Karl-Otto Koch

Lore & Background

Karl-Otto Koch was a mid-ranking SS commander who served as the first commandant of the Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen, and Majdanek concentration camps. He was born in Darmstadt in 1897, the son of a registrar who died when Koch was eight. After elementary school and a commercial apprenticeship, he volunteered for the Imperial German Army in 1916, fought on the Western Front, and was captured by the British, remaining a prisoner of war until 1919. He was awarded the Iron Cross Second Class, the Observer’s Badge, and the Wound Badge in Black. After the war, he worked as a commercial manager and insurance agent, but was convicted of embezzlement and forgery in 1930. He joined the Nazi Party and SS in 1931 and became unemployed in 1932. His SS career included command of Sachsenburg and Columbia concentration camps, and posts at Esterwegen, Lichtenburg, and Dachau. He took command of Buchenwald in August 1937 and remained until September 1941, when he was transferred to Majdanek due to investigations into corruption, fraud, embezzlement, drunkenness, sexual offences, and murder. At Majdanek he stole vast valuables from murdered Jews. He was relieved after 86 Soviet POWs escaped in August 1942. An investigation by SS judge Georg Konrad Morgen, prompted by Hereditary Prince Josias, revealed that Koch had ordered the killing of a hospital orderly and an attendant to conceal his syphilis treatment, along with other murders and embezzlement of at least 200,000 reichsmarks. Koch was sentenced to death by an SS court and executed by firing squad on 5 April 1945, one week before American forces arrived. His body was not cremated due to a coal shortage and was disposed of at an unknown location.

Reader's Guide

Karl-Otto Koch's significance lies in his role as a founding commandant of three major Nazi concentration camps—Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen, and Majdanek—and in his prosecution by the SS itself for corruption and murder. His case illustrates the internal disciplinary mechanisms of the Nazi regime, which punished SS officers for personal enrichment and unauthorized killings even as the broader system of genocide continued. Koch's theft of valuables from murdered Jews at Majdanek and his murder of inmates to cover up his syphilis treatment reveal the intersection of greed, brutality, and self-preservation among camp commanders. His execution by the SS, rather than by Allied forces, underscores that the regime could turn on its own members when they violated its codes of conduct. The discovery of his photo album of Sachsenhausen in the FSB archives decades later provides a visual record of camp construction and prisoner processing. Koch's legacy is also tied to his wife Ilse, who became infamous as 'The Witch of Buchenwald' for alleged abuses, though she held no official camp position. Together, the Kochs exemplify the criminality and moral corruption embedded in the concentration camp system.

Did You Know?

• Koch was awarded the Iron Cross Second Class, the Observer's Badge, and the Wound Badge in Black during World War I.
• A private photo album of Koch's, documenting the construction of Sachsenhausen concentration camp, was discovered in the FSB archives in Moscow more than 55 years after his execution.