Franz Suchomel

Franz Suchomel (3 December 1907 – 18 December 1979) was a Czech-German Nazi war criminal. He participated in the Action T4 euthanasia program, in Operation Reinhard, and the Einsatzgruppen actions in the Adriatic operational zone. He was convicted at the Treblinka trials in September 1965 and spent four years in prison.

Career Franz Suchomel was born in Český Krumlov, Bohemia in 1907, when it was part of Austria-Hungary. After leaving school he worked as an apprentice in his father's tailor shop and took over the family business in 1936. At the end of the 1920s, and again briefly in the fall of 1938, he served in the Czechoslovak Army. Suchomel joined the Sudeten German Party (SdP) in 1938. After the incorporation of the Sudetenland to the Third Reich as a result of the Munich Agreement, he became a member of the National Socialist Motor Corps (NSKK), a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. At the beginning of the Second World War, Suchomel was a tailor in the German Army and served in the Battle of France in 1940.

Operation Reinhardt

In August 1942, Suchomel was transferred to the Treblinka extermination camp. After 1949 Suchomel lived in Altötting, Bavaria. There he was again employed as a tailor, and served in five amateur orchestras as well as in the Catholic church choir.

Regarding his specific role as boss of the "Gold Jews":

"The Gold and Court Jews were glad to be under the command of the mild and easygoing defendant Suchomel, rather than one of the other German SS men, who were prone to harshness and cruelty. Some prisoners therefore called him "The Good German".

...The witness Gl. stated that, considering his behavior in relation to the horrific events in the camp, Suchomel was decent. Witnesses Un., Pla., Au., and Wei. expressed similar views. The witness Raj. particularly emphasized that Suchomel frequently warned the Jews about Franz and Küttner, thereby saving many a prisoner from an early death. The plumber Oscar Stra. During his sworn testimony, he correctly stated that Suchomel strove to improve the welfare of the Gold and Court Jews and that he treated them well to the best of his ability."

One witness, Moszek Laks, disagreed and said “It is quite possible that there were good Germans at the time, but in Treblinka I didn’t meet any.”

Suchomel was convicted of accessory to murder and sentenced to six years in jail. Suchomel was released from prison on 20 December 1967. He died on 18 December 1979.