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{{Short description|Austrian war criminal (1911–1991)}}

'''Anton Burger''' ([[1911]]-[[1991]]) was a [[Sturmbannführer]] in the [[Nazi]] [[SS]]. He was the [[Commandant]] of [[KL Theresienstadt]] between 1943 and 1944. He went into hiding after the war under an assumed name and his identity was not uncovered until 1994, three years after his death.

{{For|the German painter|Anton Burger (artist)}}

{{Infobox criminal

| name = Anton Burger

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1911|11|19}}

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1991|12|25|1911|11|19}}

| birth_place = [[Neunkirchen, Austria|Neunkirchen]], [[Austria-Hungary]]

| death_place = [[Essen]], [[North Rhine-Westphalia]], [[Germany]]

| image =

| caption =

| criminal_penalty = [[Capital punishment|Death]] (in absentia)

| conviction = [[Crimes against humanity]] (in absentia)

| module = {{infobox military person|embed=yes

|allegiance= [[Nazi Germany|Germany]]

|branch= ''[[Schutzstaffel]]''

|serviceyears= 1934–1945

|rank=SS-{{lang|de|[[Hauptsturmführer]]}}

|unit=[[Gestapo]]

|commands= [[Theresienstadt concentration camp]], 1943-1944

}}

}}

'''Anton''' "'''Toni'''" '''Burger''' (19 November 1911 – 25 December 1991) was a {{lang|de|[[Hauptsturmführer]]}} (Captain) in the German [[Nazism|Nazi]] [[SS]], {{lang|de|[[Judenreferent]]}} in Greece (1944) and {{lang|de|Lagerkommandant}} of [[Theresienstadt concentration camp]].

==Military career==

{{Mil-bio-stub}}

Anton Burger was born in [[Neunkirchen, Austria]], the son of a stationery dealer. He joined the Austrian Army in 1930 and the [[Austrian Nazi Party]] in 1932. In June 1933 the Nazi Party was officially banned in Austria by the government of [[Engelbert Dollfuss]] and Burger was dishonorably discharged from the army in July. He moved illegally to Lechfeld near [[Augsburg, Germany|Augsburg]] in Germany, where he became a member of the [[:de:Austrian Legion|Austrian Legion]], a [[paramilitary]] group composed of pro-Nazi Austrian expatriates. Shortly afterward he joined the ''[[Sturmabteilung]]'' (SA). In 1935 he received [[German nationality law|German citizenship]] and moved into the SA barracks.<ref name="Tupath">Karla Muller-Tupath, ''Verschollen in Deutschland. Vom heimlichen Leben des Anton Burger, Lagerkommandant in Theresienstadt'', Hamburg 1994; {{ISBN|978-3894581329}}.</ref>

Burger went to Vienna to participate with the Austrian Legion in the ''[[Anschluss]]'' on 12 March 1938. He was inducted into the [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] and assigned to the [[The Central Agency for Jewish Emigration in Vienna|Central Agency for Jewish Emigration in Vienna]], where he was a member of the Reich Security Main Office Special Action Command "Eichmann" ([[RSHA]] Sondereinsatzkommando under [[Adolf Eichmann]]).

[[Category:1911 births|Burger, Anton]]

[[Category:1991 deaths|Burger, Anton]]

In the summer of 1939, he was transferred to the Central Agency for Jewish Emigration in [[Prague]], where he participated in the [[expropriation]] of about 1,400 Jewish households.<ref>[http://www.ghetto-theresienstadt.info/pages/b/burgera-komm.htm Anton Burger]</ref> In April 1941 he was promoted to ''[[Obersturmführer]]'' (Second Lieutenant). In the spring of 1941 he was promoted to head of the RSHA branch office in [[Brno]].

[[Category:Nazi leaders|Burger, Anton]]

[[Category:SS|Burger]]

In 1942 Burger was ordered to [[Brussels]] by Eichmann to coordinate efforts to deport [[Belgian Jews|Belgian]], [[Dutch Jews|Dutch]] and [[French Jews]]. Burger served at [[Auschwitz concentration camp]] in 1943 before becoming the [[Commandant]] of Theresienstadt concentration camp from July 3, 1943, to February 7, 1944. He was known for his cruelty as a camp commander; on 11 November 1943 he ordered the entire camp population of approximately 40,000 people to stand in freezing weather during a camp census. About 300 prisoners died of [[hypothermia]] as a result.<ref>[http://www.ghetto-theresienstadt.info/pages/b/Bohusovicezaehlung.htm "Zählung im Bohušovicer Kessel", (The Bohušovicer Kessel Census).]</ref>

In February 1944 he was sent to Greece by Eichmann to replace [[Dieter Wisliceny]], with whom Eichmann was dissatisfied.<ref name="Mazower">Mazower, M. ''Inside Hitler's Greece: The Experience of Occupation, 1941-1944'' (2001); Yale Nota Bene Books; p. 252.</ref> As head of the ''[[Sicherheitsdienst]]'' in Athens under Colonel [[Walter Blume (SS officer)|Walter Blume]], Burger organized the [[deportation]]s of [[Romaniote Jews|Romaniote]] and [[Sephardi Jews]] from [[Rhodes]], [[Kos]], [[Athens]]<ref>[http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/Wisliceny.htm Nuremberg Affidavit] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070810065326/http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/Wisliceny.htm |date=2007-08-10 }} of [[Dieter Wisliceny]].</ref> [[Ioannina]], and [[Corfu]] (a total of over 3,000 people),<ref name="Mazower"/> earning a promotion to SS-''[[Hauptsturmführer]]'' (Captain) by June 1944.<ref name="Schminck">Schminck-Gustavus, Christoph U., ''Winter in Griechenland: Krieg, Besatzung, Shoah 1940-1944.'' Göttingen: Wallstein, 2010.</ref>

==Capture and escapes==

After the war, Burger was arrested in [[Altaussee]], Austria and held in an [[internment camp]] near [[Salzburg]]. He was then convicted ''[[trial in absentia|in absentia]]'' by the People's Court in the Czech [[Litoměřice]] and [[sentenced to death]]. In June 1947, shortly before he could be extradited to Austria so he could be executed, Burger escaped from the detention center.<ref>[http://www.doew.at/cms/download/a184m/en_war_crime_Winfried R. Garscha and Claudia Kuretsidis-Haider, "War Crime Trials in Austria," presented at the 21st Annual Conference of the German Studies Association (GSA) in Washington, September 25th–28th, 1997.]</ref> He lived under an assumed name in his hometown of [[Neunkirchen, Austria|Neunkirchen]] until his second arrest in March 1951 after which he was held in Austrian custody in [[Vienna]]. On 9 April 1951, Burger managed to escape and disappeared without a trace.<ref>Hermann Frank Meyer, ''Blutiges Edelweiß. Die 1. Gebirgs-Division im Zweiten Weltkrieg,'' Ch. Links Verlag; Auflage: 3., aktualisierte Auflage (Dezember 2007) {{ISBN|978-3861534471}}; p. 608.</ref>

Following his second escape he lived on the border of Germany and Austria under eight different aliases. From 1960 to 1961 he worked as a warden on a mountain near the [[Alm (river)|river Alm]]. After 1961, despite poorly forged documents, Burger moved with his wife Elfriede to the city of [[Essen]] and began working as a salesman under the name Wilhelm Bauer. After being laid off in 1974 and suffering a heart attack he lived out his days in Essen until his [[Death by natural causes|death from natural causes]] on Christmas Day 1991. His identity was not uncovered until March 1994, more than two years after his death.<ref name="Schminck"/> This was confirmed to the Vienna [[Simon Wiesenthal Center]] by the Bavarian ''[[Landeskriminalamt]]''.<ref name="Tupath"/>

In 2011, it was revealed that Burger had in fact not made up the name "Wilhelm Bauer". Wilhelm Bauer was a Jewish prisoner at Theresienstadt whom Burger had personally murdered in 1944.<ref>Bruce Eekma, ''A Daughter’s Search For Her Father,'' iUniverse, Bloomington IN, October 21, 2011; {{ISBN|9781462057160}}</ref> Bauer at the time had been collaborating with the Nazis and making a [[propaganda film]], believing that collaboration meant survival. Burger strongly disliked Bauer because he wore glasses, and to Burger, that meant Jewish intellectualism and weakness.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/nazi-death-camp-chief-gunned-690244 |title=Nazi death camp chief gunned down my dad - then stole his identity |date=February 18, 2012 |work=Daily Mirror}}</ref>

==References==

{{reflist}}

== Readings ==

* Hans Safrian: ''Eichmann und seine Gehilfen''. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1995, {{ISBN|3-596-12076-4}}.

* [[Ernst Klee]]: ''Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich: Wer war was vor und nach 1945.'' Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2007, {{ISBN|978-3-596-16048-8}}.

== External links ==

* [http://collections.jewishmuseum.cz/index.php/Browse/modifyCriteria/facet/people_facet/id/180398/mod_id/0 Documents about Anton Burger] in the collection of the [http://www.jewishmuseum.cz Jewish Museum Prague]

{{Theresienstadt}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burger, Anton}}

[[Category:1911 births|Burger, Anton]]

[[Category:1991 deaths|Burger, Anton]]

[[Category:Austrian escapees]]

[[Category:Austrian Legion personnel]]

[[Category:Austrian mass murderers]]

[[Category:Austrian Nazis convicted of war crimes]]

[[Category:SS|Burger-Hauptsturmführer]]

[[Category:Holocaust perpetrators in Bohemia and Moravia]]

[[Category:Holocaust perpetrators in Greece]]

[[Category:Theresienstadt concentration camp personnel]]

[[Category:People from Neunkirchen District, Austria]]

[[Category:Nazi concentration camp commandants]]

[[Category:Nazis sentenced to death in absentia]]

[[Category:Escapees from Austrian detention]]

[[Category:Escapees from United States military detention]]

[[Category:World War II prisoners of war held by the United States]]