Otto Moll | |
---|---|
Born | Hohen Schönberg, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, German Empire | 4 March 1915
Died | 28 May 1946 | (aged 31)
Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
Other names |
|
Criminal status | Executed |
Motive | Nazism Sadism |
Conviction(s) | War crimes |
Trial | Dachau camp trial |
Criminal penalty | Death |
SS career | |
Allegiance | Nazi Germany |
Service/ | Schutzstaffel |
Years of service | 1935–1945 |
Rank | Hauptscharführer |
Otto Hermann Wilhelm Moll (4 March 1915 – 28 May 1946) was an SS non-commissioned officer who committed numerous atrocities at the Auschwitz concentration camp during the Second World War. Moll held the rank of SS-Hauptscharführer "Head Section Leader", the equivalent to a US Military Master Sergeant and or British Military Warrant Officer. He was known as "Cyclops", due to having a glass eye, and as the "Butcher of Birkenau".[1]
SS Hauptscharführer Moll held the position of SS Rapportführer a senior SS position within the SS Guard Units the "Totenkopfverbände" sanctioned within the Camps.
He is said personally to have killed hundreds at Birkenau,[2] and oversaw the deaths of hundreds of thousands while at the camp, such as of the Hungarian Jews in 1944.[3] Otto Moll served as the chief of the crematorium/extermination zone at Birkenau from 1943 to 1945, a role that Moll carried out with immense cruelty.[4][5][6]
Otto Moll has been described as the "ultimate example of the cruel 'Nazi spirit'",[7] while doctor Miklós Nyiszli described Moll as the "most insane murderer of the World War".[8] Moll has also been described as "the sadistic and cruel executor of the 'Final Solution,' a man who was the terror of both the Jews and the SS men", and as one of the "most sadistic and evil figures in the history of Auschwitz".[9]