Ernst Zierke

Dorohucza Ernst Zierke (6 May 1905 – 23 May 1972) was a low-ranking member in the SS who took part in the Aktion T4 forced euthanasia program in Nazi Germany, and after the invasion of Poland worked at Bełżec and Sobibór extermination camps during Operation Reinhard.

He was charged with being an accessory to the murder of 360,000 Jews at death camps, acquitted twice, in the Belzec and Sobibor trials of 1965 on grounds of acting under duress and set free.

In late 1939, he was recruited by Action T4 and worked as staff in the euthanasia program at both the Grafeneck and Hadamar gassing centers.

At Bełżec, Zierke worked primarily on the unloading ramp of arriving transports and supervised the undressing of the victims prior to them entering the gas chambers.

He participated in the mass murder of the last group of more than thirty commando Jews (Arbeitsjuden) who had dismantled the camp at Sobibor.

Zierke, fourth from right, as SS staff of Bełżec extermination camp