Langbein Hermann

Langbein, Hermann Hermann Langbein was a stage actor and a member of the communist party who was born in Vienna in 1912. In 1937, he volunteered for the Spanish Civil War, fighting with the Republican army. After the fascist victory Langbein escaped to France, and was transferred to a French internment camp. After France was invaded by Germany in 1940, Langbein was transferred to Dachau, where he served as a clerk to the chief doctor of the camp, Dr. Eduard Wirths. In August 1942 Langbein was transferred to Auschwitz, where he became part of the international resistance movement of camp inmates, a group that also included Jews. Soon after he arrived, Dr. Wirths was made Auschwitz’s chief doctor, the same position he had held at Dachau, and Langbein again became his personal secretary. In this position, Langbein took advantage of his connections to help Jews and other prisoners. On a number of occasions, Langbein convinced Wirths to examine sick Jews and find treatment for them, rather than sending them to the gas chambers. After Wirths’ intervention – at Langbein’s initiative – the care of patients was significantly improved. This is particularly true in the case of those patients suffering from typhus, which the camp doctors tended to kill with a lethal injection rather than treating them. Langbein’s intervention with the chief doctor was one of the factors that brought about a change in the policy. In addition, thanks to Langbein, a large number of Jewish doctors and caretakers received jobs at the prisoners’ hospital in Auschwitz’s main camp. Langbein convinced the Germans to allow Jews to hold these positions, which up until his intervention, were assigned only to Poles and Germans. Similar changes occurred in the hospitals for prisoners at Birkenau and other sub-camps of Auschwitz. On January 20, 1944, a “selection” took place in the hospital, and approximately 1,800 Jewish men were chosen to be sent to the gas chambers. The news reached Langbein, whoturned to Dr. Wirths, asking him to contact the camp commander Liebeshenschel, and to tell him that this development would lead to a situation where sick inmates would hide their illness in order to avoid coming to the hospital. This, said Langbein, would increase the spread of infectious diseases through the camp. Wirths agreed, and asked Liebeshenschel to change the directive so that only those terminally ill should be sent to their deaths. The camp commander honored this request. Langbein’s activities in the camp aroused the ire of the SS. Twice he was jailed and at one point, he was even designated for execution. Nevertheless, he steadfastly continued in his activities in the camp underground, activities that saved the lives of quite a few prisoners, including Jews. On August 25, 1944, he was transferred to the Neuengamme camp as a punishment. After the war, Langbein served as Secretary of the International Auschwitz Committee. He worked to punish the Nazi criminals who were in the camp and to get compensation for prisoners. He also wrote books about the horrors of the camp. At his initiative, an important trial of war criminals took place at Frankfurt am Main, and afterwards he published a major book documenting the trial. He gave lectures about the Holocaust and Auschwitz for various groups, particularly to students, and was a member of the “International Committee and Foundation for the Commemoration of the Victims of Auschwitz-Birkenau Extermination Camp” appointed by the Polish government. On April 4, 1967, Yad Vashem recognized Hermann Langbein as Righteous Among the Nations.