Josef Kollmer (26 February 1901 – 24 January 1948) was a German SS functionary during the

Nazi era Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

who committed mass murder at

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed int ...

. He was prosecuted at the

Auschwitz Trial The Auschwitz trial began on November 24, 1947, in Kraków, when Poland's Supreme National Tribunal tried forty former staff of the Auschwitz concentration camps. The trials ended on December 22, 1947. The best-known defendants were Arthur Lie ...

. Born in Händlern,

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

, Kollmer was a farmer by trade. He became a member of the SS on January 1, 1935 after having previously spent several years in the German police force. He joined the

Nazi party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

in May 1937. In October 1941 he was drafted into the

Waffen-SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...

and was assigned to Auschwitz, where he commanded various guard companies until October 1943. He then temporarily transferred to Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp, but returned to Auschwitz in May 1944. Initially he commanded the guard company at Auschwitz main camp, then later the one at

Monowitz concentration camp Monowitz (also known as Monowitz-Buna, Buna and Auschwitz III) was a Nazi concentration camp and labor camp (''Arbeitslager'') run by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland from 1942–1945, during World War II and the Holocaust. For most of its ex ...

from August to October 1944. During his time at Auschwitz, Kollmer participated in the mass murder of Jews in the Birkenau gas chambers, and carried out executions against the shooting wall between blocks 10 and 11 and at the Buna factory. Kollmer was tried by the

Supreme National Tribunal The Supreme National Tribunal ( pl, Najwyższy Trybunał Narodowy TN}) was a war-crime tribunal active in communist-era Poland from 1946 to 1948. Its aims and purpose were defined by the State National Council in decrees of 22 January and 17 Oc ...

at the

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula, Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland un ...

and was sentenced to

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

. His sentence was carried out by hanging in

Montelupich Prison The Montelupich prison, so called from the street in which it is located, the ''ulica Montelupich'' ("street of the Montelupi family"),Ulica Montelupich or "street of the Montelupis" itself is named after the Montelupi manor house (Kamienica (arch ...

, Kraków.

Bibliography

*Cyprian T., Sawicki J., ''Siedem wyroków Najwyższego Trybunału Narodowego'', Poznań 1962

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kollmer, Josef 1901 births 1948 deaths People from the Kingdom of Bavaria Auschwitz trial executions Holocaust perpetrators in Poland Executed people from Bavaria SS-Obersturmführer Auschwitz concentration camp personnel Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp personnel Waffen-SS personnel German people convicted of crimes against humanity German people executed abroad Executed mass murderers