'' SS-Oberscharführer'' Karl Pötzinger (1908–1944) born in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, Germany, was a

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

perpetrator who began his World War II career as the

Action T4 (German, ) was a campaign of Homicide#By state actors, mass murder by involuntary euthanasia which targeted Disability, people with disabilities and the mentally ill in Nazi Germany. The term was first used in post-WWII, war trials against d ...

“burner” at the

Brandenburg Euthanasia Centre The Brandenburg Euthanasia Centre (), officially known as the Brandenburg an der Havel State Welfare Institute (''Landes-Pflegeanstalt Brandenburg a. H.''), was a killing centre established in 1939 as part of the Nazi euthanasia programme, known af ...

and at the

Bernburg Euthanasia Centre The Nazi Euthanasia Centre at Bernburg () operated from 21 November 1940 to 30 July 1943 in a separate wing of the State Sanatorium and Mental Hospital (''Landes-Heil- und Pflegeanstalt'') in Bernburg (Saale), Bernburg on the River Saale in the Ger ...

with the rank of Staff Sergeant in the SA. Pötzinger was a career policeman at the outbreak of war. He was transferred to

Treblinka extermination camp Treblinka () was the second-deadliest extermination camp to be 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 Mas ...

at the onset of

Operation Reinhard Operation Reinhard or Operation Reinhardt ( or ; also or ) was the codename of the secret Nazi Germany, German plan in World War II to exterminate History of the Jews in Poland, Polish Jews in the General Government district of German-occupied ...

of 1942 along with other gassing specialists. Pötzinger became Deputy Commandant of Treblinka II under ''SS-Scharführer'' Heinrich Matthes, supervising the gas chambers and later, serving as head of the cremation command in the ''Totenlager'' as soon as the covering up Nazi crimes became paramount to the Nazi leadership notably to

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful p ...

himself during his visit to Treblinka in 1943. Treblinka was built as part of the most deadly phase of the

Final Solution The Final Solution or the Final Solution to the Jewish Question was a plan orchestrated by Nazi Germany during World War II for the genocide of individuals they defined as Jews. The "Final Solution to the Jewish question" was the official ...

, known as '' Aktion Reinhard'', and operated between and .Treblinka Death Camp Day-by-Day
Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team, H.E.A.R.T. Retrieved August 11, 2013. During this time, more than 800,000

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

– men, women, and children – were murdered there, with other estimates exceeding 1,000,000 victims.Donat, Alexander, ed. ''The Death Camp Treblinka: A Documentary.'' New York: Holocaust Library, 1979. LOC 79-53471 Franciszek Ząbecki, ''Wspomnienia dawne i nowe'', PAX Association Publishing, Warsaw 1977. Karl Pötzinger was transferred from Treblinka to

Sobibór extermination camp Sobibor ( ; ) was an extermination camp built and operated by Nazi Germany as part of Operation Reinhard. It was located in the forest near the village of Żłobek Duży in the General Government region of German-occupied Poland. As an ext ...

temporarily before being posted to Italy. He died on 22 December 1944 from the shrapnel wound sustained in an air-raid. He is buried at the German Military Cemetery in Costermano near

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

, Italy.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Potzinger, Karl 1908 births 1944 deaths Aktion T4 personnel SS non-commissioned officers Treblinka extermination camp personnel Sobibor extermination camp personnel Military personnel from Leipzig Deaths by airstrike during World War II Holocaust perpetrators in Poland Sonderabteilung Einsatz R personnel German military personnel killed in World War II

See also

Notes