Karl Gustav Wilhelm Buck (17 November 1894,

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

11 June 1977,

Rudersberg Rudersberg is a municipality in the Rems-Murr district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located 10 km southeast of Backnang, and 28 km northeast of Stuttgart. Sport The local motocross club ''MSC Wieslauftal'' operates a track ne ...

) was a German SS-Hauptsturmführer and Lagerkommandant. From 1933 until 1940 Buck was the commander of the concentration camp Heuberg, Oberer Kuhberg and Lager

Welzheim Welzheim is a town in the Rems-Murr district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located 35 km east of Stuttgart, and 15 km northwest of Schwäbisch Gmünd. Welzheim has 11,239 (2005) inhabitants and is located in the 'Welzheimer Wal ...

, from 1940 of the in

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

Life until 1933

Buck worked as a mechanic in Esslingen until 1910. After his formation he entered the military and began an Officer's career. In the

first World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he was at the Russian, Serbian, Italian and the Western fronts. 1917 he became a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

. For his efforts during war he was awarded the

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia est ...

of first class. 1919 he began to study engineering in Esslingen. In 1920 he got the post of an engineer in a cement factory. He married the same year and shortly afterwards, had one daughter. 1921 and 1924-1930 he was working abroad in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. He lost his left leg in a work accident in Chile, afterwards he returned to Germany. After his accident he was jobless. In March 1931 he became a member of the

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

(No. 759.070) and became member of the SA. He joined the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

and changed from the SA to the SS where he was enlisted as number 490,187.

Commander

From April to November 1933 he was the commander of the Heuberg camp until its closure in November 1933. He was responsible for the opening of the Oberer Kuhberg concentration camp. The work detail was done by inmates from Heuberg. He became the commander of Oberer Kuhberg until its closure in July 1935. Afterwards he became the commander of the

Lager Welzheim Lager () is beer which has been brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term "lager" comes from the German for "storage" ...

when he was ordered to become the commander of the Sicherungslager Schirmeck-Vorbruck (at

Schirmeck Schirmeck () is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It is the location of the Alsace-Moselle Memorial museum. The name of the town means "protected place". In Lorraine dialect it is called "Chermec". T ...

) in Alsace. He held this function until the end of the Nazi period in Germany. Shortly before its end, on 20 July 1944, he was promoted to SS-Hauptsturmführer.

After the war

After the end of the war he was arrested in 1945. He was condemned twice to death by the French, and once by the British for murder and in the Lager Schirmeck. Later, his death sentence was commuted to a life sentence.Arte - Die Rastatter Prozesse
/ref> In 1955 he was released and handed to German authorities that opened 7 accusations on him that were turned down as they had been judged by the Allies before.

References

{{Authority control 1894 births 1977 deaths SS-Hauptsturmführer German prisoners sentenced to death People convicted in the Nazi concentration camp trials Prisoners sentenced to death by the British military Prisoners sentenced to death by the French military Nazi concentration camp commandants