 |
| Gebhardt |
Prof Dr Karl Gebhardt was born on
23 November 1897 in
Haag (Bavaria).
He was member of the "
Freikorps Oberland" (established on
12 April 1919,
prominent members:
Himmler, and
SS-Oberstgruppenführer
Sepp Dietrich), and the 15th
Freiwilligen-Kompanie which fought
against the "Red Army" in the Ruhr area in 1919.
He participated in the "Hitler-Putsch" in
München on
9 November 1923.
Gebhardt was President for Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of
Berlin,
served in the 2nd
SS-Division "Das Reich" in
1940, and at the
KL Ravensbrück in
1942.
Gebhardt was
Himmler's friend from youth. He became the "Highest Physician"
of the SS. He was Senior Consultant of the nursing home and SS hospital in
Hohenlychen near
Berlin, and President of
the German Red Cross.
Promotions:
SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS on
1 October 1940,
SS-Gruppenführer on
30 January 1943.
Gebhardt joined
Himmler during his last days. He was captured probably
in
Bremervörde on
21 or 22 May 1945,
together with other members of
Himmler's flight group.
On
9 December 1946 he was put on trial by an American military tribunal at
Frankfurt/Main in the "Doctors' Case" for performing lethal sulfonamide
experiments on female concentration camp inmates. Gebhardt was sentenced to death by hanging on
20 August 1947, and hanged at
Landsberg am Lech
on
2 June 1948.
Sources:
Witte Peter, Wildt Michael, Pohl Dieter and others, eds.
Der Dienstkalender Heinrich Himmlers 1941/42,
Hans Christians Verlag, Hamburg, 1999
Axis History Forum
© ARC 2005
