2015/01/01 by Herlinde Pauer‐Studer, J. David Velleman · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #European history and politics #Communism, Protests, Social Movements #German History and Society
paper · doi:10.1057/9781137496959_10
openalex publication_date 2015/01/01 · openalex created_date 2022/05/11 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
The recollections of surviving prisoners make clear that Koch’s subordinate Martin Sommer was not only a murderer but a sadist. 1 In addition to killing prisoners by beating, injection, and strangulation, he devised brutal tortures, such as “tree hanging,” in which the victim’s hands were tied behind his back and then hoisted until his feet cleared the ground, a position in which he might be left for hours or even days, often with dislocated shoulders. 2 Sommer came to be called “the Hangman of Buchenwald.” 3 Morgen quotes a prisoner as saying, “Should there be a Hell for retribution in the hereafter, it could not be worse than the cell-block under Sommer.” 4 These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.