Roland Puhr was an SS concentration camp guard at Sachsenhausen who participated in the fatal beating of Austrian prosecutor Karl Tuppy, a man who had helped bring two Nazis responsible for the assassination of Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss to justice.
Born on 21 January 1914 in Staré Křečany, then part of Austria-Hungary, Puhr grew up during a period of political instability and rising nationalism in Central Europe. Following Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in Germany in 1933, the Nazi regime increasingly demanded the incorporation of ethnic German communities and territories beyond Germany’s borders, including the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia.
After the annexation of Austria in March 1938 and the occupation of the Czech lands in March 1939, Nazi Germany continued its territorial expansion. The Second World War began on 1 September 1939 with the German invasion of Poland.
In 1939, Puhr joined the Nazi Party and was assigned to the SS-Totenkopfverbände, the SS Death’s Head Units responsible for guarding and administering concentration camps. He subsequently served at Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where prisoners endured forced labour, beatings, starvation, and severe punishment at the hands of SS personnel.
Among the crimes associated with Puhr was his participation in the fatal beating of Karl Tuppy, an Austrian prosecutor who had played a role in the legal proceedings against two Nazis convicted of assassinating Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss during the failed Nazi coup in Austria in July 1934.
Tuppy’s previous involvement in prosecuting Nazi perpetrators made him a particular target of revenge after Austria fell under Nazi control.
This documentary examines Roland Puhr’s involvement in the Nazi concentration camp system, the persecution of political opponents at Sachsenhausen, and the killing of Karl Tuppy, whose earlier efforts to prosecute Nazi violence ultimately made him a victim of the regime.
This episode is part of the series Male Fascist Guards and Camp Auxiliaries.
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