Anton Thumann

Confirmed findings

• Anton Thumann was born on 31 October 1912 at Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm. He held senior prisoner-camp posts at Majdanek and Neuengamme. (Source: Stiftung Hamburger Gedenkstätten und Lernorte / Offenes Archiv, pp. 1–4 (posts, executions of 13 women and 58 men on 21/23 April 1945, judgment and execution); TNA WO 235/167; Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Photograph metadata and caption identifying Anton Thumann)
• The trial evidence individualises his participation in the executions of thirteen women and fifty-eight men at Neuengamme on 21 and 23 April 1945. (Source: Stiftung Hamburger Gedenkstätten und Lernorte / Offenes Archiv, pp. 1–4 (posts, executions of 13 women and 58 men on 21/23 April 1945, judgment and execution); TNA WO 235/167)
• A British military court sentenced him to death on 3 May 1946; he was hanged at Hameln on 8 October 1946. (Source: Stiftung Hamburger Gedenkstätten und Lernorte / Offenes Archiv, pp. 1–4 (posts, executions of 13 women and 58 men on 21/23 April 1945, judgment and execution); TNA WO 235/167; Source: Porta Polonica, Section “Curiohaus”; defendant no. 3 and judgment; Source: Lernwerkstatt Neuengamme, Table “Neuengamme Camp Case No. 1,” item 3)

Place in the chain of responsibility

Thumann’s responsibility encompasses senior functions in the prisoner regime and participation in two specific executions near the end of Neuengamme. The profile does not rest on rank or assignment alone. (Source: Stiftung Hamburger Gedenkstätten und Lernorte / Offenes Archiv, pp. 1–4 (posts, executions of 13 women and 58 men on 21/23 April 1945, judgment and execution); TNA WO 235/167; Source: Porta Polonica, Section “Curiohaus”; defendant no. 3 and judgment)

Key events and mechanisms

• 21 and 23 April 1945 – participated in the executions of thirteen women and fifty-eight men at Neuengamme (Source: Stiftung Hamburger Gedenkstätten und Lernorte / Offenes Archiv, pp. 1–4 (posts, executions of 13 women and 58 men on 21/23 April 1945, judgment and execution); TNA WO 235/167)
• 3 May 1946 – death sentence in the main Neuengamme trial (Source: Stiftung Hamburger Gedenkstätten und Lernorte / Offenes Archiv, pp. 1–4 (posts, executions of 13 women and 58 men on 21/23 April 1945, judgment and execution); TNA WO 235/167)
• 8 October 1946 – execution at Hameln (Source: Stiftung Hamburger Gedenkstätten und Lernorte / Offenes Archiv, pp. 1–4 (posts, executions of 13 women and 58 men on 21/23 April 1945, judgment and execution); TNA WO 235/167; Source: Porta Polonica, Section “Curiohaus”; defendant no. 3 and judgment; Source: Lernwerkstatt Neuengamme, Table “Neuengamme Camp Case No. 1,” item 3)

Postwar accountability

In the first British Neuengamme staff trial at the Curiohaus, Thumann was defendant no. 3 and received a death sentence. He was executed at Hameln on 8 October 1946. (Source: Stiftung Hamburger Gedenkstätten und Lernorte / Offenes Archiv, pp. 1–4 (posts, executions of 13 women and 58 men on 21/23 April 1945, judgment and execution); TNA WO 235/167; Source: Porta Polonica, Section “Curiohaus”; defendant no. 3 and judgment; Source: Lernwerkstatt Neuengamme, Table “Neuengamme Camp Case No. 1,” item 3)

Limits of the evidence

Sources

The source set combines institutional, archival, trial or scholarly material from at least two independent publishers.

• media.offenes-archiv.de
• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
• porta-polonica.de
• lernwerkstatt-neuengamme.de