Hans Loritz

Oberführer (Senior Colonel) Hans Loritz (December 12, 1895, Augsburg - January 31, 1946) joined the SS in 1930 and in 1933, began work as an officer at the Dachau concentration camp. In July 1934 he became the commander of KZ Esterwegen where he was the Commandant for two years before being transferred back to serve as Commandant of Dachau until 1939. He became a section leader of the General SS in Klagenfurt. In 1940 Himmler posted him to Sachsenhausen, to replace Walter Eisfeld. That lasted until 1942, when he was removed by the suggestion of Oswald Pohl, leader of the SS-WVHA He was then sent to oversee a camp in Norway.

After the war, he was arrested and imprisoned at the internment camp in Neumünster to await trial by the Soviets; he committed suicide, however, in January 1946.

Bibliography

• Rudolf Hoess, Constantine Fitzgibbon, Primo Levi. Commandant of Auschwitz: The Autobiography of Rudolf Hoess. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2000. ISBN 9781842120248