KZ Gross - Rosen, Erich Günther

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Pietka20
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Posts: 2
Joined: 08 Feb 2023, 19:13
Location: Poland

KZ Gross - Rosen, Erich Günther

#1

Post by Pietka20 » 08 Feb 2023, 19:59

In 1946, the Polish militia detained a certain Erich Günther. Michał Jędrocha, a resident of the village of Hertwigswaldau (now Snowidza in Poland), pointed him out as a former camp doctor from KZ Gross-Rosen, who was the Lagerführer, i.e. the main camp doctor. At the initial stage of the investigation, Erich Günther admitted that he had been a camp doctor from 1942 to 1945. He claimed to be of Danish descent. He was to be born on August 6, 1908 in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, in the town of Preetz. In Denmark, he passed his final exams, then studied medicine for two quarters, then moved to Berlin, where he studied four quarters, and then finished his studies in Marburg. In 1933 he went to Africa. Until 1937, he was to study in Mozambique, where he was a doctor on a German farm. In September 1937, he returned to Germany and was sent as a doctor to the Sachsenhausen camp, where he was until 1940. In his testimony, he stated that he had been in the "Gross-Rosen prison" since 1940. In February 1945, he was supposed to leave for Czechoslovakia - in February 1945, the Gross-Rosen headquarters evacuated to a branch of the AL Reichenau camp in the Czech Republic. Today it is Rychnov u Jablonec nad Nisou. He claimed to be a member of the Nazi Party and the Waffen SS. After 5 days, he changed his version and testified that he was not a camp doctor, but a prisoner, both in Gross-Rosen in the years 1940 - 1942, and earlier in Sachsenhausen. In 1942, he was to be released to police supervision and lived in Gross-Rosen until 1943. This year he was sent to the town of Brusy (ger. Bruß) in the Chojnice poviat (ger. Konitz), where he was supposed to build a sewage system as an SS civilian worker. He claimed that he was not only a doctor, but also an engineer. In 1944 he was to be conscripted into the army and sent to Grudziądz. In March 1945, after capturing Grudziądz, the Russians were to intern him. There he was to receive documents to prove that he was Danish. From there he went to Hertwigswaldau. After the second interrogation, he was arrested and imprisoned in Jawor, and then in Świdnica. In subsequent explanations, he stated that he came to the vicinity of Jawor, because his friend Charlotte Lindner lived there, who allegedly gave birth to his child. He then stated that he had forged the certificate that he was Danish. To confirm the story of his stay in Brusy, he will call witnesses - Jan Pański, Gabriela Bruska (Jan Pański's sister-in-law) and Ludmiła Zielińska (Gabriel Bruska's sister. They all confirmed that they knew Günther, but they give the name Erwin, not Erich. During the trial, only one the witness, Michał Jędrocha, consistently testified that Günther was a doctor in the Gross-Rosen camp who took part in the extermination of prisoners, but the court decided that this was insufficient evidence and released Günther from custody, after which he disappeared and is nowhere else in the documents didn't show up.
This story raises many doubts, initially Günther claimed to be a camp doctor, later a prisoner. What was the purpose of it? When she claimed to be a prisoner in her testimony, she did not talk about the trauma, the stress of camp life, the bidding of the camp guards and Kaop, which was an integral part of the testimonies of all prisoners. The witnesses from Brus spoke of Erwin, not Erich ..... so who was Erich Günther? Were his details true? There was no doctor with such data in the Gross-Rosen camp. Maybe some of you know? Maybe someone has an idea? Does anyone have any documentation or tips? Thanks in advance for any information that could help solve this mystery.

Pietka20
Member
Posts: 2
Joined: 08 Feb 2023, 19:13
Location: Poland

Re: KZ Gross - Rosen, Erich Günther

#2

Post by Pietka20 » 10 Feb 2023, 16:13

I should add, that there is a book of polish writer Agnieszka Dobkiewicz "Little Nuremberg, stories of executioners from Gross-Rosen". She suggests, that this Gunther could be Josef Mengele .....


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