Heinrich Deubel (19 February 1890 – 2 October 1962) was a German soldier, civil servant, World War I veteran and an SS-Oberführer in the Schutzstaffel who served as the commandant of Dachau concentration camp from 1934 to 1936.
World War I and Nazi Party membership Deubel was born in Ortenburg, Kingdom of Bavaria. The son of a postman, he joined the German Imperial Army and spent 12 years in the service, although he was to spend most of the First World War in a British prisoner of war camp.Tom Segev, Soldiers of Evil, Berkley Books, 1991, p. 133 Right-wing by inclination, Deubel had been involved with the Freikorps and other rightist and antisemitic groups from an early age. He was a member of the Deutschvölkischer Schutz- und Trutzbund, the largest and most active antisemitic organization in post-war Germany. He also took part in the Kapp Putsch, an attempt to overthrow the fledgling Weimar Republic.Johannes Tuchel: Konzentrationslager: Organisationsgeschichte und Funktion der Inspektion der Konzentrationslager 1934–1938. H. Boldt, 1991, ISBN 3-7646-1902-3, p. 372f. He became involved with the Nazis in the early 1920s at the same time as Egon ZillSegev, Soldiers of Evil, p. 126 and was amongst the first 200 members of the SS.Segev, Soldiers of Evil, p. 132 Deubel was a civil servant with the customs office and actually took a leave of absence to join the SS rather than forgo his civil service pension.
Dachau and World War II Deubel was an inspector at Dachau concentration camp in 1934 when commandant Theodor Eicke was promoted to a role overseeing all concentration camps. Deubel, by then an SS-Oberführer, was nominated by Eicke as his successor.Charles W. Sydnor, Soldiers of Destruction: The SS Death's Head Division, 1933-1945, Princeton University Press, 1990, p. 18 Deubel commanded the camp from 1 May 1934 until 20 April 1936 with detainees describing his regime as fairly liberal, especially when compared to that of his successor in the role, Hans Loritz.Pierre Moulin, Dachau, Holocaust, and US Samurais: Nisei Soldiers First in Dachau?, AuthorHouse, 2007, p. 16
During his time as commandant, Deubel did fall foul of Heinrich Himmler due to a public incident of violence at a time when the SS was developing a reputation for cruelty in Germany and beyond. On Christmas Eve 1934, Deubel was present at Passau train station when an SS private got into a scuffle with a number of people after delaying the line at a ticket window.Segev, Soldiers of Evil, p. 90 When a policeman stepped in to arrest the private, Deubel intervened, threatening to drag a policeman to the camp to be "whipped as he deserved". Deubel would later claim that the incident had happened because he felt it was his duty to defend his fellow SS member as the policeman had forcibly pulled him from the ticket window.Segev, Soldiers of Evil, p. 91 However the incident earned Deubel a rebuke from Himmler as it was widely discussed in Germany and even reported in sections of the overseas press.Segev, Soldiers of Evil, p. 20
Deubel officially left the concentration camp service on 31 March 1937, and subsequently went to work for the customs service. He reached the position of senior customs inspector in 1939 and was promoted to district customs commissioner in 1941, serving as leader of the customs border guard in occupied France.
Post-war life After the Second World War, Deubel was interned until 1948, albeit ultimately no charges were brought against him by the government of West Germany.Comite Internationale de Dachau; Barbara Distel, KZ Gedenkstätte Dachau (ed.): Konzentrationslager Dachau 1933 bis 1945 - Text- und Bilddokumente zur Ausstellung, München 2005, p. 98 He died in the Bavarian town of Dingolfing.
Awards and ranks
Iron Cross First and Second Class
Deubel's SS RanksJohannes Tuchel: Konzentrationslager: Organisationsgeschichte und Funktion der Inspektion der Konzentrationslager 1934–1938. H. Boldt, 1991, , p. 372f.DateRank31 August 1926SS-Scharführer30 October 1928SS-Sturmbannführer1 February 1931SS-Standartenführer9 November 1934SS-Oberführer
References