Karl-Otto Koch (; 2 August 1897 – 5 April 1945) was a mid-ranking commander 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 duri ...
'' (SS) of
Nazi Germany
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 was the first commandant of the
Nazi concentration camps
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 con ...
at
Buchenwald
Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or sus ...
and
Sachsenhausen. From September 1941 until August 1942, he served as the first commandant of the
Majdanek concentration camp in
occupied Poland
' ( Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 Octobe ...
, stealing vast amounts of valuables and money from murdered Jews.
His wife,
Ilse Koch
Ilse Koch (22 September 1906 – 1 September 1967) was a German war criminal who was an overseer at Nazi concentration camps run by her husband, commandant Karl-Otto Koch. Working at Buchenwald (1937–1941) and Majdanek (1941–1943), Koch ...
, also took part in the crimes at Buchenwald and Majdanek.
Life
Koch was born in
Darmstadt,
Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt
The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine (german: link=no, Großherzogtum Hessen und bei Rhein) was a grand duchy in western Germany that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Grand Duchy originally formed from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1806 ...
on 2 August 1897. His father worked in a local registrar's office and died when Karl was eight years old. After completing elementary school in 1912, Koch attended
Mittelschule ''Mittelschule'' is a German term literally translating to "Middle School" (i.e. a level "intermediate" between elementary and higher education). It is used in various senses in the education systems of the various parts of German-speaking Europe, n ...
and completed a commercial apprenticeship.
In 1916, he volunteered to join the
Imperial German Army and fought on the
Western Front until he was later captured by the British. Koch spent the rest of the war as a
POW and returned to Germany in 1919. As a soldier, he conducted himself well and 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 es ...
Second Class, the
Observer's Badge and the
Wound Badge
The Wound Badge (german: Verwundetenabzeichen) was a German military decoration first promulgated by Wilhelm II, German Emperor on 3 March 1918, which was first awarded to soldiers of the German Army who were wounded during World War I. Between ...
in Black. Following World War I, Koch worked as a commercial manager, an authorized signatory and insurance agent and became unemployed in 1932 (he had served a prison sentence in 1930 for embezzlement and forgery). In 1931, Karl-Otto Koch 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 ...
and 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 duri ...
'' (SS).
[Gedenkstätte Buchenwald: Buchenwald Concentration Camp, 1937–1945: A Guide to the Permanent Historical Exhibition, Wallstein Verlag, 2004 p. 41-43][Whitlock Flint: Buchenwaldské bestie: Karl a Ilse Kochovi a lampy se stínítkem z lidské kůže, Grada Publishing, a.s., 29 September 2015 p. 326-327]
Service with the SS
Koch served with several ''SS-Standarten'' (Thirty fifth SS Regiment Kassel, SS Special Detachment Saxony). In 1934, he took command of the
Sachsenburg Concentration Camp
Sachsenburg was a Nazi concentration camp in eastern Germany, located in Frankenberg, Saxony, near Chemnitzbr>Along with Lichtenburg (concentration camp), Lichtenburg, it was among the first to be built by the Nazis, and operated by the ...
. Briefly, he was the officer in charge of the Esterwegen Concentration Camp guard unit, officer in charge of the preventive custody camp in the Lichtenburg Concentration Camp, and the adjutant at Dachau Concentration Camp. On 13 June 1935, he became commander of the
Columbia concentration camp
Columbia concentration camp (also known as Columbia-Haus) was a Nazi concentration camp situated in the Tempelhof area of Berlin. It was one of the first such institutions established by the regime.
Development
Originally called ''Strafgefängni ...
in
Berlin-Tempelhof and, in April 1936, he was assigned to the concentration camp at
Esterwegen
Esterwegen is a municipality in the Emsland district, in Lower Saxony, Germany.
Geography
Esterwegen lies in northwest Germany, less than from the Dutch border and about from the sea.
Demographics
In 2015 the population was 5,280.
Government ...
. Four months later, he was moved to
Sachsenhausen. Within a few years (September 1937) he advanced to
SS-Standartenführer (colonel).
On 1 August 1937, he was given command of the new
Buchenwald concentration camp. He remained at Buchenwald until September 1941, when he was transferred to the
Majdanek
Majdanek (or Lublin) was a Nazi concentration and extermination camp built and operated by the SS on the outskirts of the city of Lublin during the German occupation of Poland in World War II. It had seven gas chambers, two wooden gallows, a ...
concentration camp for POWs
near
Lublin, Poland. That was largely due to an investigation based on allegations of his improper conduct at Buchenwald, which included corruption, fraud, embezzlement, drunkenness, sexual offences and a murder. Koch commanded the Majdanek camp for only one year; he was relieved from his duties after 86 Soviet POWs escaped from the camp in August 1942. Koch was charged with criminal negligence and transferred to Berlin, where he worked at the
SS Personnel Main Office The SS Personnel Main Office (german: SS Personalhauptamt) was established on 1 June 1939 from the personnel department in Himmler's personal staff. It was responsible for the administration of personnel matters regarding all leaders and officers o ...
and as a liaison between the SS and the German Post Office.
Prosecution and death
Koch's actions at Buchenwald first caught the attention of
SS-Obergruppenführer Josias, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont in 1941. In glancing over the death list of Buchenwald, Hereditary Prince Josias had stumbled across the name of
Walter Krämer, a head hospital orderly at Buchenwald, which he recognized because Krämer had successfully treated him in the past. Hereditary Prince Josias investigated the case and found out that Koch, in a position as the Camp Commandant, had ordered Krämer and
Karl Peix, a hospital attendant, killed as "political prisoners" because they had treated him for
syphilis and he feared it might be discovered.
Hereditary Prince Josias also received reports that a certain prisoner had been shot while attempting to escape.
By that time, Koch had been transferred to the Majdanek concentration camp in Poland, but his wife, Ilse, was still living at the Commandant's house in Buchenwald. Waldeck ordered a full-scale investigation of the camp by
Georg Konrad Morgen, an SS officer who was an SS-judge in the
SS Court Main Office. Throughout the investigation, more of Koch's orders to kill prisoners at the camp were revealed, as well as embezzlement of property stolen from prisoners.
The Kochs had used the massive Nazi apparatus to gain an enormous amount of wealth.
The Kochs were both arrested in 1943. A charge of incitement to murder was lodged by Hereditary Prince Josias and Morgen against Koch, to which were later added charges of embezzlement. Other camp officials were charged, including Koch's wife. The trial resulted in Koch being sentenced to death for disgracing both himself and the SS.
Koch was executed by
firing squad
Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are ...
on 5 April 1945,
one week before
American allied troops arrived to liberate the camp. His body was subsequently burned in the camp's crematory.
Family
![Ilse Koch](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Ilse_Koch.png)
Koch first married in 1924 and had one son; however, this marriage ended in divorce in 1931, due to his infidelity. On 25 May 1936, Koch married
Ilse Koch
Ilse Koch (22 September 1906 – 1 September 1967) was a German war criminal who was an overseer at Nazi concentration camps run by her husband, commandant Karl-Otto Koch. Working at Buchenwald (1937–1941) and Majdanek (1941–1943), Koch ...
(née Margarete Ilse Köhler), with whom he had a son and two daughters. Ilse later became known as "The Witch of Buchenwald" (''Die Hexe von Buchenwald''), usually rendered in English as "The Bitch of Buchenwald."
When Koch was transferred to Buchenwald, Ilse was appointed an ''Oberaufseherin'' (overseer) by the SS and thus had an active, official role in the atrocities committed there. She was known for extreme cruelty towards prisoners.
See also
*
Buchenwald Resistance
*
Phil Lamason, Allied airman taken to Buchenwald
Notes and references
* Benoît Cazenave, ''L’exemplarité du commandant SS Karl Otto Koch'', Revue de la Fondation Auschwitz, Bruxelles, 2005.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koch, Karl-Otto
1897 births
1945 deaths
Military personnel from Darmstadt
Holocaust perpetrators in Germany
Holocaust perpetrators in Poland
German prisoners of war in World War I
World War I prisoners of war held by the United Kingdom
Buchenwald concentration camp personnel
People executed by Nazi Germany by firing squad
People from the Grand Duchy of Hesse
SS-Standartenführer
Executed German people
Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 2nd class
Majdanek concentration camp personnel
Sachsenhausen concentration camp personnel
People from Hesse executed in Nazi concentration camps
Nazis executed by Nazi Germany
SS personnel
German people who died in Buchenwald concentration camp
Schutzhaftlagerführer
Lichtenburg concentration camp personnel
Nazis executed by firing squad
Executed Nazi concentration camp commandants
Nazis convicted of war crimes
People executed for war crimes
Executed mass murderers
People convicted of embezzlement
German Army personnel of World War I