Hermann Schweninger came from Munich. His father Herman was a colonel in the military. After leaving school, he studied German and mechanical engineering at the University of Munich. During his studies, he became friends with Viktor Brack. After graduating, he worked occasionally for the Bavaria film company; he earned his living as a lorry driver. Schweninger joined the NSDAP in 1936. In 1939, Viktor Brack initially recruited him as a driver for »Aktion T4«. From April 1940 to June 1941, he was in charge of the squadron responsible for the transports to the Grafeneck killing centre. Schweninger was therefore involved in the murder of the sick from start to finish. His knowledge of the perpetrators flowed into his Nazi propaganda films »Ich klage an« (1941) and »Dasein ohne Leben« (1942), which he realised on behalf of the Ministry of the Interior at Tobis-Film, sponsored by »Kraft durch Freude«. To portray the patients, Schweninger searched for patients in various institutions who he considered to be particularly monstrous. He filmed a real murder in the gas chamber of the Pirna-Sonnenstein killing centre for the film »Dasein ohne Leben«. His film »Ich klage an« was released in 1941 and won a prize at the 9th Venice International Film Festival in the same year. »Dasein ohne Leben« was never released in cinemas, but was only shown internally.
After the war, Schweninger worked as a film merchant in Hamburg. He was questioned as a witness in criminal investigations and court cases concerning »Aktion T4«, but never as a perpetrator. He was never investigated. He died in Hamburg-Barmbek in 1985.
Eight of a total of 23 reels of the film »Dasein ohne Leben« were recovered in 1989/1990. A six-minute excerpt is publicly accessible via the USHMM.
