Franz Ziereis

Franz Xaver Ziereis (August 13, 1905 - May 24, 1945) was the commandant of the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp from 1939 until the camp was captured by the Allied powers in 1945.

Early life
Ziereis was born on August 13, 1905 in Munich, Germany. Ziereis spent 8 years in elementary school and then began as an apprentice and messenger boy in a department store. In the evenings he studied commerce. In 1922 he went to work as a labourer in a carpentry shop.

Military career
Ziereis joined Germany's Reichswehr (army) on April 1, 1924, for a period of 12 years. He was discharged with the rank of sergeant in 1936 and joined the SS on September 30 of the same year. He attained the rank of SS-Obersturmführer and was assigned as a training instructor to the SS-Totenkopfverbände. In 1937 he was given command of the 22nd Hundertschaft (hundred-man-unit) of SS-Totenkopf-Standarte 2 "Brandenburg". On July 1, 1938, he was transferred to the SS-Totenkopf-Standarte 3 "Thüringen" as a training instructor.

Concentration camp commandant
Zeireis replaced Albert Saur as commandant of Mauthausen on February 9, 1939 by order of Theodor Eicke, Inspector of Concentration Camps. On August 25, 1939, Ziereis received a promotion to the rank of SS-Sturmbannführer and, on April 20, 1944 he received his final promotion to SS-Standartenführer.

Post-war flight and death
Ziereis fled with his wife on May 3, 1945. He attempted to hide out in his hunting lodge on the Phyrn mountain in Upper Austria. He was discovered and arrested on May 23, 1945, by an American army unit. He was shot while trying to escape and brought to a U.S. military hospital set up in Gusen I where he eventually died. His corpse was later hung on the fence of Gusen I by former prisoners of Gusen.