Hans Czerma

During the Nazi era, Hans Czermak made his career as the head of the health and welfare system. His office was in the Landhaus. He was in charge of both the Gau Office of Public Health and of Department III, thus combining the authority of the party and the civil government. Execution of the Nazi euthanasia programme, involving the murder of mentally ill and impaired individuals, was one of his responsibilities.

Czermak was born in Graz and moved to Innsbruck at the age of six. He studied medicine and became an ear, nose and throat specialist. He joined the NSDAP in 1933 and was imprisoned for a week in 1934 for illegal Nazi activities. After 1938 he quickly moved up the career ladder.

Preparations for the Nazi euthanasia murders began in Tyrol in the summer of 1940. Viktor Brack, head of the relevant office in Berlin, came to Innsbruck for a meeting. In addition to Gauleiter Franz Hofer, Hans Czermak also attended the meeting. He became a driving force behind implementation of the euthanasia programme. To save on transport costs, he also wanted to have a gas chamber built in Hall, but his plan came to nothing. The result of his conscientious work: 707 people murdered in euthanasia centres outside Tyrol.

The US Army Criminal Investigation Command arrested Hans Czermak on 10 May 1945. In court he pleaded not guilty, arguing that he had only carried out orders. He claimed that without him things would have been much worse and said: “I did what I could to save lives.”

The court sentenced him to eight years of hard time in prison and forfeiture of his assets. The time already spent in prison was counted toward the sentence, and in September 1950 he was again a free man. After his release, he worked as a sales representative for pharmaceuticals and died in April 1975. The obituary in the “Tiroler Tageszeitung” spoke of “a busy life devoted to duty”.