Memorial Sign for August Gänswein,
Müllerstraße 34

August Gänswein lived in Constance, where he ran a trading and finance office together with his brother Gustav. The company "Gebr. Gänswein" had around 15 employees and was transformed into a joint stock company in 1923, but later went bankrupt. In 1925, August Gänswein had a serious tram accident; as a result, one of his legs had to be amputated. In the same year, he left Constance and moved to Müllerstrasse in Munich. In 1926, he was given a suspended sentence for fraud.

At the beginning of the 1930s, August Gänswein was reported for "unnatural acts", but the police were unable to prove that he had committed a criminal offence. In 1936, the police investigated him again for alleged homosexuality. This time, too, there was no evidence, but the police nevertheless sent him to Dachau concentration camp. He was later deported to the Mauthausen concentration camp for several months before being taken back to the Dachau concentration camp.

In autumn 1941, an SS "medical commission" arrived there to select the prisoners. A few months earlier, the SS and the "Kanzlei des Führers" (Chancellery of the Führer) had decided on the "14f13" campaign to murder prisoners in the concentration camps who were deemed unfit for work. August Gänswein was categorised as unfit for work due to his amputated leg. On 22 January 1942, the SS deported him to the Hartheim killing centre near Linz, Austria, where he was murdered with poison gas upon arrival.

On Friday 27 January 2023 amemorial event for August Gänswein was held at the PlanTreff in Munich.

Flyer (German)