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.
