Johann Schwarzhuber

Johann Schwarzhuber (29 August 1904 – 3 May 1947) was a German SS-Obersturmführer, who was in charge of various concentration subcamps during World War II. His positions included the Schutzhaftlagerführer of the Auschwitz-Birkenau men's camp, where he oversaw the selection process for the gassing of thousands of detainees. He was later transferred to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, where he held the post of the Lagerdirektor, second only to the overall camp commander Fritz Suhren. With Suhren on the run, Schwarzhuber was the highest-ranking defendant during the first Ravensbrück trial. In front of the British military tribunal he was indicted for war crimes, sentenced to death and subsequently executed in 1947. Schwarzhuber was born on 29 August 1904 in Tutzing, at this time part of the Kingdom of Bavaria in the German Empire. He trained as a printer and married his wife in 1936, with whom he fathered two children. As an early supporter during the rise of Nazism he joined the NSDAP and the SS in 1933. By 1935 he was trained for the position as block leader in the Dachau concentration camp. At the outbreak of World War II he was transferred to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where he acted as commander of the Klinkerwerk sub-camp. In September 1941 Schwarzhuber was again reassigned and moved to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. As a Lagerführer, he was responsible for several inmate blocks and regularly mingled with the prisoners. He was regularly drunk at work and built up relationships with some of the Kapos. Nevertheless, he fulfilled his job dutifully as overseer of parts of the extermination camp. In November 1943 he was promoted to Schutzhaftlagerführer and took over the command of the Auschwitz men's camp. In this position he was also responsible for the selection process, which determined who was sent to the work camps and which prisoners were sent to the gas chambers. Thousands of inmates who were chosen by Schwarzhuber during this process were immediately killed.