# Wilhelm Gideon

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**Wilhelm Gideon** (15 November 1898 – 23 February 1977[citation needed]) was a *[Schutzstaffel](/source/Schutzstaffel)* (SS) officer and [Nazi concentration camp](/source/Nazi_concentration_camp) commandant.

A native of [Oldenburg](/source/Oldenburg_(city)), Gideon began work as a trainee engineer but had his studies ended by the outbreak of [World War I](/source/World_War_I), when he volunteered for service in the [German Imperial Army](/source/German_Imperial_Army).[1]

Gideon enlisted in the [SS](/source/SS) in 1933 (member number 88,657) and the [Nazi Party](/source/Nazi_Party) in 1937 (member 4,432,258).[2] He had various posts in the SS, initially being stationed with the 9th SS-Reiterstandarte (cavalry) from 1934 to 1939. Following this, he was moved to the [3rd SS Division Totenkopf](/source/3rd_SS_Division_Totenkopf) until 1942, after which he was briefly attached to the [SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt](/source/SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt). He also served for a short period at [Neuengamme concentration camp](/source/Neuengamme_concentration_camp) and as the administrator of the 88th [SS-Standarte](/source/SS-Standarte) in [Hamburg](/source/Hamburg).[2]

Gideon had been identified by [Oswald Pohl](/source/Oswald_Pohl), the head of the concentration camp system, as a reliable SS officer and was promoted to SS-*[Hauptsturmführer](/source/Hauptsturmf%C3%BChrer)*.[3] He was appointed commandant of [Gross-Rosen concentration camp](/source/Gross-Rosen_concentration_camp) on 16 September 1942, in succession to [Arthur Rödl](/source/Arthur_R%C3%B6dl), and held the post until 10 October 1943, when [Johannes Hassebroek](/source/Johannes_Hassebroek) succeeded him.[4] His final post was on the staff of [Günther Pancke](/source/G%C3%BCnther_Pancke), the [Higher SS and Police Leader](/source/SS_and_Police_Leader) in occupied [Denmark](/source/Denmark), until Germany's surrender in 1945. Legal proceedings against Gideon were dismissed in 1962.[2]

Gideon was found [clarification needed] [where?] in 1975 when [Israeli](/source/Israel) historian [Tom Segev](/source/Tom_Segev) interviewed him for his book *Soldiers of Evil*, a study of concentration camp commandants. However, after initially cooperating with Segev, Gideon terminated the interview when he suddenly claimed that he was a different person who happened to be named Wilhelm Gideon rather than the former commandant of Gross-Rosen.[5]

## Literature

- Orth, Karin: *Die Konzentrationslager-SS*. dtv, München 2004, ISBN 3-423-34085-1.
- [Tom Segev](/source/Tom_Segev): *Die Soldaten des Bösen. Zur Geschichte der KZ-Kommandanten*. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1995, ISBN 3-499-18826-0.
- [Ernst Klee](/source/Ernst_Klee): *Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich: Wer war was vor und nach 1945.* Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2005. ISBN 3-596-16048-0.
- [Wilhelm Gideon](https://www.dws-xip.com/reich/biografie/88569.html) (in Polish)

## References

1. [Tom Segev](/source/Tom_Segev), *Soldiers of Evil*, Berkley Books, 1991, pg. 68

1. [Wilhelm Gideon profile](http://www.dws-xip.pl/reich/biografie/88569.html); accessed 14 March 2022.

1. Michael Thad Allen, *The Business of Genocide: the SS, Slave Labor, and the Concentration Camps*, University of North Carolina Press, 2002.

1. Bella Guṭterman, *A Narrow Bridge to Life: Jewish Forced Labor and Survival in the Gross-Rosen Camp System, 1940-1945*, Berghahn Books, 2008, pg. 75

1. Segev, pg. 219

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