English source-aligned edition
Erich Bauer
Erich Bauer served as Sobibor staff member responsible for the gas-chamber engine. The profile reconstructs the person’s function in Sobibor · occupied Poland through documented office, decisions, supervision or operational conduct. It does not assign every crime committed by an institution or region to one individual.
Confirmed findings
- Erich Bauer was born on 26 March 1900 in Berlin. During the war he served on the German staff of the Sobibor killing centre. (Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum — section on the Sobibor perpetrators’ album, lines/caption identifying Erich Bauer and his function)
- The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum states that Bauer was in charge of the diesel engine whose carbon-monoxide exhaust was pumped into the gas chambers. (Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum — section on the Sobibor perpetrators’ album, lines/caption identifying Erich Bauer and his function; Source: Stichting Sobibor — history of Sobibor, section on the gas chambers and Erich Bauer’s postwar statement)
- Stichting Sobibor’s history quotes his postwar account of starting the engine and directing exhaust into the sealed chambers. (Source: Stichting Sobibor — history of Sobibor, section on the gas chambers and Erich Bauer’s postwar statement)
- On 8 May 1950 a Berlin-Moabit court sentenced him to death. The sentence was later replaced by life imprisonment; Bauer died in Tegel prison in 1980. (Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum — section on the Sobibor perpetrators’ album, lines/caption identifying Erich Bauer and his function; Source: Stichting Sobibor / Sobibor Foundation — Marek Bem, Sobibor Extermination Camp 1942–1943, p. 306, case reference PKs 3/50, Staatsanwaltschaft Berlin-Moabit; Source: Gedenkweg Sobibor — section on the Berlin trial of Erich Bauer)
Place in the chain of responsibility
Bauer’s responsibility rests on a specific technical and operational role in the killing process and on a court judgment. The profile does not automatically attribute every murder at Sobibor to him. (Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum — section on the Sobibor perpetrators’ album, lines/caption identifying Erich Bauer and his function; Source: Stichting Sobibor — history of Sobibor, section on the gas chambers and Erich Bauer’s postwar statement)
Key events and mechanisms
- 1942 – began service at the Sobibor killing centre (Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum — section on the Sobibor perpetrators’ album, lines/caption identifying Erich Bauer and his function; Source: Stichting Sobibor — history of Sobibor, section on the gas chambers and Erich Bauer’s postwar statement)
- 1942–1943 – operated the engine feeding exhaust into the gas chambers (Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum — section on the Sobibor perpetrators’ album, lines/caption identifying Erich Bauer and his function; Source: Stichting Sobibor — history of Sobibor, section on the gas chambers and Erich Bauer’s postwar statement)
- 8 May 1950 – sentenced to death in Berlin (Source: Stichting Sobibor / Sobibor Foundation — Marek Bem, Sobibor Extermination Camp 1942–1943, p. 306, case reference PKs 3/50, Staatsanwaltschaft Berlin-Moabit; Source: Gedenkweg Sobibor — section on the Berlin trial of Erich Bauer)
- after judgment – sentence replaced by life imprisonment; died in prison in 1980 (Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum — section on the Sobibor perpetrators’ album, lines/caption identifying Erich Bauer and his function; Source: Gedenkweg Sobibor — section on the Berlin trial of Erich Bauer)
The circle records authority, function and agency. Several profiles may describe different parts of the same persecution chain, so profile-level totals must not be added together.
Postwar accountability
Bauer was recognised in Berlin by Sobibor survivors and brought to trial. The court sentenced him to death; the sentence was replaced by life imprisonment. He died in Tegel prison in 1980. (Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum — section on the Sobibor perpetrators’ album, lines/caption identifying Erich Bauer and his function; Source: Stichting Sobibor / Sobibor Foundation — Marek Bem, Sobibor Extermination Camp 1942–1943, p. 306, case reference PKs 3/50, Staatsanwaltschaft Berlin-Moabit; Source: Gedenkweg Sobibor — section on the Berlin trial of Erich Bauer)
Limits of the evidence
The profile describes only Bauer’s individually documented function and the outcome of his trial. It gives no date for the replacement of the death sentence by life imprisonment. No portrait was selected: the well-documented available image principally shows him in a group rather than as an unambiguous individual portrait. (Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum — section on the Sobibor perpetrators’ album, lines/caption identifying Erich Bauer and his function; Source: Stichting Sobibor — history of Sobibor, section on the gas chambers and Erich Bauer’s postwar statement; Source: Stichting Sobibor / Sobibor Foundation — Marek Bem, Sobibor Extermination Camp 1942–1943, p. 306, case reference PKs 3/50, Staatsanwaltschaft Berlin-Moabit)
Sources
The source set combines institutional, archival, trial or scholarly material from at least two independent publishers.