Life and death of Commander Franz Ziereis

He was the overbearing  and strict commandant of Mauthausen Concentration Camp in Germany. Mauthausen was only one of the several concentration camps in Germany during the holocaust period were jews and other lower class individuals was sent to die. Ziereis was the Camp's commander from 1939 until it was liberated by the allied power in 1945. He was able to escape in rural Austria but allied soldier tracked him down. He was brought to Gusen camp to get medical attention since he received shots during his escape. Upon estimation, the victims of Mauthausen-Gusen camp range from 150,000- 350,000.

Hours prior to his death. According to some hearsay, he was not allowed to die unti he confessed the numbers of people he ordered to get killed in the Mauthausen-Gusen Camp.

But Gusen- the place where allied soldiers brought him was still full of former prisoners.. they exact their revenge and dragged the still warm corpse of the former commander. They stripped the corpse and wrote words in his bare bodies such as "HITLER" and the symbol of swaztika. They hanged his fully naked body infront of the Gusen camp where everybody can see it. His body stayed there for several weeks until the officers intructed to brought it down because they can no longer stand the odor of decaying flesh.