Karl-Otto Koch

Lore & Background

Karl-Otto Koch was born in Darmstadt on 2 August 1897. 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, spending the rest of World War I as a prisoner of war. He returned to Germany in 1919 and worked as a commercial manager and insurance agent, but was unemployed in 1932 after serving a prison sentence for embezzlement and forgery in 1930. He joined the Nazi Party and the SS in 1931.

Koch served with several SS units and commanded the Sachsenburg Concentration Camp in 1934. He held posts at Esterwegen, Lichtenburg, Dachau, and Columbia concentration camps before being assigned to Sachsenhausen. On 1 August 1937, he became commandant of the new Buchenwald concentration camp, remaining there until September 1941, when he was transferred to Majdanek due to an investigation into corruption, fraud, embezzlement, drunkenness, sexual offences, and murder. He was relieved from Majdanek in August 1942 after 86 Soviet POWs escaped, charged with criminal negligence, and transferred to Berlin.

In 1941, SS-Obergruppenführer Josias, Hereditary Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont, investigated Koch after noticing the death of a hospital orderly who had treated him. Koch had ordered the orderly and another attendant killed to conceal his syphilis treatment. Further investigation by SS judge Georg Konrad Morgen revealed more murders and embezzlement. Koch and his wife Ilse were arrested in August 1943, and Koch was indicted in August 1944 for embezzling at least 200,000 reichsmarks and premeditated murder of three inmates. He was sentenced to death and executed by firing squad on 5 April 1945, one week before Allied troops arrived. His body was not burned in the camp's crematoria, which had stopped operating in mid-March 1945 due to lack of coal; it was disposed of in 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.
• He served a prison sentence in 1930 for embezzlement and forgery before joining the Nazi Party.
• Koch was executed by firing squad on 5 April 1945, one week before Allied troops liberated Buchenwald.
• 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.