Oswald Kaduk

Oswald Kaduk (August 26, 1906 – May 31, 1997) was a German low-ranking SS commander and Rapportführer at Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II.

The son of a blacksmith, Kaduk was born in Königshütte, Upper Silesia. After attending the Volksschule he trained as a butcher before becoming one in 1924. As well as working at the local slaughterhouse, Kaduk also held positions with fire fighting services at the municipal fire brigade in Chorzów and at a chemical plant.

In 1939 he joined the Allgemeine SS and in 1940 he was drafted into the Waffen-SS. He was sent to the Eastern Front, but due to various illnesses and stays at military hospitals he was posted to Auschwitz in 1941. At first he was assigned to watch tower duties in 1942, then became Blockführer and finally Rapportführer. One prisoner reported that he had a weakness for schnapps.

Kaduk was considered "one of the cruelest, brutalest, most vulgar" of SS men at Auschwitz:

"In the evening rollcall one late summer's evening of 1944, a prisoner was missing. Inmates present had to wait until the missing prisoner was accounted for. Kaduk and another Rapportführer beat the prisoner until he fell to the floor several times. [...] Eventually the prisoner remained on the ground lying on his back but still alive. Using all their strength, Kaduk and the other Rapportführer trod on the prisoner's ribcage with the heels of their boots — according to the declaration of the court — until his ribs cracked. They did not cease [...] until the prisoner was dead."

Historian Andrew Roberts in his book The Storm of War recounted Kaduk's practice of handing Jewish children balloons just before they were murdered with a phenol injection to the heart at a rate of ten children per minute.

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