Schwela, Siegfried

Siegfried Schwela (3 May 1905 – 10 May 1942), SS Hauptsturmführer, was a camp physician at Auschwitz from August 1941. He became the garrison physician of that camp on 21 March 1942. Under his healthcare leadership, sanitary and health conditions in the camp deteriorated to such a degree that in particular typhus became rampant not only among the inmates, but also among the SS staff. Schwela himself contracted the disease and died of it on 10 May 1942. He was replaced by Kurt Uhlenbrock, who also contracted typhus, and barely managed to survive. His successor was Eduard Wirths, who pushed through with the Berlin authorities the necessary sanitary and healthcare measures to combat and eventually resolve the catastrophic sanitary and health conditions, in particular at the Birkenau Camp.