Career
The existence of this group of camps is largely unknown to the general public. Pre World World War II
Pompe was severely wounded at Tournai (Belgium) close to the end of World War I on October 25, 1918. His left leg was amputated below the knee and fitted with a prothesis.
In 1922 he and his family moved to the city of Neisse in Upper Silesia.
World World War II
In 1942, Pompe, who was often nicknamed “the limper,” was feared by the inmates of Blechhammer (Upper Silesia), but nowhere else did he commit as many atrocities as at Brande (Upper Silesia), where he was the commander of the guards (“Wachhabender”) from fall, 1942, to August, 1943. The German-Jewish camp physician Hans-Werner Wollenberg has written a harrowing account of Pompe’s activities at this camp.
Numerous interviews with survivors contain memories of the terrible conditions at Brande, for which Pompe bore a major responsibility. After the closure of Brande he commanded the guards in the women's section of the Blechhammer camp, and from November, 1943, to April, 1944, he was camp commander (“Lagerführer’) at the Schmiedeberg forced labor camp, which was located near his city of birth in the village of Buschvorwerk.
In both camps he terrorized the inmates and committed several murders.
Post war life
He classified himself as innocent (“unbelastet”) and continued to live under his real name. In 1951 Pompe moved from Höchberg near Würzburg to Schweinfurt where he was employed by Vereinigte Kugellager Fabriken AG as a laborer.
