Siegfried Seidl was born in Tulln an der Donau, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, now in Lower Austria. After completing his secondary schooling at the Oberschule, Seidl started law study. After three semesters, he interrupted his studies and took on various odd jobs. From 1935 until 1938, Seidl studied history and German studies at the University of Vienna. He obtained his PhD in 1941. This title was taken away from him in 1947 after he was convicted as a war criminal. On 2 March 1939 Seidl married Elisabeth Stieber, a former teacher in a kindergarten. She was a member of the NSDAP and its NS-Frauenschaft, and supporting member of the SS.
Nazi career
On 15 October 1930 Seidl joined the Nazi Party. From September 1931 until May 1932, he was active in the SA. The same day that he left the SA, Seidl was assigned to the 11th SS-Standarte as Oberscharführer or Sergeant ). In late 1939, Seidl was called into the police as a result of his SS membership. As of January 1940, he was attached to the SS-Reichssicherheitshauptamt – Department IVB4 under Adolf Eichmann's command – and posted to the SS lead section in Posen. On 30 October 1941, Seidl was charged by Adolf Eichmann with establishing the Theresienstadt ghetto and concentration camp, Czechoslovakia. From November 1941 until 3 July 1943, he was the ghetto's Commandant. He was responsible for thousands of people being ill treated and murdered. In November 1942, Seidl was promoted to SS-Hauptsturmführer. As commandant Seidl reported directly to Hans Günther, chief of the Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung in Prague. Günther in turn reported to Adolf Eichmann at the Reich Security Main Office IV B 4 in Berlin. On orders of Eichmann, Seidl was on 3 July 1943 reassigned as Commandant of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. He was succeeded at Theresienstadt by SS-Obersturmführer Anton Burger. In March 1944 Seidl met with the Wehrmacht in Budapest, where he joined the 5thEinsatzgruppe SS paramilitary death squad. As leader of the Debrecen outpost, Seidl was part of the Sondereinsatzkommando-Eichmann. The SEK organised the largest and quickest deportation of the Holocaust. From 15 May to 9 July 1944, in 56 days, the Germans deported 437,402 Jews from Hungary, according to their records. With the exception of 15,000 people, all were taken to the death campAuschwitz-Birkenau, where most were murdered. In July 1944, when the deportation of the Jews of Hungary was finished, Seidl was appointed as acting leader of the SS Special Deployment Command, Outpost Vienna. There he exercised control over the remaining Hungarian Jews in forced-labour camps, which had been built in Vienna and Lower Austria. After the war, Seidl escaped and laid low. He was arrested in October 1945 in Vienna and tried in Austria. After his conviction, on 14 November 1946 in Vienna, Seidl was sentenced to death by the Volksgericht. He was executed on 4 February 1947.
