August Eigruber
| August Eigruber | |
|---|---|
|
August Eigruber (on right) with Heinrich Himmler at Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp | |
| Born | 16 April 1907 |
| Died |
28 May 1947 (aged 40) Landsberg Prison, Landsberg am Lech |
| Cause of death | Execution |
| Occupation | Nazi Gauleiter of Oberdonau (Upper Danube) and Landeshauptmann of Upper Austria. Held other offices. |
| Criminal penalty | Death by hanging |
| Motive | Nazism |
| Conviction(s) | Crimes against humanity at Mauthausen concentration camp. |
August Eigruber (16 April 1907 – 28 May 1947) was an Austrian-born Nazi Gauleiter of Reichsgau 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
In September 1938, Gauleiter Eigruber attended the Reichsparteitag in Nuremberg. When Passau National Socialists met at the Deutschmeister Inn, Eigruber joined his allies and reminisced about their venture during the Kampfjahre.[1]
He rose to the rank of Brigadeführer in January 1939 and to that of Gruppenführer in 1940.
In July 1940, the Donau-Zeitung announced that August Eigruber would travel to Passau by ship. There, he would be ceremonially welcomed at City Hall, and attend the latest play by Hans Baumann.[2]
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 the rank of SS-Obergruppenführer.
Conviction and execution
Immediately 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 Prison, Landsberg am Lech on 28 May 1947.
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to August Eigruber. |
- ↑ Anna Rosmus Hitlers Nibelungen, Samples Grafenau 2015, pp. 173f
- ↑ Anna Rosmus Hitlers Nibelungen, Samples Grafenau 2015, pp. 256f
- 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.
- Gauleiter: The Regional Leaders Of The Nazi Party And Their Deputies, 1925-1945 (Herbert Albrecht-H. Wilhelm Huttmann)-Volume 1 by Michael D. Miller and Andreas Schulz R. James Bender Publishing, 2012.