Genickschussanlage (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

for "neck shooting facility") is the official name of a facility used for surprise

execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the State (polity), state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to ...

s in

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 ...

. The victim was placed, under the pretext of a medical examination, in a position where a

shot Shot may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Shot'' (album), by The Jesus Lizard *''Shot, Illusion, New God'', an EP by Gruntruck *'' Shot Rev 2.0'', a video album by The Sisters of Mercy * "Shot" (song), by The Rasmus * ''Shot'' (2017 f ...

could be fired into the back of their neck from the neighbouring room. For that purpose, the facilities were partly disguised as height measuring devices or medicinal instruments. The facilities are mostly known from

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

s, where they were not only used to carry out official

death sentence Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

s but also to carry out inconspicuous murder of larger groups of victims.

In the Buchenwald concentration camp

In the

Buchenwald concentration camp 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 su ...

, after 1941, the facility was mostly used to execute

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

. These prisoners, who were brought to the camp from other concentration camps, were placed in a former

horse stable A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals and livestock. There are many different types of stables in use today; the ...

converted to a rudimentary medical examination room under the pretext of a medical examination. Soviet prisoners of war were then placed in front of the measuring device on the wall; and, during the "measuring", they were executed by shooting them in the back of the neck through a specially created hole in the wall. The floor was colored in brown to conceal the blood to new prisoners. Because the prisoners were brought for immediate execution, neither their arrival at the camp nor their death were registered in the camp's listings. The number of victims shot with the help of this device is estimated to be about 8,000. The was responsible for the device.Info-Bitte.de - World War II lexicon: Kommando 99
{{webarchive, url=https://archive.today/20120802192234/http://www.infobitte.de/free/lex/ww2_Lex0/k/kommando99.htm , date=2012-08-02 Image:Buchenwald--KZ-Pferdestall Genickschussanlage 3.jpg, Replica of the device in Buchenwald concentration camp. The shot was fired through a hole underneath the head height measurement device. Image:Buchenwald--KZ-Pferdestal Genickschussanlage 2.jpg, The shot was fired during the measurement of a victim's height. For that purpose, a hole was made through the measuring device. Image:Buchenwald--KZ-Pferdestall Genickschussanlage 1.jpg, The back of the replica of the device. The location from where the shot was fired. Image:Buchenwald--KZ-Pferdestall Genickschussanlage 4.jpg, A cart to carry the bodies of the victims out of the building.

References

Execution methods Holocaust terminology Infrastructure of the Holocaust