Josef Schwammberger
Josef Schwammberger, closely associated with several forced labor camps, escaped justice for significantly longer than the many of the other men discussed here. Schwammberger was captured, then tried for his crimes in 1992; he was 75 years old. Schwammberger joined the Nazi Party in 1933 and entered the SS between 1941 and 1943.
During World War II, Schwammberger served as an SS officer in Poland, working in Krakow and Przemyśl. He was, during this time, commandant of several different forced labor camps in the region. Not all camps were like Treblinka or Auschwitz I. Treblinka and Auschwitz were extermination camps; many other camps throughout Nazi-controlled areas were forced labor camps. At extermination camps, the vast, vast majority of those who arrived would be put to death within only hours. At forced labor camps, inmates were worked to death, treated harshly, and expected to be quite short-lived, but they were not killed upon arrival.
Schwammberger, during his time as commandant of these various camps, was particularly sadistic. He frequently shot and killed inmates, set his dog on them, and threw people into fires. He is believed to have killed as many as 5,000 people while serving in camps.
He was captured not long after the end of the war in French-controlled Innsbruck, Austria. At the time, he admitted to a relatively small number of deaths–35. When captured, he had sacks of gold and jewels taken from Jews during the war. In 1948, during transport to American authorities, Schwammberger escaped.
He fled to Argentina, using the ratlines. West Germany issued a warrant for his arrest in 1973, but it was not until 1987 that he was found and arrested. Following extradition in 1990, he was tried for 34 counts of murder by his own hand, and of ordering the deaths of 275. He was found guilty on seven counts of murder and 32 counts of accessory to murder. He was sentenced to life in prison, and died in prison in December 2004.