Edwin Katzen-Ellenbogen
Edwin Maria Katzenellenbogen, also spelled Katzen-Ellenbogen (22 May 1882 – after 1955) was a Jewish American eugenicist and physician in the concentration camp of Buchenwald. Born in 1882 in Galicia, he attended a Polish Jesuit high school, and was a practicing Catholic. In 1905 he graduated as a doctor from Leipzig University. He emigrated to the United States that year, where he was naturalized. Katzenellenbogen worked as a eugenicist for the Carnegie Institution. At one point, he was a faculty member at Harvard Medical School. Katzenellenbogen married Aurelia Pierce, the daughter of a Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice, whom he later divorced.
Edwin Katzenellenbogen | |
|---|---|
Katzenellenbogen in U.S. custody (April 1947) | |
| Born | Edwin Maria Katzenellenbogen May 22, 1882 |
| Died | After 1955 |
| Nationality | German American |
| Occupation | Psychiatrist |
| Criminal status | Deceased |
| Conviction(s) | War crimes |
| Trial | Buchenwald trial |
| Criminal penalty | Life imprisonment; commuted 12 years imprisonment |
Katzenellenbogen returned to Germany in the 1930s. In 1943, he was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. There, Katzenellenbogen collaborated with the Nazis as a doctor. He became known for his cruelty especially towards French communists.
In September 1945, Katzenellenbogen was arrested in Marburg. In the Buchenwald Camp Trial (part of the Dachau Trials), he was charged along with 30 others. Katzenellenbogen was accused of mistreating prisoners, and killing 1000 of them via lethal injection. He was one of the few physicians to show remorse at his trial. After being found guilty, Katzenelenbogen requested a death sentence, saying "You have placed the mark of Cain on my forehead. Any physician who committed the crimes I am charged with deserves to be killed. Therefore, I ask for only one grace. Apply to me the highest therapy that is in your hands."
On August 14, 1947, Katzenellenbogen was sentenced to life in prison. He did not receive the death sentence he requested since military prosecutors failed to prove that he committed murder. Katzenellenbogen was instead only found guilty of committing non-fatal abuse.
Katzenellenbogen's sentence was later commuted to 12 years. He was released from prison on September 26, 1953. He returned to the U.S. and resumed practice as a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst until at least the end of 1955. He died some time after that.