Hans Loritz

Oberführer (Senior Colonel) Hans Loritz (12 December 1895, Augsburg – 31 January 1946) joined the SS in September, 1930 and the NSDAP in August, 1930. In 1933, he formed and commanded the Austrian SS Standarte at the Dachau concentration camp. From mid-December, 1933 to July, 1934, he was the only commander of the camp at Papenburg and when that camp was closed in late July, 1934, he was transferred to KZ Esterwegen where he was the Commandant for two years before being transferred back to serve as Commandant of Dachau until 1939. He was dismissed in July, 1939 by Hitler for being too harsh. He became a section leader of the General SS in Klagenfurt. In 1940 Himmler posted him to Sachsenhausen, to replace Walter Eisfeld. That lasted until 1942, when he was removed by the suggestion of Oswald Pohl, leader of the SS-WVHA. He was then sent to oversee a camp in Norway.

After the war, he was arrested and imprisoned at the internment camp in Neumünster to await trial by the Soviets; he committed suicide, however, in January 1946.

Ranks and promotions

Loritz's SS-Ranks
Date	Rank
15 November 1931	SS-Untersturmführer
11 April 1932	SS-Hauptsturmführer
23 August 1932	SS-Sturmbannführer
15 July 1933	SS-Obersturmbannführer
22 March 1934	SS-Standartenführer
15 September 1935	SS-Oberführer

Bibliography

• Dirk Riedel: Ordnungshüter und Massenmörder im Dienst der „Volksgemeinschaft“: Der KZ-Kommandant Hans Loritz. Metropol Verlag, Berlin 2010, ISBN 3-940938-63-7.
• Rudolf Hoess, Constantine Fitzgibbon, Primo Levi. Commandant of Auschwitz: The Autobiography of Rudolf Hoess. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2000. ISBN 978-1-84212-024-8
• ALLGEMEINE-SS: THE COMMANDS, UNITS, AND LEADERS OF THE GENERAL SS. Schiffer Publishing, 1997 Mark C. Yerger