Anton Thernes
Former SS-Obersturmführer Anton Thernes in front of a penal court on trial for crimes he committed at Majdanek (standing left), 1944
Born(1892-02-08)8 February 1892
German Empire
Died3 December 1944(1944-12-03) (aged 52)
Majdanek, Lublin, Republic of Poland
Cause of deathExecution by hanging
Criminal statusExecuted
Conviction(s)War crimes
TrialMajdanek trials
Criminal penaltyDeath
Military career
AllegianceNazi Germany Nazi Germany
Service/branch Schutzstaffel
Years of serviceuntil 1944
RankObersturmführer
UnitSS-Totenkopfverbände

Anton Thernes (8 February 1892 – 3 December 1944) was a Nazi German war criminal, deputy commandant of administration at the notorious Majdanek concentration camp on the outskirts of Lublin, Poland in World War II.[1][2][3] He was tried at the Majdanek Trials and executed on 3 December 1944, along with five other war criminals, near the gas chambers and the Majdanek crematorium.[2][4]

War crimes

Thernes was married and had six children in Trier before the Nazi German invasion of Poland.[5] A member of the SS, Thernes served as the last administrative chief of KL Lublin / Majdanek. He was also in charge of food and slave labour administration, starvation rationing, and the maintenance of camp structures including the storage depot for property and valuables stolen from the Holocaust victims at the killing centers in Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka.[6]

Showers (left) and gas chambers (right) at Majdanek
The camp's original crematorium with reconstructed wooden building around it, Majdanek c. 2006

Thernes was given the task of destroying the evidence of crimes against humanity and genocide, but ran out of time due to his ineptitude and lethargy.[5] He was unable to destroy the chimneys and set the camp on fire before Soviet forces arrived at the camp outskirts.[5] Thernes was caught by the Soviets and tried at the Majdanek Trials together with his assistant SS-Hauptsturmführer Wilhelm Gerstenmeier. He denied knowing anything, but the proceedings were swamped with testimonial proofs offered by eyewitnesses.[5] During his trial, Thernes said "The people here were mostly Jews, they were not real prisoners of war. I am not a sadist!"[7]

He was executed on 3 December 1944 along with five other war criminals, close to the gas chambers and the Majdanek crematorium.[2][4]

Harvest Festival

During the mere 34 months of camp operation, more than 79,000 people were murdered at the main camp alone (59,000 of them Polish Jews).[8] Some 18,000 Jews were killed at Majdanek on 3 November 1943 during the largest single-day, single-camp massacre of the Holocaust,[9] named Harvest Festival (totalling 43,000 with subcamps).[10]

Notes

  1. ^ Frodon, Jean-Michel, ed. (2010). Majdanek Trial. SUNY Press. p. 249. ISBN 978-1438430287. Retrieved 2013-04-13. ((cite book)): |work= ignored (help)
  2. ^ a b c "Majdanek Concentration Camp". Majdanek, Poland. July 21, 2009. Archived from the original on 2013-02-04. Retrieved 2013-04-13.
  3. ^ Marcus Wendel (Aug 8, 2007). "SS personnel serving at Majdanek". Camp personnel. Axis History. Retrieved April 14, 2013.
  4. ^ a b "Procesy zbrodniarzy (Trials of war criminals) 1946–1948". Wykaz sądzonych członków załogi KL Lublin/Majdanek. KL Lublin. Archived from the original on 2013-10-14. Retrieved 2013-04-14.
  5. ^ a b c d Narration (2013). "Anton Thernes answers questions at the Majdanek Trials. Historical film footage". Majdanek concentration camp. Part 2 of 5. Google+: real life sharing (from Official archives of the Republic of Poland). Retrieved 2013-04-22.
  6. ^ Staff Writer (2006), "Lublin/Majdanek Concentration Camp: Overview", United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, ushmm.org.
  7. ^ Majdanek concentration camp - part 2 of 5, retrieved 2022-08-07
  8. ^ Reszka, Paweł (2005-12-23). "Majdanek Victims Enumerated. Changes in the history textbooks?". Gazeta Wyborcza. Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. Archived from the original on 2011-11-06. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  9. ^ USHMM (May 11, 2012). "Soviet forces liberate Majdanek". Lublin/Majdanek: Chronology. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC. Retrieved 2013-04-13.
  10. ^ Jennifer Rosenberg. "Aktion Erntefest". 20th Century History. About.com Education. Archived from the original on 2016-12-27. Retrieved 2013-04-16.
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