Guillotine execution of Nazi doctor who wanted to "cheer up" Auschwitz inmates with electric shocks

The 1st of September 1939.  Nazi Germany invades Poland which marks the beginning of the Second World War. In May of the following year, the Germans establish Auschwitz concentration camp, located  around 60 km west of Krakow.

The direct reason for the establishment of the camp is the fact that  mass arrests of Poles are increasing beyond the capacity of existing "local" prisons. In October  1941, the Nazis begin construction of Birkenau, which will become the largest of the more than  40 camps and sub-camps making up the Auschwitz complex. From March 1942, Auschwitz-Birkenau  plays a central role in the German effort to kill the Jews of Europe and approximately 1  million people—probably about 90 percent of the victims of Auschwitz Concentration  Camp – will die there.

Among the camp’s Nazi personnel is a German doctor who as member  of the SS, participates in selections for the gas chambers and conducts experiments on the  camps’ prisoners. His name is Horst Fischer. Horst Paul Silvester Fischer was born on 31  December 1912 in Drsden, then part of the German Empire.

After the death of his parents,  he grew up as an orphan and was raised by his uncle in Berlin. Under his uncle's care, he was  instilled with völkisch-nationalist values, which emphasized a sense of ethnic purity and strong  national identity. These early influences would shape his worldview and later play a significant  role in his political and ideological beliefs.

In his youth, Fischer became involved  with the Bündische Jugend, a German youth movement that emerged in the 1920s. The movement  promoted outdoor activities, self-discipline, and a sense of community, focusing on a return  to nature and fostering independence among young people. These ideals appealed to Fischer,  reinforcing his growing sense of nationalism and his commitment to traditional values.

In 1932, Fischer began studying medicine at the University of Berlin, completing his studies  with the state examination five years later. On 30 January 1933, Adolf Hitler was  appointed Chancellor of Germany by President Paul von Hindenburg. In November the same year, Fischer became a member of the SS, and in  May 1937 he also joined the Nazi Party.

The Second World War started on 1 September  1939, when Germany invaded Poland. The early stages of the war saw rapid German  advances in Europe, with the fall of Poland, the invasion of France, and the evacuation  of British forces from Dunkirk in 1940. After the outbreak of the war, Fischer  initially served in various roles as a medical officer with the Waffen-SS, the  military branch of the SS, participating both in military operations and at concentration  camps such as Dachau and Sachsenhausen.

On Sunday, 22 June 1941, under  the codename Operation Barbarossa, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Fischer took part in the invasion of the Soviet Union, but after contracting  tuberculosis, he was removed from frontline duty. During his recovery at  a sanatorium, Fischer met Enno Lolling, the head of Office D III of the SS Main  Economic and Administrative Office, which was responsible for overseeing medical services  and hygiene in concentration camps.

Lolling, impressed by Fischer’s medical background, offered  him a position in a concentration camp to enhance his surgical skills. Fischer accepted, and a few  months later, he received a call-up order to serve as a camp doctor at Auschwitz-Birkenau  located in German-occupied Poland. Birkenau was the largest of the more than 40 camps  and sub-camps that made up the Auschwitz complex.

It was divided into ten sections, separated by  electrified barbed-wire fences, and patrolled by SS guards, including—after 1942—SS dog handlers. During its three years of operation, Birkenau served multiple functions. When construction  began in October 1941, it was initially planned to be a camp for 125,000 prisoners of war. 

It opened as a branch of Auschwitz in March 1942 and simultaneously operated as a center for  the extermination of Jews. In its final phase, starting in 1944, it also became a holding  area where prisoners were concentrated before being transferred to forced labor in  German industry throughout the Third Reich. As part of their duties, medical staff at  Auschwitz performed so-called "selections.

" The purpose of these selections was to  identify people who were unable to work, whom the SS considered "useless eaters"  and who were subsequently murdered. When transports of Jews arrived at Birkenau,  the camp medical personnel selected able-bodied adults for forced labor. Those not  selected, including children and the elderly, were sent to the gas chambers to be murdered.

Fischer arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau on 6 November 1942. From November 1943 to September  1944, he served as the chief doctor at the Monowitz concentration camp, a subcamp of  Auschwitz, where prisoners were forced to perform labor for the chemical company IG  Farben. This company played a critical role in the Nazi war effort, producing synthetic  rubber and fuel, and also supplied Zyklon B, the gas used in the extermination chambers, which  in Auschwitz killed over one million people.

At Monowitz, the conditions for forced laborers  were brutal. Due to the inhuman labor conditions, the maximum life expectancy for workers was  only six months. During his time at Auschwitz, Fischer played a direct role in the deaths of  tens of thousands of prisoners by performing selections on the ramp, in the prison  hospital, on the roll-call grounds and in the barracks as well as among the work units.

In addition, Fischer was responsible for approving flogging sentences of 5 to 25  lashes in 71 cases, and in 51 instances, he personally witnessed the punishments being  carried out. He also participated in experiments using electroshock devices, allegedly to  boost the morale of depressed prisoners. Beginning in April 1943, Fischer regularly  worked at the selection ramp and decided who would be sent to forced labor and who would go  directly to the gas chambers.

His selections often targeted the most vulnerable, including mothers  with children, the elderly, and the sick. When asked after the war if he sent these groups  to their deaths, Fischer chillingly replied: "If I was on duty, I would send them all to be  gassed. " He even admitted to timing the deaths in the gas chambers through a peephole.

In total, it is estimated that he was directly responsible for sending at least 70,000  prisoners to their deaths in the gas chambers. The horrifying level of involvement weighed heavily  on Fischer, and during his time at the camp, he reportedly remarked: "We have gone  so far that we can no longer go back. " In June 1944, Fischer was  promoted to Hauptsturmführer, the equivalent of a captain, making him one of  the highest-ranking SS doctors at Auschwitz.

The Second World War in Europe officially ended  on 8 May 1945. Shortly after, the Iron Curtain descended across the continent, dividing it into  capitalist West and communist East. Like Europe, Germany was also split into two parts.

Horst  Fischer chose to remain in East Germany and continue working as a doctor. To conceal his  Nazi past, he had his SS blood group tattoo removed. He got married, had four children,  and lived the life of a middle-class citizen.

In April 1960, the Central Office for the  Investigation of National Socialist Crimes in Ludwigsburg, West Germany, issued an arrest  warrant for Horst Fischer but failed to locate him. It was not until April 1964 that the  Ministry for State Security of East Germany, known as the Stasi, became aware of Fischer.  Surprisingly, it was not his Nazi past that initially caught their attention but his contacts  in West Germany.

Fischer drew suspicion after crossing the border into West Germany and making  negative remarks about East Germany. The Stasi contacted West German officials, who provided them  with evidence of Fischer’s crimes during the war. In June 1965, Fischer was arrested and placed in  pretrial detention.

The Stasi carefully planned the operation, fearing he might flee to the  West or take his own life if he discovered the investigation. The arrest occurred just before  eight in the morning when three Stasi agents, posing as traffic police, visited Fischer’s  practice under the pretext of investigating a car accident involving a Mercedes. Fischer,  the owner of a Mercedes 190, was led to the garage where he was arrested and taken to prison.

The operation’s secrecy was vital as the Stasi feared losing their "valuable capture. " With  high-profile Auschwitz trials taking place in Frankfurt am Main in West Germany, East  Germany saw an opportunity to strengthen its anti-Nazi image. By capturing Fischer, the  former SS-Hauptsturmführer at Auschwitz, East Germany had apprehended the highest-ranking SS  doctor ever to stand trial before a German court.

The trial of Horst Fischer began in March  1966 before the Supreme Court of East Germany. Fischer faced accusations of conducting  selections, overseeing murders in gas chambers, and procuring Zyklon B for these atrocities. To  support these charges, the prosecution sometimes referred to Fischer's own statements and sketches  of the camps.

In cases where evidence was less compelling, the prosecutor relied heavily  on Fischer's confessions. His personal records and sketches were also presented  as evidence. The trial lasted about a week, and Fischer was found guilty of crimes against  humanity.

Hoping for a life sentence in exchange for his confession, Fischer fully cooperated with  the investigation. He admitted that the murders, and the Holocaust as a whole, were premeditated.  Fischer explained that deportees were used for slave labor until they were too weak to  work, at which point they were gassed.

Cooperation with state authorities,  however, did not help him escape justice. On 25 March 1966, Fischer was convicted of  "repeated crimes against humanity" and sentenced to death. After his clemency request was rejected  by Chairman of the State Council, Walter Ulbricht, the 53-year-old Fischer was executed on 8 July  1966 by guillotine at the central execution facility in Leipzig.

Fischer's remains were  cremated, and he was buried in an unmarked grave. There were no tears sched for  Horst Fischer.