Kurt Gerstein (11 August 1905 – 25 July 1945) was a German
SS officer and head of technical disinfection services of the ''Hygiene-Institut der
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 ...
'' (Institute for Hygiene of the Waffen-SS). After witnessing mass murders in the
Belzec and
Treblinka
Treblinka () was an extermination camp, built and operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II. It was in a forest north-east of Warsaw, south of the village of Treblinka in what is now the Masovian Voivodeship. The camp ...
Nazi extermination camp
Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...
s, Gerstein gave a detailed report to
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
diplomat
Göran von Otter, as well as to
Swiss
Swiss may refer to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Places
* Swiss, Missouri
* Swiss, North Carolina
*Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
*Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports
*Swiss Internation ...
diplomats, members of the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
with contacts to
Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...
, and to the
Dutch government-in-exile
The Dutch government-in-exile ( nl, Nederlandse regering in ballingschap), also known as the London Cabinet ( nl, Londens kabinet), was the government in exile of the Netherlands, supervised by Queen Wilhelmina, that fled to London after the Germ ...
, in an effort to inform the international community about
the Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
as it was happening. In 1945, following his surrender, he wrote the ''
Gerstein Report
The Gerstein Report was written in 1945 by Kurt Gerstein, ''Obersturmführer'' of the ''Waffen-SS'', who served as Head of Technical Disinfection Services of the SS in World War II and in that capacity supplied the hydrogen cyanide-based pesticide ...
'' covering his experience of the Holocaust. He died of an alleged
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
while in French custody.
Biography
Kurt Gerstein was born in
Münster
Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...
,
Westphalia
Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants.
The territory of the regio ...
on 11 August 1905, the sixth of seven children in a
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
n middle-class family, described as strongly
chauvinistic
Chauvinism is the unreasonable belief in the superiority or dominance of one's own group or people, who are seen as strong and virtuous, while others are considered weak, unworthy, or inferior. It can be described as a form of extreme patriotis ...
and "totally compliant to authority". His father, Ludwig, a former Prussian officer, was a judge and an authoritarian figure. Ludwig Gerstein proudly proclaimed that in his family's genealogical tree there was only Aryan blood and exhorted generations to "preserve the purity of the race!" As late as 1944, he wrote to his son Kurt: "You are a soldier and an official and you must obey the orders of your superiors. The person who bears the responsibility is the man who gives the orders, not the one who carries them out." Kurt Gerstein married Elfriede Bensch, a pastor’s daughter, on 31 August 1937.
They had a daughter, Adelheid.
Education
Kurt was no more tolerant of discipline in secondary school than within the family. However, in spite of earning many bad reports, he managed to graduate at the age of 20. Going directly on to study at the
University of Marburg
The Philipps University of Marburg (german: Philipps-Universität Marburg) was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Protestant university in the wor ...
for three semesters, he then transferred to the technical universities in
Aachen
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...
and Berlin/Charlottenburg where he graduated in 1931 as a mining engineer. While he was at Marburg, he joined, at his father's request, the Teutonia, "one of the most nationalistic student associations in Germany".
[Friedländer 1969, p. 8] While he was uncomfortable with the frivolity of the fraternity students, he didn't seem to mind their ultra-nationalism.
In 1936, he moved to
Tübingen
Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in thr ...
where he started studying medicine at the
University of Tübingen
The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...
and lived with his wife, Elfriede.
Religious faith
Although his family was not a particularly religious one, Gerstein received
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
religious training in school. While at university, almost as an antidote to what he saw as the frivolous activities of his classmates, he began to read
the Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
. From 1925 onwards, he became active in Christian student and youth movements, joining the German Association of Christian Students (DCSV) in 1925, and in 1928, becoming an active member of both the Evangelical Youth Movement (CVJM-
YMCA
YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...
) and the Federation of German Bible Circles, where he took a leading role until it was dissolved in 1934, after a takeover attempt by the
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...
movement. At first finding a religious home within the Protestant Evangelical Church, he gravitated toward the
Confessing Church
The Confessing Church (german: link=no, Bekennende Kirche, ) was a movement within German Protestantism during Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to unify all Protestant churches into a single pro-Nazi German E ...
, which formed itself around Pastor
Martin Niemöller
Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller (; 14 January 18926 March 1984) was a German theologian and Lutheran pastor. He is best known for his opposition to the Nazi regime during the late 1930s and for his widely quoted 1946 poem " First they ca ...
in 1934, as a form of protest against attempts by the Nazis to exercise increasing control over German
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
s. His religious faith caused conflict with the Nazis and he spent time in prison and concentration camps in the late 1930s.
Relations with the Nazi Party and Government
Like many of his generation, Gerstein and his family were deeply affected by what they saw as the humiliation of Germany by the terms of the
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...
, and they were thus attracted by the extreme nationalism of the
Nazi Party
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 ...
. In July 1933, he enrolled in the
SA, the original stormtroopers of the Nazi Party. Friedlander describes the contradictions in Gerstein's mind at the time: "Firm defense of religious concepts and of the honour of the Confessional youth movements, but weakness in the face of National Socialism, with acceptance of its terminology and shoddy rhetoric; acceptance, above all, of the existing political order, of its authoritarianism and its hysterical nationalism".
However, in early 1935, he stood up in a theater during a performance of the play ''
Wittekind'' and vocally protested against its anti-Christian message. In response, he was attacked and beaten by Nazi Party members in the audience.
On 4 September 1936, Gerstein was arrested for distributing anti-Nazi material, held in protective custody for five weeks, and ultimately expelled from the Nazi Party. The loss of Nazi Party membership meant he was unable to find employment as a mining engineer in the state sector. He was arrested a second time in July 1938, but was released six weeks later; no charges were filed against him. With the help of his father and some powerful party and SS officials, he continued to seek reinstatement in the Nazi Party until June 1939, when he obtained a provisional membership.
[
]
World War II
In early 1941, Gerstein enlisted in the SS. Explanations for this are varied and conflicting. One document indicates it was the result of his outrage over the death of a sister-in-law, who apparently was killed under the euthanasia
Euthanasia (from el, εὐθανασία 'good death': εὖ, ''eu'' 'well, good' + θάνατος, ''thanatos'' 'death') is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering.
Different countries have different eut ...
program Action T4
(German, ) was a campaign of mass murder by involuntary euthanasia in Nazi Germany. The term was first used in post-war trials against doctors who had been involved in the killings. The name T4 is an abbreviation of 4, a street address of ...
, directed at the mentally ill. Other documents suggest he had already made his decision before she died, and that her death reinforced his desire to join the SS to "see things from the inside", try to change the direction of its policies, and publicize the crimes they were committing. Browning describes him as "a covert anti-Nazi who infiltrated the SS",[''Evidence for the Implementation of the Final Solution: Electronic Edition'', Browning, Christopher R.]
/ref> and in a letter to his wife, Gerstein wrote: "I joined the SS ... acting as an agent of the Confessing Church
The Confessing Church (german: link=no, Bekennende Kirche, ) was a movement within German Protestantism during Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to unify all Protestant churches into a single pro-Nazi German E ...
."
Because of his technical education, Gerstein quickly rose to become head of technical disinfection services, working with Odilo Globocnik
Odilo Lothar Ludwig Globocnik (21 April 1904 – 31 May 1945) was an Austrian Nazi and a perpetrator of the Holocaust. He was an official of the Nazi Party and later a high-ranking leader of the SS. Globocnik had a leading role in Operation Re ...
and Christian Wirth
), Christian the CruelZenter, Christian and Bedürftig, Friedemann (1991). '' Encyclopedia of the Third Reich'' (pg. 1053), New York: Macmillan;
, allegiance =
, branch = Schutzstaffel
, serviceyears =
, rank = Sturmbannführer (Major)
, ...
on the technical aspects of mass murder in the extermination camps
Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...
. He supplied hydrogen cyanide (Zyklon B
Zyklon B (; translated Cyclone B) was the trade name of a cyanide-based pesticide invented in Germany in the early 1920s. It consisted of hydrogen cyanide (prussic acid), as well as a cautionary eye irritant and one of several adsorbents such ...
) to Rudolf Höss
Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Höss (also Höß, Hoeß, or Hoess; 25 November 1901 – 16 April 1947) was a German SS officer during the Nazi era who, after the defeat of Nazi Germany, was convicted for war crimes. Höss was the longest-serving comm ...
in 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 ...
from the Degesch
The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Schädlingsbekämpfung mbH (), oft shortened to Degesch, was a German chemical corporation which manufactured pesticides. Degesch held the patent on the infamous pesticide Zyklon, a variant of which was used to execu ...
company (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Schädlingsbekämpfung, or Vermin-Combating Corporation) and conducted the negotiations with the owners.[Yahil 1991]
pp. 356-357.
/ref> On 17 August 1942, together with Rolf Günther
Rolf Günther (8 January 1913 – August 1945) was a German functionary who served in the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) as an ''Sturmbannführer'' and who acted as deputy to Adolf Eichmann. He first joined the '' Sturmabteilung'' (SA) in 1929 and became ...
and Wilhelm Pfannenstiel
Wilhelm Hermann Pfannenstiel (12 February 1890 – 1 November 1982) was a German physician, member of the Nazi Party from 1933, (NSDAP 2828629), and SS officer from 1934, ( SS-Standartenführer, SS-No. 273083). In August 1942 he witnessed, togeth ...
, Gerstein witnessed at Belzec the gassing of some 3,000 Jews who had arrived by train from Lwow
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...
. The next day, he went to Treblinka
Treblinka () was an extermination camp, built and operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II. It was in a forest north-east of Warsaw, south of the village of Treblinka in what is now the Masovian Voivodeship. The camp ...
, which had similar facilities, where he observed huge mounds of clothing and underwear removed from victims. At that time, motor exhaust gases were used for the purpose of mass murder in both extermination camps.
Reporting
Several days later, he had a chance encounter on the Warsaw to Berlin train with Swedish diplomat Göran von Otter, who was stationed in Berlin. In a conversation that lasted several hours, he told the diplomat what he had seen and urged him to spread the information internationally. Von Otter did talk with high-ranking officials at the Swedish Foreign Ministry, but Gerstein's revelations were never passed on to the Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
or to any other government. In the meantime, Gerstein tried to make contact with representatives of the Vatican, the press attaché at the Swiss Legation in Berlin, and a number of people linked to the Confessing Church
The Confessing Church (german: link=no, Bekennende Kirche, ) was a movement within German Protestantism during Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to unify all Protestant churches into a single pro-Nazi German E ...
. One of his contacts was Dutch citizen J.H. Ubbink, whom he asked to pass on his testimony to the Dutch resistance. A little later, an unnamed member of the Dutch government in exile (in London) noted in his diary a testimony that is very similar to Gerstein's report. Gerstein's statements to diplomats and religious officials over the period of 1942 through 1945 had little effect.
After his surrender in April 1945, Gerstein was ordered to report about his experiences with gassing and the extermination camps, first in French, followed by two German versions in May 1945.
Historian Christopher Browning has written: "Many aspects of Gerstein's testimony are unquestionably problematic. ... n makingstatements, such as the height of the piles of shoes and clothing at Belzec and Treblinka, Gerstein himself is clearly the source of exaggeration. Gerstein also added grossly exaggerated claims about matters to which he was not an eyewitness, such as that a total of 25 million Jews and others were gassed. But in the essential issue, namely that he was in Belzec and witnessed the gassing of a transport of Jews from Lwow, his testimony is fully corroborated .... It is also corroborated by other categories of witnesses from Belzec."[ Distinguished French historian ]Pierre Vidal-Naquet
Pierre Emmanuel Vidal-Naquet (; 23 July 1930 – 29 July 2006) was a French historian who began teaching at the ''École des hautes études en sciences sociales'' (EHESS) in 1969.
Vidal-Naquet was a specialist in the study of Ancient Greece, but ...
, in ''Assassins of Memory'', discusses such criticism.
Arrest and death
On 22 April 1945, two weeks before Nazi Germany's surrender, Gerstein voluntarily gave himself up to the French commandant of the occupied town of Reutlingen
Reutlingen (; Swabian: ''Reitlenga'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the capital of the eponymous district of Reutlingen. As of June 2018, it has a population of 115,818.
Reutlingen has a university of applied sciences, which ...
. He received a sympathetic reception and was transferred to a residence in a hotel in Rottweil
Rottweil (; Alemannic: ''Rautweil'') is a town in southwest Germany in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Rottweil was a free imperial city for nearly 600 years.
Located between the Black Forest and the Swabian Alps, Rottweil has nearly 25,000 in ...
, where he was able to write his reports. However, he was later transferred to the Cherche-Midi military prison, where he was treated as a Nazi war criminal. On 25 July 1945, he was found dead in his cell, an alleged suicide.
Depictions
A highly detailed and researched biography by Pierre Joffroy called ''A Spy for God'' was published in English in paperback in 1971.
His search for Christian values Christian values historically refers to values derived from the teachings of Jesus Christ. The term has various applications and meanings, and specific definitions can vary widely between denominations, geographical locations and different schools ...
and ultimate decision to betray the SS by attempting to expose the Holocaust through informing the Catholic Church, is portrayed in the narrative film ''Amen.'', released in 2002, starring Ulrich Tukur
Ulrich Tukur (born Ulrich Gerhard Scheurlen; 29 July 1957) is a German actor and musician.
Early life and education
Tukur spent his youth near Hannover where he finished his final secondary school examinations in 1977. He also earned a high sch ...
as Kurt Gerstein and directed by Costa-Gavras
Costa-Gavras (short for Konstantinos Gavras; el, Κωνσταντίνος Γαβράς; born 12 February 1933) is a Greek-French film director, screenwriter, and producer who lives and works in France. He is known for films with political and s ...
. ''Amen.'' was largely adapted from Rolf Hochhuth
Rolf Hochhuth (; 1 April 1931 – 13 May 2020) was a German author and playwright, best known for his 1963 drama '' The Deputy'', which insinuates Pope Pius XII's indifference to Hitler's extermination of the Jews, and he remained a controversial ...
's play ''The Deputy
''The Deputy, a Christian tragedy'' (German: ''Der Stellvertreter. Ein christliches Trauerspiel''), also published in English as ''The Representative '', is a controversial 1963 play by Rolf Hochhuth which portrayed Pope Pius XII as having failed ...
''.
William T. Vollmann's ''Europe Central
''Europe Central'' (2005) is a novel by William T. Vollmann that won the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction. '', the National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
fiction winner for 2005, has a 55-page segment, entitled ''Clean Hands'', which relates Gerstein's story.
Thomas Keneally
Thomas Michael Keneally, AO (born 7 October 1935) is an Australian novelist, playwright, essayist, and actor. He is best known for his non-fiction novel ''Schindler's Ark'', the story of Oskar Schindler's rescue of Jews during the Holocaust, wh ...
, author of ''Schindler's List
''Schindler's List'' is a 1993 American epic historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Steven Zaillian. It is based on the 1982 novel ''Schindler's Ark'' by Australian novelist Thomas Keneally. The film fo ...
'', wrote a dramatic play, ''Either Or'', on the subject of Gerstein's life as an SS officer and how he dealt with the concentration camps. It premiered at the Theater J in Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
in May 2007.
In 2010, a group of film students from Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...
produced a short film entitled "The Gerstein Report" that chronicled the events leading up to Gerstein's death. The film won Best Drama at the 2010 Campus MovieFest
Campus MovieFest (CMF) is the world's largest student film festival
A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals sh ...
International Grande Finale in Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
.[ about the Gerstein Report]
Swedish musician Stefan Andersson wrote the song "Flygblad över Berlin" ("Flyers over Berlin"), on his 2018 album with the same name, about Gerstein and his meeting with the Swedish diplomat.
See also
*Wilhelm Cornides
Wilhelm Cornides (20 July 1920 – 15 July 1966) was a Wehrmacht sergeant in World War II, serving in the General Government territory. He was the author of the ''Cornides Report'', which contains his account of the extermination of Jews at B ...
References
Citations
Sources
*
* Joffroy, Pierre, ''L'espion de Dieu. La passion de Kurt Gerstein'', Robert Laffont, 1969, dernière édition 2002, 453 pages
* Joffroy, Pierre, ''A Spy For God: The Ordeal of Kurt Gerstein'', trans. Norman Denney, Fontana 1972, 256 pages,
*Hey, Bernd u.a.: ''Kurt Gerstein (1905–1945). Widerstand in SS-Uniform.'' Bielefeld, Verlag für Regionalgeschichte, 2003. .
A more detailed article appears in the French edition of Wikipedia. It has been closely consulted for this article.
External links
Biography with pictures
The story of Kurt Gerstein
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerstein, Kurt
1905 births
1945 deaths
People from Münster
People from the Province of Westphalia
Protestants in the German Resistance
SS-Obersturmführer
German military personnel who committed suicide
German people who died in prison custody
Prisoners who died in French detention
Waffen-SS personnel
Nazis who committed suicide in prison custody
1945 suicides
Nazi-era German officials who resisted the Holocaust
Suicides in France