Georg Konrad Morgen
Encyclopedia
Georg Konrad Morgen was an SS judge
and lawyer who investigated crimes committed in Nazi concentration camps
.
, he graduated from the University of Frankfurt
and the Hague Academy of International Law
, before becoming a judge in Stettin.
Considered a pacifist by many, Morgen published the book War Propaganda and the Prevention of War in 1936, a year after first meeting Adolf Hitler
, arguing against the militarization of Germany. It was published by the Reich.
As a Sturmbannführer
(Major), he was ordered to serve in the Wiking Division
on the Eastern Front as punishment for insubordination. In 1943, now a Judge-Advocate in the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) while still retaining his SS-Major rank, Morgen was sent to investigate other SS members on charges of corruption. During one such mid-1943 investigation he attempted to enter the Treblinka extermination camp, but was thrown out bodily. During October-November of 1943, Morgan looked into rumors that SS-General Odilo Globocnik, former commandant of Jewish labor camps in the Lublin district of eastern Poland, had assembled an enormous personal trove of valuables confiscated from the inmates. Though unable to bring charges, he became in the course of this investigation an incidental eyewitness to part of Operation Harvest Festival: a pre-emptive liquidation of three large (at Majdanek, Poniatowa
, and Trawniki
) and several smaller Jewish labor camps in the Lublin district. The operation was ordered by Reichsfuehrer-SS Heinrich Himmler
after the RSHA learned that these Jews were in contact with communist partisans and stockpiling weapons; during the mass executions, which took place on the spot, some 43,000 male and female prisoners were shot. At Poniatowa, on November 4th, Morgen witnessed the entire drama, as the camp inmates - "6,000 Jews and 9,500 Jewesses"- reported to the execution site, surrendered their personal effects and clothing, then went naked to open, self-prepared trenches in order to be shot one-by-one: "all passed silently and methodically through the trenches, so the executions went very quickly." When Walter Toebbens, owner of the factories at Poniatowa, arrived during the liquidation and attempted to protest the annihilation of his workforce, he was "stopped by Morgen and ordered not to interfere", and the executions continued without interruption.
Though he considered centrally-authorized mass killings like that at Poniatowa and the Final Solution of the Jewish problem through physical extermination to be outside his formal jurisdiction, Morgen went on to prosecute so many Nazi officers for individual violations that by the following April, Himmler personally ordered him to restrain his cases. Nonetheless, he went on to investigate Auschwitz camp commandant Rudolf Hoess on charges of having "unlawful relations" with a Jewish woman prisoner, Eleanor Hodys; Hoess was, for a time, removed from his command and these proceedings incidentally saved Hody's life. During the same period, though, Morgen's assistant Gerhard Putsch disappeared, never to be heard from again. Some theorized that this was another warning for Morgen to ease up on his activities, and his headquarters was shortly thereafter burned down. Among others he investigated was the commandant of Buchenwald and Majdanek Karl-Otto Koch, husband of Ilse Koch
, as well as the Buchenwald concentration camp's doctor Waldemar Hoven
, who was accused of murdering both inmates and camp guards who threatened to testify against Koch. He later testified at the Nuremberg trials
where he claimed the stories of Koch's fetish with lampshades made of human skin were merely a legend. Indeed, he kept denouncing this while being threatened with beatings and while actually being beaten twice by his Allied investigators after the war. Later Morgen stated that he fought for justice during the Nazi
era, and cited his long list of 800 investigations into criminal activity at concentration camps during his two years of activity.
After the war, Morgen continued his legal career in Frankfurt. He died on 4 February 1982.
Hauptamt SS-Gericht
The Hauptamt SS-Gericht was the legal department of the SS during the Third Reich. It was responsible for formulating the laws and codes that the SS and various other groups of the secret police and Wehrmacht were to adhere to, as well as administering the SS and Police Courts and penal...
and lawyer who investigated crimes committed in Nazi concentration camps
Nazi concentration camps
Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps set up in Germany were greatly expanded after the Reichstag fire of 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...
.
Life
Born to a railwayman in FrankfurtFrankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, he graduated from the University of Frankfurt
Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
The Goethe University Frankfurt was founded in 1914 as a Citizens' University, which means that, while it was a State university of Prussia, it had been founded and financed by the wealthy and active liberal citizenry of Frankfurt am Main, a unique feature in German university history...
and the Hague Academy of International Law
Hague Academy of International Law
The Hague Academy of International Law is a center for high-level education in both public and private international law housed in the Peace Palace in The Hague, The Netherlands...
, before becoming a judge in Stettin.
Considered a pacifist by many, Morgen published the book War Propaganda and the Prevention of War in 1936, a year after first meeting Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, arguing against the militarization of Germany. It was published by the Reich.
As a Sturmbannführer
Sturmbannführer
Sturmbannführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party equivalent to major, used both in the Sturmabteilung and the Schutzstaffel...
(Major), he was ordered to serve in the Wiking Division
5th SS Panzer Division Wiking
The 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking was one of the elite Panzer divisions of the thirty eight Waffen SS divisions. It was recruited from foreign volunteers, from Scandinavia, Finland, Estonia, The Netherlands, and Belgium under the command of German officers...
on the Eastern Front as punishment for insubordination. In 1943, now a Judge-Advocate in the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) while still retaining his SS-Major rank, Morgen was sent to investigate other SS members on charges of corruption. During one such mid-1943 investigation he attempted to enter the Treblinka extermination camp, but was thrown out bodily. During October-November of 1943, Morgan looked into rumors that SS-General Odilo Globocnik, former commandant of Jewish labor camps in the Lublin district of eastern Poland, had assembled an enormous personal trove of valuables confiscated from the inmates. Though unable to bring charges, he became in the course of this investigation an incidental eyewitness to part of Operation Harvest Festival: a pre-emptive liquidation of three large (at Majdanek, Poniatowa
Poniatowa
Poniatowa is a town in southeastern Poland, in Opole Lubelskie County, in Lublin Voivodship, with 10,500 inhabitants .-Historical antecedents:A village named Poniatowa had existed near the site of the present town for about 750 years...
, and Trawniki
Trawniki concentration camp
Trawniki concentration camp, in the village of Trawniki about 40 km southeast of Lublin in Poland, was an SS labour camp which provided forced labourers for a nearby industrial plant to work in appalling conditions with little food...
) and several smaller Jewish labor camps in the Lublin district. The operation was ordered by Reichsfuehrer-SS Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
after the RSHA learned that these Jews were in contact with communist partisans and stockpiling weapons; during the mass executions, which took place on the spot, some 43,000 male and female prisoners were shot. At Poniatowa, on November 4th, Morgen witnessed the entire drama, as the camp inmates - "6,000 Jews and 9,500 Jewesses"- reported to the execution site, surrendered their personal effects and clothing, then went naked to open, self-prepared trenches in order to be shot one-by-one: "all passed silently and methodically through the trenches, so the executions went very quickly." When Walter Toebbens, owner of the factories at Poniatowa, arrived during the liquidation and attempted to protest the annihilation of his workforce, he was "stopped by Morgen and ordered not to interfere", and the executions continued without interruption.
Though he considered centrally-authorized mass killings like that at Poniatowa and the Final Solution of the Jewish problem through physical extermination to be outside his formal jurisdiction, Morgen went on to prosecute so many Nazi officers for individual violations that by the following April, Himmler personally ordered him to restrain his cases. Nonetheless, he went on to investigate Auschwitz camp commandant Rudolf Hoess on charges of having "unlawful relations" with a Jewish woman prisoner, Eleanor Hodys; Hoess was, for a time, removed from his command and these proceedings incidentally saved Hody's life. During the same period, though, Morgen's assistant Gerhard Putsch disappeared, never to be heard from again. Some theorized that this was another warning for Morgen to ease up on his activities, and his headquarters was shortly thereafter burned down. Among others he investigated was the commandant of Buchenwald and Majdanek Karl-Otto Koch, husband of Ilse Koch
Ilse Koch
Ilse Koch, née Köhler , was the wife of Karl-Otto Koch, commandant of the Nazi concentration camps Buchenwald from 1937 to 1941, and Majdanek from 1941 to 1943...
, as well as the Buchenwald concentration camp's doctor Waldemar Hoven
Waldemar Hoven
Waldemar Hoven was a Nazi and a physician at Buchenwald concentration camp.Hoven was born in Freiburg, Germany. Between the years 1919 and 1933, he visited Denmark, Sweden, the United States, and France, returning in 1933 to Freiburg, where he completed his high school studies. He then attended...
, who was accused of murdering both inmates and camp guards who threatened to testify against Koch. He later testified at the Nuremberg trials
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
where he claimed the stories of Koch's fetish with lampshades made of human skin were merely a legend. Indeed, he kept denouncing this while being threatened with beatings and while actually being beaten twice by his Allied investigators after the war. Later Morgen stated that he fought for justice during the Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
era, and cited his long list of 800 investigations into criminal activity at concentration camps during his two years of activity.
Indicted
- Karl-Otto Koch – Commandant of Buchenwald and MajdanekMajdanekMajdanek was a German Nazi concentration camp on the outskirts of Lublin, Poland, established during the German Nazi occupation of Poland. The camp operated from October 1, 1941 until July 22, 1944, when it was captured nearly intact by the advancing Soviet Red Army...
– executed for the murder of two hospital orderlies who had treated him for syphilisSyphilisSyphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis... - Martin SommerMartin SommerWalter Gerhard Martin Sommer was an SS Hauptscharführer who served as a guard at the concentration camps of Dachau and Buchenwald...
– Buchenwald officer, indicted along with Koch. Transferred to the Russian FrontEastern Front (World War II)The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
. - Hauptscharfuehrer Blanck – Buchenwald officer, indicted along with Koch. Unknown.
- Hermann FlorstedtHermann FlorstedtHermann Florstedt , born in Bitsch, became the third Commandant of Majdanek concentration camp in October 1942.A World War I veteran, Florstedt was awarded the Iron Cross....
– Commandant of Majdanek – executed for murder - Hermann HackmannHermann HackmannSS-Hauptsturmführer Heinrich Hackmann served as the lead guard in charge of protective custody at Majdanek concentration camp in German-occupied Poland. Hackmann came from Osnabruck and held the post of roll call officer at Buchenwald before Majdanek, at the age of 26...
– in charge of protective custody in Majdanek – condemned to death for murder but eventually posted to a penal unit - Hans LoritzHans LoritzOberführer Hans Loritz 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...
– Commandant of OranienburgOranienburgOranienburg is a town in Brandenburg, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Oberhavel.- Geography :Oranienburg is a town located on the banks of the Havel river, 35 km north of the centre of Berlin.- Division of the town :...
– proceedings initiated on suspicion of arbitrary killing - Adam GrünewaldAdam GrünewaldAdam Grünewald was a German Schutzstaffel officer and Nazi concentration camp commandant....
– Commandant of 's-Hertogenbosch – found guilty of maltreatment of prisoners and posted to a penal unit - Karl Kuenstler – Commandant of Flossenbürg concentration campFlossenbürg concentration campKonzentrationslager Flossenbürg was a Nazi concentration camp built in May 1938 by the Schutzstaffel Economic-Administrative Main Office at Flossenbürg, in the Oberpfalz region of Bavaria, Germany, near the border with Czechoslovakia. Until its liberation in April 1945, more than 96,000 prisoners...
– dismissed for drunkenness and debauchery - Alex Piorkowski – Commandant of the Dachau concentration camp – accused of murder but not sentenced
- Maximilian GrabnerMaximilian GrabnerMaximilian Grabner was a Austrian Gestapo chief in Auschwitz. At Auschwitz, the infamous torture chamber Block 11 was Grabner's own empire.-Early Life:...
– Head of Political Section in Auschwitz – accused of murder but not sentenced. - Gerhard PalitzschGerhard PalitzschGerhard Palitzsch , was a German SS non-commissioned officer, notorious for his activities in Auschwitz concentration camp....
– Sentenced to prison - Amon GöthAmon GöthAmon Leopold Göth was an Austrian Nazi and the commandant of the Nazi concentration camp at Płaszów, General Government...
– Sentenced to death and executed by the Polish government after the war. - Hans AumeierHans AumeierHans Aumeier was a Nazi war criminal, an SS-Sturmbannführer and the deputy commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp.-Life before the War:...
– Tried, convicted and executed in 1948 by the Polish government.
After the war, Morgen continued his legal career in Frankfurt. He died on 4 February 1982.