Suicides in Czechoslovakia
{{germany-med-bio-stub
Holocaust perpetrators in Poland