Wilhelm Gideon

Wilhelm Gideon (born 15 November 1898 in Oldenburg – died 23 February 1977) was a Schutzstaffel officer and Nazi concentration camp commandant.

A native of Oldenburg in the state of Lower Saxony, Gideon began work as a trainee engineer but had his studied ended by the outbreak of World War I when he volunteered for service in the German Imperial Army.

Gideon enlisted in the SS in 1933 (member number 88,657) and the Nazi Party in 1937 (member 4,432,258). 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 until 1942, after which he was briefly attached to the SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt. He also served for a short period at Neuengamme concentration camp and as administrator of the 88th SS-Standarte in Hamburg.

Gideon had been identified by Oswald Pohl as a reliable SS officer and was promoted to Hauptsturmführer by the concentration camp chief. He was appointed commandant of Gross-Rosen concentration camp on 16 September 1942 in succession to Arthur Rödl and held the post until 10 October 1943 when Johannes Hassebroek succeeded him. His final post was on staff of the SS and Police Leader in occupied Denmark until the surrender in 1945.

Gideon was found in 1975 when Israeli historian Tom Segev interviewed him for his book Soldiers of Evil, a study of the 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.