Niemann joined the
Nazi Party in 1931 as member number 753,836 and the SS in 1934 as member number 270,600. He first served at
Bełżec extermination camp, where he commanded Camp II, the extermination area. He then was transferred to
Sobibor extermination camp. Niemann was deputy commander of Sobibor on various occasions in 1942 before being given the position permanently in early 1943. After
Heinrich Himmler's visit to Sobibor on 12 February 1943, Niemann was promoted to
SS-Untersturmführer.
Karl Frenzel, also a commandant at Sobibor, recalled how Niemann handled a particular threat of prisoner revolt within the camp: On 14 October 1943, a
prisoner uprising took place at the Sobibor extermination camp. Niemann was the highest-ranking SS officer who was on duty that day, and so he was the first person targeted to be assassinated by the prisoners. During an appointment to be fitted for a leather jacket taken from a murdered Jew, Niemann was killed in the tailor's barracks with an axe to his head by Alexander Shubayev, a Jewish Red Army soldier imprisoned at Sobibor. In 2020, Niemann's wartime photo album was made public by his descendants. The collection of photographs is known as the
Sobibor perpetrator album. Niemann was played by Henry Stolow in the 1987 English film
Escape from Sobibor, and by Maximilian Dirr in the 2018 Russian film
Sobibor. Niemann's Awards/Decorations and ranks in the SS and NSDAP (or Nazi Party) were as follows: Ranks: SS-Unterscharführer, SS-Scharführer, SS-Oberscharführer, SS-Hauptscharführer, Niemann's last promotion to the rank of SS-Untersturmführer by SS-Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler on February 12, 1943. Awards: DRL-Sports Badge in Bronze, War Merit Cross 2nd Class With Swords, Sudetenland Medal, Heer Long Service Medal. ==References==