The last commander of KL Auschwitz, on 1 February 1945, the 33-year-old Baer became the new commander of the KL Mittelbau. He had come to KL Mittelbau, in the Southern Harz Mountains, at the end of January, 1945, along with thousands of Death March inmates of KL Auschwitz and hundreds of other members of the SS, including the entire general staff of the KL Auschwitz.

Baer was no stranger to concentration camp service: Before his appointment as commander of the of KL Auschwitz, he had worked in various functions in the Dachau, Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald & Neuengamme camps from 1933 onwards.

Other positions in the KL Mittelbau command were also filled by SS men from Auschwitz: Franz Hössler, for example, became the new officer in charge of the “protective custody” camp in Dora; Hössler had likewise been pursuing a concentration camp career since 1933.

In February and March, 1945, the SS carried out one mass execution after the other & disastrous living conditions worsened.

[Image left to right Baer, Mengele, Höß]