English source-aligned edition
Josef Klehr
Josef Klehr served as SS medical orderly and head of a disinfection detail at Auschwitz. The profile reconstructs the person’s function in Auschwitz, 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
- At Auschwitz he served as an SS medical orderly and later headed a disinfection detail. (Source: Fritz Bauer Institute / Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial documentation project, cited passage; Source: Institute of National Remembrance, cited passage)
- The Frankfurt court convicted him of at least 475 murders and participation in the collective murder of at least 6 further groups of prisoners. (Source: Fritz Bauer Institute / Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial documentation project, cited passage)
- The Auschwitz Museum archive holds a request for 5 kilograms of phenol signed by Klehr, documenting his function and access to the substance. (Source: Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, cited passage)
Place in the chain of responsibility
The judgment is the basis for the murder findings. The phenol requisition documents function and access, but does not by itself prove every act covered by the judgment. (Source: Fritz Bauer Institute / Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial documentation project, cited passage; Source: Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, cited passage; Source: Institute of National Remembrance, cited passage)
Key events and mechanisms
- From 1941 he performed medical functions at Auschwitz. (Source: Fritz Bauer Institute / Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial documentation project, cited passage; Source: Institute of National Remembrance, cited passage)
- In 1965 he received life imprisonment plus an additional 15 years. (Source: Fritz Bauer Institute / Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial documentation project, cited passage; Source: Fritz Bauer Institute / Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial documentation project, cited passage)
- On 10 June 1988 the remainder of the sentence was suspended; he died on 23 August 1988. (Source: Fritz Bauer Institute / Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial documentation project, cited passage; Source: Fritz Bauer Institute / Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial documentation project, cited passage)
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
After the life sentence plus 15 years, enforcement was interrupted on 25 January 1988 because he was unfit for detention. The remainder was suspended on 10 June 1988; he died on 23 August 1988. (Source: Fritz Bauer Institute / Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial documentation project, cited passage; Source: Fritz Bauer Institute / Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial documentation project, cited passage; Source: Hessian State Archives, cited passage)
Limits of the evidence
The counts are stated as described in the Frankfurt judgment. They are not inferred from the phenol requisition alone. No portrait was selected because rights to a particular file were not verified. (Source: Fritz Bauer Institute / Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial documentation project, cited passage; Source: Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, cited passage)
Sources
The source set combines institutional, archival, trial or scholarly material from at least two independent publishers.