Heinrich Barbl
Encyclopedia
Heinrich Barbl was an Austrian
-born SS-Rottenführer
. He participated in the T-4 euthanasia program
and later Operation Reinhard
.
as a gas and waterpipe fitter. He joined the Nazi party and the SS
after the Anschluss
. He was posted to Hartheim
during its construction as part of the T-4 Euthanasia Program
, and also Grafeneck Euthanasia Centre. At both of these institutions he was a Stanzer, stamping sheet metal with names to form nameplates. He would then attach these to urns which he would fill up with ashes. These were then sent to victims' relatives who received a correctly named urn, but invariably with the wrong contents, as he filled them up indistinctively with ashes collected indiscriminately from the adjacent crematorium.
. Barbl was often drunk on duty, and not a particularly intelligent man (perhaps explaining his low rank): a basis on which he was frequently made fun of by his SS colleagues. Commandant and SS-Hauptsturmführer Gottlieb Hering
refused to allow him to participate in the execution of sick and elderly arrivals because, ”he is so daft that he would shoot us, not the Jews", and consequently he was the only person to be excused from this duty. However, no one was certain whether Barbl was genuinely stupid, or if he was merely acting a fool just to avoid more demanding tasks.
Barbl was not exempt from punishment. He was frequently whipped by Christian Wirth
for his drunken behavior, and for an unknown reason in the winter of 1942–1943, Hering had him imprisoned in a concrete bunker for several days, without food or water. While not being known for any acts of cruelty, Barbl was sent to Sobibor extermination camp
by Wirth, using his plumbing skills to help fit the piping for the gas chambers. Barbl boasted that he had made the gas chambers look like neat shower rooms.
on September 6, 1965. No further details are known of his fate.
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
-born SS-Rottenführer
Rottenführer
Rottenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was first created in the year 1932. The rank of Rottenführer was used by several Nazi paramilitary groups, among them the Sturmabteilung , the Schutzstaffel and was senior to the paramilitary rank of Sturmmann.The insignia for Rottenführer...
. He participated in the T-4 euthanasia program
Action T4
Action T4 was the name used after World War II for Nazi Germany's eugenics-based "euthanasia" program during which physicians killed thousands of people who were "judged incurably sick, by critical medical examination"...
and later Operation Reinhard
Operation Reinhard
Operation Reinhard was the code name given to the Nazi plan to murder Polish Jews in the General Government, and marked the most deadly phase of the Holocaust, the use of extermination camps...
.
Early career
Barbl was a tinsmith and plumber, employed at the nitrogen works in LinzLinz
Linz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube. The population of the city is , and that of the Greater Linz conurbation is about...
as a gas and waterpipe fitter. He joined the Nazi party and the SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
after the Anschluss
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
. He was posted to Hartheim
Hartheim Euthanasia Centre
The Hartheim Euthanasia Centre was a Nazi killing centre that was part of their euthanasia programme, since also referred to as Action T4. It was housed in Hartheim Castle in the municipality of Alkoven near Linz in Austria.- Statistics :...
during its construction as part of the T-4 Euthanasia Program
Action T4
Action T4 was the name used after World War II for Nazi Germany's eugenics-based "euthanasia" program during which physicians killed thousands of people who were "judged incurably sick, by critical medical examination"...
, and also Grafeneck Euthanasia Centre. At both of these institutions he was a Stanzer, stamping sheet metal with names to form nameplates. He would then attach these to urns which he would fill up with ashes. These were then sent to victims' relatives who received a correctly named urn, but invariably with the wrong contents, as he filled them up indistinctively with ashes collected indiscriminately from the adjacent crematorium.
Operation Reinhard
In 1942 Barbl was posted to Belzec extermination campBelzec extermination camp
Belzec, Polish spelling Bełżec , was the first of the Nazi German extermination camps created for implementing Operation Reinhard during the Holocaust...
. Barbl was often drunk on duty, and not a particularly intelligent man (perhaps explaining his low rank): a basis on which he was frequently made fun of by his SS colleagues. Commandant and SS-Hauptsturmführer Gottlieb Hering
Gottlieb Hering
Gottlieb Hering was an SS-Hauptsturmführer who served in Action T4 and later as the second and last Commandant of Bełżec extermination camp during Operation Reinhard...
refused to allow him to participate in the execution of sick and elderly arrivals because, ”he is so daft that he would shoot us, not the Jews", and consequently he was the only person to be excused from this duty. However, no one was certain whether Barbl was genuinely stupid, or if he was merely acting a fool just to avoid more demanding tasks.
Barbl was not exempt from punishment. He was frequently whipped by Christian Wirth
Christian Wirth
Christian Wirth was a German police and SS officer who was one of the leading contributors to the program to exterminate the Jewish people of Poland, known as Operation Reinhard....
for his drunken behavior, and for an unknown reason in the winter of 1942–1943, Hering had him imprisoned in a concrete bunker for several days, without food or water. While not being known for any acts of cruelty, Barbl was sent to Sobibor extermination camp
Sobibór extermination camp
Sobibor was a Nazi German extermination camp located on the outskirts of the town of Sobibór, Lublin Voivodeship of occupied Poland as part of Operation Reinhard; the official German name was SS-Sonderkommando Sobibor...
by Wirth, using his plumbing skills to help fit the piping for the gas chambers. Barbl boasted that he had made the gas chambers look like neat shower rooms.
Later years
After the war Barbl was interrogated by Austrian police but was never put on trial. He was accused in the Sobibor Trial in HagenHagen
Hagen is the 39th-largest city in Germany, located in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the eastern edge of the Ruhr area, 15 km south of Dortmund, where the rivers Lenne, Volme and Ennepe meet the river Ruhr...
on September 6, 1965. No further details are known of his fate.