Karl Kahr (; born on 11 September 1914 in Fürstenfeld, died on 13 May 2007 in

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 ...

) was an

Austrian SS The Austrian SS was that portion of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) membership from Austria. The term and title was used unofficially. They were never officially recognized as a separate branch of the SS. Austrian SS members were seen as regular personn ...

-'' Hauptsturmführer'' and physician. During World War II, he was

Chief Medical Officer Chief medical officer (CMO) is the title used in many countries for the senior government official designated head of medical services, sometimes at the national level. The post is held by a physician who serves to advise and lead a team of medical ...

of the

Mittelbau-Dora Mittelbau-Dora (also Dora-Mittelbau and Nordhausen-Dora) was a Nazi concentration camp located near Nordhausen in Thuringia, Germany. It was established in late summer 1943 as a subcamp of Buchenwald concentration camp, supplying slave labour ...

concentration camp between January 1944 and February 1945.

Biography

Kahr was born in the town of Fürstenfeld in southeastern Austria, which was then part of the Habsburg Empire. He studied medicine at the University of Graz and later worked as an assistant physician in a local hospital. During this time, Austria was

annexed Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...

by Nazi Germany in the '' Anschluss'' of March 1938. Upon receiving his doctorate in 1940, Kahr enlisted in the Waffen-SS (SS # 382463) as a medical officer. After being seriously wounded on the Eastern Front, he was assigned to Prague, Czechoslovakia where he taught at a training school for combat paramedics. He later served as a staff physician at military hospitals in

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

, and Breslau. In November 1942, Kahr was transferred 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 ...

where he served as director of its tuberculosis research station, before being named ''SS-Lagerarzt'' (Camp Doctor) at

in January 1944. During his time at Dora, Kahr developed a good reputation among the camp’s inmates both for his competence and his efforts to improve conditions for the prisoners under his care. In February 1945, he was replaced at Dora by Eduard Wirths and was briefly reassigned to the Gross-Rosen concentration camp in Lower Silesia. Following the German surrender in May 1945, Kahr spent several months in American military detention. Due to his reputable standing with many former prisoners of

, he was not among those indicted for war crimes by US occupation authorities during the 1947 Dora Trial, and appeared as a key witness for the prosecution in that proceeding as well as at the Pohl Trial the following year. After his release from US custody, Kahr returned to

where he resumed the practice of medicine.Sellier, Andre. ''A History of the Dora Camp''. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee. 2003.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kahr, Karl 1914 births Austrian military doctors SS-Hauptsturmführer Dachau concentration camp personnel Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp personnel Gross-Rosen concentration camp personnel Physicians in the Nazi Party Physicians from Graz University of Graz alumni Austrian military personnel of World War II Year of death missing Waffen-SS personnel Austrian Nazis Military personnel from Graz People from Fürstenfeld District