Fritz Klein (Nazi)
| Fritz Klein | |
|---|---|
 Fritz Klein at his trial in 1945. |
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| Born | November 24, 1888 Feketehalom, Austria-Hungary |
| Died | December 13, 1945 (aged 57) Hamelin, West Germany |
| Allegiance |  Nazi Germany |
| Service/branch |  Schutzstaffel |
| Other work | Hanged for atrocities committed at Bergen-Belsen, Auschwitz and other concentration camps |
Fritz Klein (November 24, 1888 – December 13, 1945) was a German Nazi physician hanged for his role in atrocities at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp during the Holocaust.
Klein was born in Feketehalom, Austria-Hungary (now Codlea in central Romania).[1] He studied medicine and completed his military service in Romania, finishing his studies in Budapest after World War I. He lived as a doctor in Siebenbürgen (Transylvania), becoming a member of the Nazi Party very early. In May 1943 he joined the Waffen-SS and was posted to Yugoslavia.
On 15 December 1943, he arrived in Auschwitz concentration camp, where he at first served as a camp doctor in the women’s camp in Birkenau. Subsequently he worked as a camp doctor in the Gypsy camp. He also participated in numerous selections ("Selektionen") on the ramp. In December 1944 he was transferred to Neuengamme concentration camp, from where he was sent to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in January 1945.
When asked how he reconciled his actions with his ethical obligations as a physician, Klein famously stated:
"My Hippocratic oath tells me to cut a gangrenous appendix out of the human body. The Jews are the gangrenous appendix of mankind. That's why I cut them out."[2]
He was a defendant during the Belsen Trial and was found guilty and sentenced to death.[3] He was subsequently hanged by British executioner Albert Pierrepoint at Hamelin Prison.
[edit] References
- ^ Onciu, Camelia "Bestia in halat alb" Monitorul Expres (April 15, 2008) Retrieved October 15, 2010. (Romanian)
- ^ Brueggemann, Rudy Mad Science And Criminal Medicine (2000) Retrieved October 15, 2010.
- ^ The Belsen Trial Scrapbookpages.com. Retrieved October 15, 2010.
[edit] Further reading
- Lifton, Robert Jay (1986). The Nazi doctors: medical killing and the psychology of genocide. Basic Books.
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