Oberhauser was born in
Munich during
World War I. After finishing
Volksschule, he found employment on his uncle's farm in
Markt Schwaben. In 1934, Oberhauser enlisted for 18 months in the
Reichswehr and was posted to Munich. He joined the
SS in November 1935, specifically joining the
SS-Wachverbände (SS member no. 288,121). In April 1937, he was stationed at
Sachsenhausen concentration camp. He was a member of the
Nazi party. Oberhauser served in the
"SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler".
Action T4 In 1939, Oberhauser was assigned to
Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft für Heil- und Pflegeanstalten, part of the office for
Action T4 and one of several
front organizations of
Hitler's Chancellery, in November 1939. This organization was responsible for the killing of approximately 100,000 mentally ill and disabled people during
Action T4. At the killing centers of
Grafeneck,
Brandenburg and
Bernburg, where these people were murdered en masse by gas (
carbon monoxide poisoning), Oberhauser was a
Brenner (burner), or
Leichenbrenner (corpse burner): he was responsible for the burning of the bodies in the specially installed crematory ovens.
Operation Reinhard (right) and Jirmann (centre) at Belzec during
Operation Reinhard After finishing Action T4 in August 1941, in November Oberhauser was transferred to the staff of the
SS and Police Leader (SSPF) for the
Lublin district, SS-
Brigadeführer Odilo Globocnik, to take part in
Operation Reinhard, the extermination of Poland's three million Jews. From November 1941 until 1 August 1942, Oberhauser was posted to
Bełżec extermination camp as the leader of a guard platoon. He first visited Bełżec in the fall of 1941, before the extermination camp existed, to remove military equipment at the site. He was responsible for the development of the camp. In December 1941, Oberhauser returned to Bełżec with construction materials and a team of Ukrainian
Trawnikis. He was under the command of camp commandant
Christian Wirth, and he also served as Wirth's liaison to Globocnik. For his work in the implementation of Operation Reinhard, Oberhauser was promoted from SS-
Hauptscharführer to SS-
Untersturmführer, effective 20 April 1943, reaching officer rank in the SS. Previously, the
Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler had made a personal visit to the Operation Reinhard camps, including
Bełżec, on 12 February 1943, and had decided to promote Oberhauser. In the 21 January 1965 judgment of the Munich District Court I (Case No. 110 Ks 3/64), his work at Belzec is described as follows (translated to English):
Transfer to Italy After the completion of Operation Reinhard, Oberhauser, along with many of his colleagues, was sent to northern Italy in the group
Sonderabteilung Einsatz R to participate in
anti-partisan warfare and the deportation and killing of Jews there. He was promoted to the rank of SS-
Obersturmführer on 30 January 1945. Purportedly, Oberhauser was commandant of
Risiera di San Sabba until its closure in late April 1945 (3,000 to 5,000 people died there). He then went to
Austria with his unit, and was arrested by the British authorities in May 1945 in
Bad Gastein. ==Arrest and trial==