Otto Förschner: Nazi Camp Commandant of Mittelbau-Dora and Kaufering

Otto Förschner was a Nazi SS officer and concentration camp commandant responsible for the exploitation and destruction of tens of thousands of prisoners in Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War. As commandant of Mittelbau-Dora and later the Kaufering camp complex, Förschner stood at the center of a system that combined industrial production with mass death. Born in Bavaria in 1902, Förschner joined the Wehrmacht after World War I and later became a member of the SS and the Nazi Party. After serving on the Eastern Front during Operation Barbarossa, he was wounded and declared unfit for combat. Instead of returning to civilian life, he was transferred into the concentration camp system—first to Buchenwald, and in 1943 to Mittelbau-Dora. At Mittelbau-Dora, prisoners were forced to build and operate underground factories producing the V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rocket, Nazi Germany’s so-called “revenge weapons.” These weapons were manufactured inside the Mittelwerk tunnels under catastrophic conditions. Prisoners worked up to fourteen hours a day without daylight, food, sanitation, or medical care. Of the approximately 60,000 inmates sent to Dora, around 20,000 died from starvation, disease, executions, or exhaustion. Förschner was responsible not only for these conditions, but also for preventing sabotage—often through violence and terror. In early 1945, Förschner was transferred to the Kaufering concentration camp complex, the largest subcamp system of Dachau. Conditions there were even worse. Thousands died from hunger, exposure, disease, and executions, while others perished during death marches as the camps were evacuated. After the war, Otto Förschner was arrested by Allied forces and put on trial during the Dachau war crimes proceedings. He was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity and sentenced to death. On 28 May 1946, Otto Förschner was hanged. He was 43 years old.This episode is part of the series The Nazi Camp Commandants.Watch the full documentary and explore hundreds of historical films at:WorldHistory.tv