{{Short description|German member of the SS (1908–1944)}} ''SS-Hauptsturmführer'' '''Wilhelm Gerstenmeier''' (17 January 1908 – 3 December 1944) was a German member of the SS (member number 13300) during World War II.<ref name="dws-xip.pl">{{cite web | url=http://www.dws-xip.pl/reich/biografie/numery/numer13.html | title=Wilhelm Gerstenmeier | publisher=Reich. Biographies | work=SS membership card number and rank | date=September 29, 2011 | accessdate=2013-04-21 | author=Lukasz Najbarowski}}</ref> He was convicted of atrocities committed at the Majdanek concentration camp in occupied Poland and hanged for war crimes on the grounds of the camp in 1944.<ref name="nachkriegsjustiz">{{cite web | url=http://www.nachkriegsjustiz.at/aktuelles/Swastyka%20i%20szubienica.pdf | title=Angeklagte: Wilhelm Gerstenmeier | publisher=Majdanek-Prozess | work=Hakenkreuz und Galgen | date=2013 | accessdate=2013-04-21}}</ref>
==Biography== [[File:Majdanek (June 24, 1944).jpg|thumb|260px|right|Reconnaissance photograph of the Majdanek concentration camp (24 June 1944) from the collections of the Majdanek Museum. In the upper half, functioning barracks]]
Gerstenmeier was born in Augsburg, Bavaria, a son of Karl Gerstenmeier and Elizabeth née Krippendorf. He was married with two children before the Nazi German invasion of Poland.<ref name="axishistory">{{cite web | url=http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=38&p=1443947 | title=Wilhelm Gerstenmeier | publisher=Axis History | work=The SS & Polizei section | date=Mar 13, 2010 | accessdate=2013-04-21}}</ref> While in Poland, he served as Master Sergeant in the Schutzstaffel squadron of the Waffen-SS and in 1941 was assigned as assistant to ''SS-Obersturmführer'' Anton Thernes, commandant of the Majdanek concentration camp administration in charge of slave labour, starvation rationing and maintenance of the camp structures. Gerstenmeier rose to the rank of ''Obersturmführer'' in Majdanek.<ref name="ww2db">{{cite web |url=http://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=136 |title=Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust |publisher=World War II Database |work=Timeline |year=2013 |accessdate=2013-04-21 |author=C. Peter Chen |quote=''Sources:'' The Arms of Krupp, Band of Brothers, Crusade in Europe, the Fall of Berlin, and the Last Lion, University of San Diego.}}</ref> He was a manager of the storage depot for property and valuables stolen from the victims at the killing centers in Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka. Gerstenmeier was also responsible for Zyklon B deliveries.<ref name="ushmm_cond">{{citation |author=Staff Writer |chapter=Lublin/Majdanek Concentration Camp: Overview |title=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |year=2006 |publisher=ushmm.org |chapter-url=http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005190}}.</ref> During the mere 34 months of operation, more than 79,000 people perished at the main camp alone (59,000 of them Polish Jews).<ref name="Reszka">{{cite web |url=http://en.auschwitz.org.pl/m/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=44&Itemid=8 |title=Majdanek Victims Enumerated. Changes in the history textbooks? |accessdate=2010-04-13 |last=Reszka |first=Paweł |date=2005-12-23 |work=Gazeta Wyborcza |publisher=Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum |archive-date=2011-11-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111106112513/http://en.auschwitz.org.pl/m/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=44&Itemid=8 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="ushmm-Majdanek">{{cite web | url=http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007298 |title=Soviet forces liberate Majdanek |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC |work=Lublin/Majdanek: Chronology |date=May 11, 2012 |accessdate=2013-04-13 |author=USHMM}}</ref>
Gerstenmeier was captured by the Soviets and arraigned before the courts on charges of war crimes at the First Majdanek Trial, which lasted from 27 November 1944 to 2 December 1944. He was sentenced to death by hanging and executed on 3 December 1944 along with Anton Thernes and five other war criminals close to the camp's gas chambers and crematorium.<ref name="Majdanek -1 axishistory">{{cite web | url=http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=125358 | title=SS personnel serving at Majdanek | publisher=Axis History | work=Camp personnel | date=Aug 8, 2007 | accessdate=2013-04-14 | author=Marcus Wendel}}</ref>
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerstenmeier, Wilhelm}} Category:1908 births Category:1944 deaths Category:Executed German mass murderers Category:German military personnel killed in World War II Category:Holocaust perpetrators in Poland Category:Majdanek trials executions Category:Military personnel from Augsburg Category:Nazis executed by the Soviet Union by hanging Category:People from the Kingdom of Bavaria Category:SS-Hauptsturmführer