Lorenz Hackenholt

Lorenz Hackenholt
Lorenz Hackenholt during Action T4, c. 1940
Born(1914-06-26)26 June 1914
Gelsenkirchen, German Empire
DiedDeclared legally dead 31 December 1945(1945-12-31) (aged 31)
Allegiance Nazi Germany
Service / branch Schutzstaffel
Years of service1933—1945
RankHauptscharführer
UnitTotenkopfverbände
CommandsConstructed and operated gas chamber at Bełżec extermination camp
AwardsIron Cross 2nd Class 1939

War Merit Cross 2nd Class With Swords

NSDAP Party Badge

Sudetenland Medal With Prague Clasp

Lorenz Hackenholt (26 June 1914 – missing 1945, declared legally dead as of 31 December 1945, but believed to have still been alive)[1] was a member of the Schutzstaffel (SS) with the rank of Hauptscharführer (First Sergeant). During World War II Hackenholt built and operated the gas chamber at the Bełżec extermination camp in occupied Poland during Operation Reinhard. In so doing, he personally carried out the murder of hundreds of thousands of people.[2]

Hackenholt had earlier been part of the murder of mental patients and the disabled in Action T4 programme of forced euthanasia.[2]

  1. ^ Declared legally dead 31 December 1945. The official death date; Hackenholt disappeared in 1945 without a trace.
  2. ^ a b Klee (2003), The Good Old Days, pp. 230, 237, 241, 294.