Richard Bugdalle
Richard Bugdalle | |
|---|---|
Richard Bugdalle | |
| Born | 11 September 1907 Saxony, German Empire |
| Died | 27 June 1982 (aged 74) Saal an der Donau, Bavaria, West Germany |
| Allegiance | Nazi Germany |
| Branch | Schutzstaffel |
| Rank | SS-Hauptscharführer |
| Unit | Sachsenhausen concentration camp staff |
Richard Bugdalle (11 September 1907 – 27 June 1982) was a German SS-Hauptscharführer, Blockführer, and convicted war criminal who served in the Nazi concentration camp system, especially at Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Memorial-site and scholarly sources describe him as one of the more violent SS perpetrators associated with Sachsenhausen. He worked in the camp's isolation section, led labour details linked to the SS firing range and the Klinkerwerk subcamp, and later served in the Drögen subcamp. In 1960, the Regional Court of Munich I convicted him of murder in nine cases and sentenced him to life imprisonment; he was released from prison in 1971.[1][2][3]
Early life and SS career
According to scholarly accounts, Bugdalle was born on 11 September 1907 in Saxony. He joined the Nazi Party and the SS in 1931. After service with SS units in Saxony, he entered the guard force of Sachsenburg concentration camp in the mid-1930s and was transferred to Sachsenhausen in 1937. There he rose to the rank of SS-Hauptscharführer and served as a Blockführer.[2]
From 1941 to 1942, he was assigned to the Drögen subcamp. In the summer of 1942, he was transferred away from the concentration-camp system and later served with the Waffen-SS division Prinz Eugen.[2]
Sachsenhausen
At Sachsenhausen, Bugdalle became associated with especially brutal violence against prisoners. The Sachsenhausen Memorial identifies him as one of the SS men active in the camp's Isolierung ("isolation") section, where inmates were subjected to severe abuse. In its permanent exhibition on excesses and direct perpetrators, the memorial states that in the summer of 1940 several SS block leaders murdered at least 75 Jewish prisoners in the isolation area. Among the cases highlighted there is the killing of the singer Georg Adler, who, according to the memorial, was kicked to death by Richard Bugdalle and Otto Kaiser.[3]
Sources from the Brandenburg memorial network also place Bugdalle in the system of forced labour and killing connected with the Klinkerwerk subcamp. A study published in the GedenkstättenRundbrief describes him as a block leader in the isolation section of Sachsenhausen and as a labour-command leader both in the construction of the SS firing range and in the Klinkerwerk subcamp.[4]
Postwar prosecution
At the end of the Second World War, Bugdalle was taken into American custody in Styria and was interned for a time at Dachau. According to Andreas Eichmüller, he concealed his earlier concentration-camp service and was released, later living in Munich as a labourer. During renewed investigations into crimes at Sachsenhausen, West German prosecutors identified him and brought charges against him in August 1959.[2]
On 20 January 1960, the jury court at the Landgericht München I convicted Bugdalle of murder in nine cases and sentenced him to life imprisonment.[2] Bugdalle was released from prison in 1978.[1]
References
- ^ a b Bohra, Stephanie (2019). Tatort Sachsenhausen: Strafverfolgung von KZ-Verbrechen in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (in German). Berlin: Metropol. p. 525.
- ^ a b c d e Eichmüller, Andreas (2012). Keine Generalamnestie: Die Strafverfolgung von NS-Verbrechen in der frühen Bundesrepublik (in German). München: Oldenbourg.
- ^ a b "Die Konzentrationslager-SS 1936 bis 1945: Exzess- und Direkttäter". Gedenkstätte und Museum Sachsenhausen (in German). Retrieved 10 March 2026.
- ^ "Das Klinkerwerk Oranienburg". Gedenkstättenforum (in German). Retrieved 10 March 2026.