August Eigruber

August Eigruber
August Eigruber (on right) with Heinrich Himmler at Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp
Born	16 April 1907 (1907-04-16)
Died	May 28, 1947(1947-05-28) (aged 40) Landsberg am Lech
Cause	Execution
Motive	Nazism
Conviction(s)	Crimes against humanity at Mauthausen concentration camp.
Penalty	Death by hanging
Occupation	Nazi Gauleiter of Oberdonau (Upper Danube) and Landeshauptmann of Upper Austria. Held other offices.

August Eigruber (16 April 1907 – 28 May 1947) was an Austrian-born Nazi Gauleiter of Oberdonau (Upper Danube) and Landeshauptmann of Upper Austria, later hanged by the Allies.

Early life and Nazi career

Born in Steyr, Austria, after finishing middle school, Eigruber underwent training in geodesy and fine mechanics at the Austrian Federal Teaching Institution for Iron- and Steelworking. Thereafter, he was active in his profession. In November 1922 he joined the National Socialist Worker Youth of Austria, whose leader he became in 1925. In April 1928, he joined the Nazi Party, whose Steyr-Land district leadership he took up in October 1930. For his activities in the NSDAP, which was banned in Austria, Eigruber was sentenced to several months in prison.

From May 1935, Eigruber was the Gau Director (Gaugeschäftsführer) for the banned Party in the Upper Austria Gau, and he took over complete leadership of the Gau as of 1936. After Anschluss, he was appointed Landeshauptmann on 14 March 1938. From 10 April 1938 he furthermore functioned as a ministerial adviser. Shortly before this, in March 1938, Eigruber joined the SA, in which he bore the rank of Brigadeführer.

Rise to power in Nazi state

On 22 May 1938, he transferred to the SS as a Standartenführer. On 1 April 1940, he was installed as Reich Governor (Reichstatthalter) of Oberdonau, which in November 1942 led to his appointment as Reich Defence Commissar (Reichsverteidigungskommissar). In June 1943, Eigruber was promoted to SS-Obergruppenführer.

Conviction and execution for crimes against humanity

Right after Germany's unconditional surrender in May 1945, Eigruber was arrested in the Salzkammergut by the United States Army, and he was questioned as a witness at the Nuremberg Trials. In the Mauthausen-Gusen camp trials, Eigruber was sentenced in March 1946 by the Dachau International Military Tribunal to death by hanging for his responsibility for crimes at Mauthausen concentration camp. The sentence was carried out in the prison yard at Landsberg am Lech on May 28, 1947.

References

• Florian Freund: Der Mauthausen-Prozeß, in: Dachauer Hefte 13 - Gericht und Gerechtigkeit; Hrsg.: Comité International de Dachau, Brüssel 1997
• Ernst Klee: Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich: Wer war was vor und nach 1945. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8.
• Erich Stockhorst: 5000 Köpfe – Wer war was im Dritten Reich. Arndt, Kiel 2000, ISBN 3-88741-116-1.