Otto Max Koegel (16 October 1895 – 27 June 1946) was a

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

officer who served as a commander at Lichtenburg, Ravensbrück,

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 three gas chambers, two wooden gallows, ...

and

Flossenbürg concentration camp Flossenbürg was a Nazi concentration camp built in May 1938 by the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office. Unlike other concentration camps, it was located in a remote area, in the Fichtel Mountains of Bavaria, adjacent to the town of Flos ...

s. In 1946 he was arrested for his role in

The 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 ...

, but hanged himself in prison before he could stand trial.

Life

Max Koegel was born on 16 October 1895 in

Füssen Füssen () is a Town#Germany, town in Bavaria, Germany, in the district of Ostallgäu, situated one kilometre from the Austrian border. The town is known for violin manufacturing and as the closest transportation hub for the Neuschwanstein and Sc ...

, in the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria ( ; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1806 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German Empire in 1871, the kingd ...

. He was the fourth son of a carpenter who worked at a local furniture factory. Shortly before his sixth birthday, Koegel's mother died from complications during childbirth. In 1907, his father died and Max was sent to live with a family at a nearby farm. He also had to leave school and began training as a shepherd and later worked as a mountain guide. When the First World War broke out, Koegel volunteered to join the Bavarian infantry. He served in the military until 12 January 1919 and reached the rank of

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer. In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corr ...

. He was wounded three times, including once during the

Battle of Verdun The Battle of Verdun ( ; ) was fought from 21 February to 18 December 1916 on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front in French Third Republic, France. The battle was the longest of the First World War and took place on the hills north ...

, and received the Iron Cross second class. After the war, Koegel returned to Bavaria and worked as a customs clerk in

Garmisch-Partenkirchen Garmisch-Partenkirchen (; ) is an Northern Limestone Alps, Alpine mountain resort, ski town in Bavaria, southern Germany. It is the seat of government of the Garmisch-Partenkirchen (district), district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen (abbreviated ...

. In 1920, he left the civil service and opened a souvenir shop. However, four years later he filed for bankruptcy after he was charged with fraud, for which he received a

suspended sentence A suspended sentence is a sentence on conviction for a criminal offence, the serving of which the court orders to be deferred in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation. If the defendant does not break the law during that ...

. He went on to travel for work in Switzerland and Austria before returning to Füssen, where he obtained a job in his father's old furniture factory. At that time, he joined the '' Völkischer Bund'' and '' Bund Oberland'', both extreme nationalist and anti-Semitic organisations. In 1929, Koegel's eight-year-old son died from

measles Measles (probably from Middle Dutch or Middle High German ''masel(e)'', meaning "blemish, blood blister") is a highly contagious, Vaccine-preventable diseases, vaccine-preventable infectious disease caused by Measles morbillivirus, measles v ...

and a short time later, his marriage of ten years ended in divorce. Koegel became a member of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

(#1179781) on 2 May 1932, and of the ''

Schutzstaffel The ''Schutzstaffel'' (; ; SS; also stylised with SS runes as ''ᛋᛋ'') was a major paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II. It beg ...

'' (SS #37644) in June 1932.

Nazi SS service

Koegel became

adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an Officer (armed forces), officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of “human resources” in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed ...

to the

Dachau concentration camp Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...

commander in 1937. From 1938 to 1942 he was first "Direktor" (

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

) and then commander of the labour camp for women in Lichtenburg at Ravensbrück with the rank of ''

Sturmbannführer __NOTOC__ ''Sturmbannführer'' (; ) was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank equivalent to Major (rank), major that was used in several Nazi organizations, such as the Sturmabteilung, SA, Schutzstaffel, SS, and the National Socialist Flyers Corps, NSFK ...

'' (major). In 1942 he was commander of the

extermination camp Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe, primarily in occupied Poland, during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocau ...

and was involved in the installation of

gas chambers A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. History Gener ...

at this site. From 1943 to 1945 he was commander at

Arrest and suicide

After the war, Koegel went on the run and initially managed to evade arrest. However, in June 1946, he was arrested by U.S. occupation forces in

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

. He was sent to a prison in

Schwabach Schwabach () is a German city of about 40,000 inhabitants near Nuremberg in the centre of the region of Franconia in the north of Bavaria. Together with the neighboring cities of Nuremberg, Fürth and Erlangen, Schwabach forms one of the three me ...

. Koegel hanged himself the next day, on 27 June 1946.

References

* Silke Schäfer: ''Zum Selbstverständnis von Frauen im Konzentrationslager. Das Lager Ravensbrück'' Dissertation, TU Berlin 2002. *

Tom Segev Tom Segev (; born March 1, 1945) is an Israeli historian, author and journalist. He is associated with Israel's New Historians, a group critical of many of the country's traditional narratives. Biography Segev was born on March 1, 1945 in Jeru ...

: ''Die Soldaten des Bösen. Zur Geschichte der KZ-Kommandanten''. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1995, . *

Ernst Klee Ernst Klee (15 March 1942, Frankfurt – 18 May 2013, Frankfurt) was a German journalist and author. As a writer on Germany's history, he was best known for his exposure and documentation of medical crimes in Nazi Germany, much of which was conce ...

: ''Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich: Wer war was vor und nach 1945''. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2005. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Koegel, Max 1895 births 1946 suicides 1946 deaths People from Füssen Holocaust perpetrators in Germany Holocaust perpetrators in Poland People from the Kingdom of Bavaria Dachau concentration camp personnel Flossenbürg concentration camp personnel Majdanek concentration camp personnel Ravensbrück concentration camp personnel SS-Obersturmbannführer Nazi concentration camp commandants who died by suicide in prison custody Nazis who died by suicide in Germany Suicides by hanging in Germany Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 2nd class Lichtenburg concentration camp personnel 20th-century Freikorps personnel German Army personnel of World War I Prisoners who died in United States military detention

Life

Nazi SS service

Arrest and suicide

See also

References