Eduard Weiter

Eduard Weiter (18 July 1889 – 2 May 1945) was a German Schutzstaffel Obersturmbannführer and the final commandant of Dachau concentration camp during World War II.

Early life The son of a horsewhip maker, Weiter worked as a book salesman whilst studying part-time until he joined the German Imperial Army at the age of 20. He served as a soldier for ten years, seeing action on the Eastern, Western and Balkan fronts during the course of World War I. He served as divisional and then regimental paymaster and following the reductions in the German military that followed the Treaty of Versailles he took up a similar position in the Bavarian police. Indeed, he did not join the Nazi Party until 1937.

Despite this, Weiter succeeded Martin Weiss as camp commandant on 30 September 1943. Inmate accounts suggest that Weiter's regime was characterised by the same anonymity that had defined his career, as he was rarely seen around the camp. Inmate leaders would later testify that Weiter had spoken to them shortly before leaving Dachau in an attempt to get them to testify to his lack of direct cruelty at any subsequent trial. or 2 May.