English source-aligned edition
Heinrich Matthes
Heinrich Matthes served as head of the Treblinka II extermination area. The profile reconstructs the person’s function in Treblinka · 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
- Heinrich Matthes was born on 11 January 1902 in Wermsdorf and served among the personnel of the Treblinka killing centre. (Source: JuNSV Foundation, LG Düsseldorf, 3 September 1965, judgment 8 I Ks 2/64, pp. 19 ff.; findings on Matthes; Source: Institute of National Remembrance, section on Camp II and the personnel of the Treblinka extermination camp; Source: Yad Vashem, testimony of Heinrich Matthes; section on the extermination sector and body disposal)
- At Treblinka II he headed the upper camp, the area of the gas chambers, corpse disposal and forced prisoner labour. (Source: JuNSV Foundation, LG Düsseldorf, 3 September 1965, judgment 8 I Ks 2/64, pp. 19 ff.; findings on Matthes; Source: Institute of National Remembrance, section on Camp II and the personnel of the Treblinka extermination camp; Source: Yad Vashem, testimony of Heinrich Matthes; section on the extermination sector and body disposal)
- On 3 September 1965 the Düsseldorf court sentenced him to life imprisonment for participation in mass murder and individual killings. (Source: JuNSV Foundation, LG Düsseldorf, 3 September 1965, judgment 8 I Ks 2/64, pp. 19 ff.; findings on Matthes; Source: Institute of National Remembrance, section on Camp II and the personnel of the Treblinka extermination camp; Source: Yad Vashem, testimony of Heinrich Matthes; section on the extermination sector and body disposal)
Place in the chain of responsibility
Matthes’s responsibility rests on his command of the extermination area and the acts established in judicial proceedings. (Source: JuNSV Foundation, LG Düsseldorf, 3 September 1965, judgment 8 I Ks 2/64, pp. 19 ff.; findings on Matthes; Source: Institute of National Remembrance, section on Camp II and the personnel of the Treblinka extermination camp; Source: Yad Vashem, testimony of Heinrich Matthes; section on the extermination sector and body disposal)
Key events and mechanisms
- 1942 - took charge of the Treblinka II extermination area (Source: JuNSV Foundation, LG Düsseldorf, 3 September 1965, judgment 8 I Ks 2/64, pp. 19 ff.; findings on Matthes; Source: Institute of National Remembrance, section on Camp II and the personnel of the Treblinka extermination camp; Source: Yad Vashem, testimony of Heinrich Matthes; section on the extermination sector and body disposal)
- 3 September 1965 - sentenced to life imprisonment (Source: JuNSV Foundation, LG Düsseldorf, 3 September 1965, judgment 8 I Ks 2/64, pp. 19 ff.; findings on Matthes; Source: Institute of National Remembrance, section on Camp II and the personnel of the Treblinka extermination camp; Source: Yad Vashem, testimony of Heinrich Matthes; section on the extermination sector and body disposal)
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
The Düsseldorf court sentenced Matthes to life imprisonment on 3 September 1965. He died in Bochum prison in 1978. (Source: JuNSV Foundation, LG Düsseldorf, 3 September 1965, judgment 8 I Ks 2/64, pp. 19 ff.; findings on Matthes; Source: Institute of National Remembrance, section on Camp II and the personnel of the Treblinka extermination camp; Source: Yad Vashem, testimony of Heinrich Matthes; section on the extermination sector and body disposal)
Limits of the evidence
The judicial scale of complicity is not a count of persons whom he personally killed. (Source: JuNSV Foundation, LG Düsseldorf, 3 September 1965, judgment 8 I Ks 2/64, pp. 19 ff.; findings on Matthes; Source: Institute of National Remembrance, section on Camp II and the personnel of the Treblinka extermination camp; Source: Yad Vashem, testimony of Heinrich Matthes; section on the extermination sector and body disposal)
Sources
The source set combines institutional, archival, trial or scholarly material from at least two independent publishers.