Beichte des Lagerkommandanten von Mauthausen – SS-Standartenführer Franz Ziereis – “Confession of the Commandant of Mauthausen – SS-Standartenführer Franz Ziereis.” A swift testimony given by the commandant of Mauthausen concentration camp, Franz Ziereis, regarding the atrocities he committed there, delivered shortly before his death from wounds sustained after being shot by Allied forces at the end of the war. Published by Arbeitsgemeinschaft Das Licht (“The Light” Working Group) [Germany, 1945] – first edition. In German. Rare.
Franz Ziereis served as the commandant of the Mauthausen concentration camp. After the camp was liberated, Ziereis fled with his wife and son. On May 23, 1945, he was discovered by American soldiers at his hunting lodge in Austria. He attempted to escape but was shot, critically wounded, and captured. Following his capture, he was transferred to a military hospital, where he died from his wounds the next day. His body was later hung on the camp fence by one of the former prisoners. The “confession” presented in this booklet was given by Ziereis while he was severely wounded after the escape attempt, just hours before his death. He died shortly thereafter from his injuries.
His testimony was delivered briefly and with focus, clearly under the pressure of capture – with the proverbial sword at his neck.
He provided information about the conditions in Mauthausen, the mass murder carried out under his command, the torture inflicted on prisoners—especially Jews, details about camp personnel, methods of execution, and more. For example, he stated: “At Mauthausen camp, by order of the SS garrison doctor at the time, SS-Hauptsturmführer Dr. Krebsbach, a gas chamber was built under the guise of a shower facility. In this disguised room, prisoners were gassed using Zyklon B (hydrogen cyanide gas). In addition, a special vehicle was driven from Mauthausen to Gusen, in which prisoners were killed during the journey. The vehicle was ordered by the head of the SS pharmacy at the time, who later became the camp doctor at the Ravensbrück women’s concentration camp – SS-Hauptsturmführer Dr. Wasicky. I personally drove the vehicle only on the route from Mauthausen to Gusen, but I knew that the prisoners would be gassed during the journey. The gassing of the prisoners was carried out on the orders of the SS garrison doctor, Dr. Krebsbach, who, as far as I know, is now in Kassel.” He goes on to describe the execution of a transport of Jews at the camp: “The women and children were barefoot, wearing soaked, lice-ridden clothes. Entire families were in the transport. Countless were shot along the way due to general physical weakness… During one transport of 5,000 Jews from the Mauthausen tent camp to the Gunskirchen camp alone, no fewer than 800 dead were counted – shot during the short four-kilometer march (from Mauthausen camp to the Mauthausen railway bridge). Several trucks had to be used to transport the bodies.”
He also provided information about the execution of a group of Austrians who arrived at the camp on April 29, 1945. He revealed the hiding places of members of the SS high command at Mauthausen, gave details about the use of Zyklon B for mass murder, described how prisoners’ property was looted, and gave important information about Nazi crimes in other camps, such as: Sachsenhausen, Gross-Rosen – “In Gross-Rosen, prisoners were murdered by the camp doctor using intravenous cyanide injections.” Buchenwald – “At Buchenwald, while I was serving in the army, I witnessed how all valuables and money were confiscated from Jewish prisoners… There was extensive trade in the property of Jewish inmates. A sleeping blanket worth 2.20 Reichsmarks was sold to prisoners for 100 Reichsmarks…”. He also gave information about the murder of Dutch Jews in transports that arrived at the camp between 1942–1943, and more. Ziereis’s confession served, among other things, as evidence for the prosecution in the trials of surviving Mauthausen camp officers.
Franz Ziereis [1905–1945], SS officer with the rank of Standartenführer, served as the commandant of the Mauthausen concentration camp for most of its existence. He was appointed to the position in 1939, replacing the camp’s first commander, Albert Sauer, and held the role until the end of World War II in 1945. Under Ziereis’s command, Mauthausen expanded from a relatively small concentration camp into a vast network of satellite camps, primarily across what is today Austria. Mauthausen, under Ziereis’s leadership, became one of the most brutal camps in the entire Nazi concentration camp system. It was classified as a “Grade III” camp, a category designated for prisoners with virtually no chance of survival, and was transformed into a site of extermination through labor. During his tenure, tens of thousands of prisoners were murdered – including Jews, Soviet POWs, Roma, homosexuals, Communists, and political dissidents, through forced labor, starvation, abuse, torture, shootings, hangings, gas executions, and systematic violence. Ziereis himself was known for his personal cruelty, and for overseeing extreme punishments and public executions. In May 1945, after the camp was liberated by the Allies, Ziereis attempted to flee but was captured by the U.S. Army. During his escape attempt, he was shot and critically wounded. While dying, he was interrogated and gave the “confession” contained in this booklet – a document that became one of the key sources for the documentation of Mauthausen’s crimes. He died from his wounds on May 24, 1945.
14 pp. Very good condition.
