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Heinz Baumkötter
Heinz Baumkötter served as chief camp doctor at Sachsenhausen. The profile reconstructs the person’s function in Sachsenhausen · German Reich 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
- Heinz Baumkötter was born on 7 February 1912 in Burgsteinfurt and became chief camp doctor at Sachsenhausen in 1942. (Source: JuNSV Foundation, case 529; LG Münster, 19 February 1962, and BGH, 29 March 1963; subject and sentence; Source: Federal Agency for Civic Education, section on the Sachsenhausen trial and chief camp doctor Heinz Baumkötter; Source: Brandenburg State Main Archive, study on the Sachsenhausen trial, sections on Baumkötter, camp medicine and later proceedings)
- He organized medical experiments, took part in selections of sick prisoners and helped prepare executions identified in the court record. (Source: JuNSV Foundation, case 529; LG Münster, 19 February 1962, and BGH, 29 March 1963; subject and sentence; Source: Federal Agency for Civic Education, section on the Sachsenhausen trial and chief camp doctor Heinz Baumkötter; Source: Brandenburg State Main Archive, study on the Sachsenhausen trial, sections on Baumkötter, camp medicine and later proceedings)
- A Soviet tribunal convicted him in 1947; on 19 February 1962 the Münster court imposed 8 years, and the Federal Court reviewed the case in 1963. (Source: JuNSV Foundation, case 529; LG Münster, 19 February 1962, and BGH, 29 March 1963; subject and sentence; Source: Federal Agency for Civic Education, section on the Sachsenhausen trial and chief camp doctor Heinz Baumkötter; Source: Brandenburg State Main Archive, study on the Sachsenhausen trial, sections on Baumkötter, camp medicine and later proceedings)
Place in the chain of responsibility
Baumkötter’s responsibility rests on his senior medical function and specific conduct established in the proceedings. (Source: JuNSV Foundation, case 529; LG Münster, 19 February 1962, and BGH, 29 March 1963; subject and sentence; Source: Federal Agency for Civic Education, section on the Sachsenhausen trial and chief camp doctor Heinz Baumkötter; Source: Brandenburg State Main Archive, study on the Sachsenhausen trial, sections on Baumkötter, camp medicine and later proceedings)
Key events and mechanisms
- 1942 - became chief camp doctor at Sachsenhausen (Source: JuNSV Foundation, case 529; LG Münster, 19 February 1962, and BGH, 29 March 1963; subject and sentence; Source: Federal Agency for Civic Education, section on the Sachsenhausen trial and chief camp doctor Heinz Baumkötter; Source: Brandenburg State Main Archive, study on the Sachsenhausen trial, sections on Baumkötter, camp medicine and later proceedings)
- 19 February 1962 - sentenced to 8 years in Münster (Source: JuNSV Foundation, case 529; LG Münster, 19 February 1962, and BGH, 29 March 1963; subject and sentence; Source: Federal Agency for Civic Education, section on the Sachsenhausen trial and chief camp doctor Heinz Baumkötter; Source: Brandenburg State Main Archive, study on the Sachsenhausen trial, sections on Baumkötter, camp medicine and later proceedings)
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
Baumkötter was convicted in the Soviet Sachsenhausen trial in 1947. The Münster court sentenced him to 8 years on 19 February 1962; the Federal Court ruled in 1963. (Source: JuNSV Foundation, case 529; LG Münster, 19 February 1962, and BGH, 29 March 1963; subject and sentence; Source: Federal Agency for Civic Education, section on the Sachsenhausen trial and chief camp doctor Heinz Baumkötter; Source: Brandenburg State Main Archive, study on the Sachsenhausen trial, sections on Baumkötter, camp medicine and later proceedings)
Limits of the evidence
The Soviet and West German trials had different scopes; their findings are not merged into an unlimited list of acts. (Source: JuNSV Foundation, case 529; LG Münster, 19 February 1962, and BGH, 29 March 1963; subject and sentence; Source: Federal Agency for Civic Education, section on the Sachsenhausen trial and chief camp doctor Heinz Baumkötter; Source: Brandenburg State Main Archive, study on the Sachsenhausen trial, sections on Baumkötter, camp medicine and later proceedings)
Sources
The source set combines institutional, archival, trial or scholarly material from at least two independent publishers.