Erich Zoddel

Erich Zoddel (August 9, 1913 – November 30, 1945) was a prisoner functionary at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. In 1941, Zoddel was sentenced to a year in prison for theft before being transferred to Sachsenhausen concentration camp in 1942. He worked as a forced laborer in the Heinkel factory in Oranienburg until October 1943. In November 1943, after a brief stay at Buchenwald concentration camp, he was taken to Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp. On March 27, 1944, Zoddel and 1,000 other prisoners from Mittelbau-Dora arrived at Bergen-Belsen. By January 1945, Zoddel had risen in the ranks to a camp division. Two days after the liberation of Bergen-Belsen by the British army on April 15, 1945, Zoddel killed a female detainee, a crime for which he was sentenced to death by a British military court in Celle on August 31, 1945. On November 17, 1945, Zoddel was sentenced to life imprisonment in a second trial for his actions at Bergen-Belsen. His execution was carried out later that month in Wolfenbüttel.