Anton Malloth

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Anton Malloth (born February 13, 1912 in Innsbruck; died October 31, 2002 in Straubing) was a supervisor in the "Kleine Festung" part of the Theresienstadt concentration camp.

Anton Malloth was born in 1912 in Innsbruck and grew up in Schenna near Merano in South Tyrol, where his foster-parents had a small agricultural business and a guest-house. He did an apprenticeship as a butcher and later was lance corporal in the Italian army, where he opted to serve in Germany. In Innsbruck he got a training as a "Schutzpolizist" (a uniformed branch of the 3rd Reich police force) and later volunteered for police service in Prague.

From June 1940 to May 1945, Malloth worked as a supervisor in the Gestapo-prison "Kleine Festung Theresienstadt", which was part of the larger Theresienstadt concentration camp.

After the end of the Second World War, Malloth was on the run for some time, living at his parents-in-laws' home in Wörgl, Austrian Tyrol. In early 1948, Malloth was arrested by the Austrian police. In the interrogation in front of a judge in Innsbruck, he played down his role in the Gestapo prison and denied having had been involved with torture and murder.

An application for extradition by the Czechoslovakian government was ignored by the Austrian justice. At the time of the trial in absentia against Malloth in September 1948 in Czechoslovakia for war crimes in Theresienstadt, Malloth had already been released by the Austrian court. After numerous witness testimonials, the Czechoslovakian court in Litomerice/Leitmeritz ruled that there was no doubt that Malloth (his nickname was "der schöne Toni", The beautiful Toni) had beaten to death about 100 detainees. The verdict was reversed in 1969, but the application for extradition was still valid.

From 1948 to 1988 Malloth lived undisturbed in Meran, Austrian South Tyrol. In 1952 he became an Italian citizen. When his Italian citizenship was stripped, he became a German citizen in 1957.

In spite of several applications for extradition by Germany and Austria, the German consulate in Milan extended his visa several times. When he was expelled to Germany in 1988, the public prosecution department of Dortmund denied any extradition to Austria or Czechoslovakia. As there were no preliminary proceedings against Malloth, he was freed.

From 1988 to 2000, Malloth lived in Pullach near Munich. Gudrun Burwitz, the daughter of Heinrich Himmler was instructed by the "Stille Hilfe" to rent a comfortable room for him in a home for the aged, which was built on a lot formerly owned by Rudolf Hess.

When it became public in the end of the ninetees that the social welfare office had paid most of the expenses of Malloths room, there was a lot of criticism in the German media. Also the involvement of the Himmler-daughter Gudrun Burwitz was criticized.

Malloth was taken into custody on May 25, 2000 and charged by the public prosecution department in Munich. The trial started on April 23, 2001 in the prison in Munich-Stadelheim. On May 30, 2001 Malloth was convicted by the district court of Munich for murder and attempted murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Ten days before his death, cancer-suffering Malloth was declared unfit for prison and therefore released.

[edit] Literature

Oliver Schröm/ Andrea Röpke, Stille Hilfe für braune Kameraden, Christoph Links Verlag, 2002, ISBN 978-3-86153-231-6
Ernst Klee, Was sie taten - Was sie wurden, Fischer Taschenbuch (4364), 12. Auflage 1998, ISBN 978-3-596-24364-8
Ernst Klee, Persilscheine und falsche Pässe, Fischer Taschenbuch (10956), 5. Aufl. 1991), ISBN 978-3-596-10956-2