List of major perpetrators of the Holocaust

Last updated

This is a list of major perpetrators of the Holocaust.

NamePhotographDate of birthDate of deathAge at deathRoleFate
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler cropped restored (3x4 cropped).jpg April 20, 1889April 30, 194556 years, 10 days Leader of the Nazi Party during the Third Reich

Chancellor of Germany
Führer

Committed suicide by gunshot [1] [2]
Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Himmler (3x4 cropped).jpg October 7, 1900May 23, 194544 years, 228 days Reichsführer-SS

Chief of German Police
Reich Minister of the Interior

Arrested; committed suicide by biting down on a cyanide capsule
Hermann Göring Hermann Goring - Rohr (3x4 cropped).jpg January 12, 1893October 15, 194653 years, 276 daysCommander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe
President of the Reichstag
Reichsminister of Aviation
Established the Final Solution as official policy in July 1941.
Sentenced to death by hanging; committed suicide by cyanide poisoning hours before his execution
Reinhard Heydrich Reinhard Heydrich Portrait (3x4 cropped).jpg March 7, 1904June 4, 194238 years, 89 daysChief of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA)

Deputy Reich-Protector of Bohemia and Moravia (acting Protector)

Died of sepsis caused by injuries sustained in an assassination attempt (Operation Anthropoid)
Adolf Eichmann Adolf Eichmann, 1942 (3x4 cropped).jpg March 19, 1906June 1, 196256 years, 74 daysHead of the Gestapo Office of Jewish Affairs (RSHA Sub-Department IV-B4). Charged by Reinhard Heydrich with facilitating and managing the mass deportations of Jews to ghettos and extermination camps in Eastern Europe.Evaded arrest and escaped to Argentina in 1950. Discovered and kidnapped by Israeli agents in May 1960; subsequently brought to Israel, tried and executed by hanging in 1962.
Heinrich Müller Heinrich Muller (3x4 cropped).jpg April 28, 1900Unknown, but evidence points to May 1945UnknownSS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Polizei, Chief of the Gestapo 1939–45Disappeared; possibly killed in Berlin in May 1945 (unconfirmed)
Joseph Goebbels Bundesarchiv Bild Joseph Goebbels (3x4 cropped).jpg October 29, 1897May 1, 194547 years, 184 daysChief Propagandist of the Nazi Party, Reich Minister of Propaganda
Brief Chancellor of Germany
Committed suicide by cyanide poisoning
Albert Speer Bundesarchiv Bild 146II-277, Albert Speer.jpg March 19, 1905September 1, 198176 years, 166 daysReich Minister of Armaments and War Production
denied any involvement of knowledge of the Holocaust, letters found after his death proved he was aware amongst other crimes
Sentenced to 20 years of prison at the Nuremberg trials. It is believed he lied to get a softer sentence. Was later released and died from natural causes in England
Odilo Globocnik Bundesarchiv Bild 146-2007-0188, Odilo Globocnik.jpg April 21, 1904May 31, 194541 years, 40 days SS and Police Leader in the General Government

Head of Operation Reinhard

Committed suicide by cyanide poisoning
Theodor Eicke Theodor Eicke (3x4 cropped).jpg October 17, 1892February 26, 194350 years, 132 daysA major figure in the creation of the Nazi concentration camps

First commander of SS Division Totenkopf, which became notorious for its war crimes.

Killed in action
Richard Glücks Richard Glucks (3x4 cropped).jpg April 22, 1889May 10, 194556 years, 18 daysHead of Concentration Camp Operations (Amt D: Konzentrationslagerwesen) in the SS Main Economic and Administrative Department ( SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt )Committed suicide by cyanide poisoning
Albert Ganzenmüller Albert Ganzenmuller (Foto von Ittenbach) 1942 klein (3x4 cropped).jpg February 25, 1905March 20, 199691 years,

23 days

Head of Deutsche Reichsbahn and State Secretary in Reich Ministry of Transport, involved with the mass deportations of German Jews to concentration camps and ghettos, also involved with the deportation of ghetto's residents to extermination campsDied of natural causes
Ernst Kaltenbrunner Ernst Kaltenbrunner (1943) (3x4 cropped).jpg October 4, 1903October 16, 194643 years, 12 daysChief of the Reich Security Main Office after Heydrich was assassinatedExecuted by hanging
Hans Frank Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1989-011-13, Hans Frank.jpg May 23, 1900October 16, 194646 years, 146 daysGovernor-General of the General Government Executed by hanging
Karl Wolff Karl Wolff (3x4 cropped).jpg May 13, 1900July 17, 198484 years,

66 days

Chief of Personal Staff Reichsführer-SS, liaison officer between SS and Adolf Hitler, Supreme SS and Police Leader in occupied ItalyDied of natural causes
Arthur Seyss-Inquart Arthur Seyss-Inquart (3x4 cropped).jpg July 22, 1892October 16, 194654 years, 86 days Reichskommissar of the Netherlands

Deputy Governor-General
of the General Government,
(October 12, 1939 – May 18, 1940)

Executed by hanging
Josef Bühler Buhler Josef Portrait (3x4 cropped).jpg February 16, 1904August 22, 194844 years, 188 days State Secretary and deputy to Hans Frank,
(May 18, 1940 – January 19, 1945)
Executed by hanging
Otto Georg Thierack Dr. Otto Georg Thierack (3x4 cropped).jpg April 19, 1889October 26, 194657 years, 190 daysHead of NSRB, Minister of Justice in Saxony, President of the Academy for German Law (20 August 1942 – 8 May 1945), Minister of Justice (24 August 1942 – 2 May 1945), Judge President of the People's Court, co-responsible for creating and establishing antisemitic and totalitarian laws that led to the Final Solution and justified terror in occupied territories.Committed suicide by poisoning himself.
Kurt Daluege Kurt Daluege (3x4 cropped).jpg September 15, 1897October 24, 194649 years, 39 daysChief of the Ordnungspolizei

Deputy Reich-Protector of Bohemia and Moravia (acting Protector)

Executed by hanging
Oswald Pohl Pohl front (3x4 cropped).jpg June 30, 1892June 7, 195158 years, 343 daysChief of the SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt (SS Main Economic and Administrative Department), the central SS financial office responsible for overall administration of the concentration camps.

Directed the construction of Auschwitz, Majdanek, and Stutthof

Executed by hanging
Martin Bormann Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R14128A, Martin Bormann (3x4 cropped).jpg June 17, 1900May 2, 194544 years, 319 daysHead of the Nazi Party Chancellery

Private Secretary to Adolf Hitler

Sentenced to death by hanging in absentia ; believed to have committed suicide to avoid capture in Berlin; the buried body was not found until 1972; the remains were conclusively identified in 1998. [3] [4]
Karl Hermann Frank Karl Hermann Frank RF-SS (cropped).jpg January 24, 1898May 22, 194648 years, 118 daysState Secretary and SS and Police Leader in Bohemia and Moravia Executed by hanging
Alois Brunner Alois Brunner.JPG April 8, 1912December 2001 [5] or December 2010 [6] 89 or 98Deputy to Adolf Eichmann; organised the deportations of at least 140,000 Jews from France, Greece, Slovakia and Austria. Commandant of the Drancy internment camp.Escaped to Egypt around 1954, then fled to Syria. Served as a consultant to the al-Assad regime on torture techniques; died in Syria of natural causes in December 2001
Theodor Dannecker SS war criminal Theodor Dannecker (3x4 cropped).jpg March 27, 1913December 10, 194532 years, 258 daysDeputy to Adolf Eichmann; Head of the SD Hauptamt – Judenreferat (SD Head Office – Jewish Affairs Department) for Paris: September 1940 – July 1942

In charge of the Final Solution in Bulgaria, the Balkans and Hungary (from 1943)

Arrested by the U.S. military; committed suicide
Wilhelm Keitel Wilhelm Keitel (3x4 cropped).jpg September 22, 1882October 16, 194664 years, 24 daysMinister of War and chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces Executed by hanging. See War crimes of the Wehrmacht.
Kurt Knoblauch Knoblauch, Kurt - Obergruppenfuhrer.jpg December 10, 1885November 10, 195266 years, 336 daysChief of the Kommandostab Reichsführer-SS under Himmler. Coordinated Waffen-SS operations during the Pripyat Marshes massacres Sentenced to two years imprisonment in 1949; died in 1952.
Wilhelm Frick Frick 912.jpg March 13, 1877October 16, 194669 years, 215 days Reich Minister of the Interior (30 January - 20 August 1943), Reich Minister without Portfolio (24 August 1943 -30 April 1945), Protector of Bohemia and Moravia (24 August 1943 – 8 May 1945)Executed by hanging
Hermann Höfle June 19, 1911August 20, 196251 years, 62 daysCoordinator of Operation Reinhard Arrested; committed suicide by hanging
Ante Pavelić Ante Pavelic StAF (3x4 cropped).jpg July 14, 1889December 28, 195970 years, 167 days Leader of the Independent State of Croatia Escaped to Argentina in 1948 via the ratlines. Died from wounds sustained from an assassination attempt in 1957.
Bruno Tesch Tesch Bruno.jpg August 14, 1890May 16, 194655 years, 275 daysSold Zyklon B to the SS, knowing that it would be used to exterminate concentration camp prisonersExecuted by hanging
Karl Weinbacher Karl Weinbacher.jpg June 23, 1898May 16, 194647 years, 327 daysSold Zyklon B to the SS, knowing that it would be used to exterminate concentration camp prisonersExecuted by hanging
Viktor Brack Viktor Brach, defendant in the Doctors' Trial (3x4 close cropped).jpg November 9, 1904June 2, 194843 years, 206 daysOrganizer for Aktion T4

Extensively involved in the process of establishment of extermination camps for Operation Reinhard

Executed by hanging
Helmut Knochen Helmut Knochen (3x4 cropped).jpg March 14, 1910April 4, 200393 years,

21 days

Commandant of SiPo and SD in Paris, involved in mass deportations of the French Jews and also the French population in generalDied of natural causes
Erwin Lambert Lambert, Erwin (3x4 cropped).jpg December 7, 1909October 15, 197666 years, 313 daysHead of gas chamber construction during Operation Reinhard Served four years in prison after on trial, acquitted after a second trial on separate charges
Christian Wirth Wirth, Christian.jpg November 24, 1885May 26, 194458 years, 184 daysInspector of Aktion T4 and Operation Reinhard;

Commandant of Bełżec, March 17, 1942 end of August 1942

Assassinated
Rudolf Höss Rudolf Hoess, Auschwitz. Album Hocker (3x4 cropped).jpg November 25, 1900April 16, 194746 years, 142 daysCommandant of Auschwitz, May 4, 1940 December 1, 1943, May 8, 1944 January 18, 1945Executed by hanging
Arthur Liebehenschel Liebehenschel, Arthur (3x4 cropped).jpg November 25, 1901January 24, 194846 years, 60 daysCommandant of Auschwitz, December 1, 1943 May 8, 1944

Commandant of Majdanek, May 19, 1944 July 22, 1944

Executed by hanging
Richard Baer Richard Baer.jpg September 9, 1911June 17, 196351 years, 279 daysCommandant of Auschwitz, May 1944 February 1945

Commandant of Mittelbau-Dora, February 1945 April 1945

Arrested in 1960; died in prison while awaiting trial in 1963
Josef Kramer Portrait of Josef Kramer, August 1945 BU9711 (3x4 close cropped).jpg November 10, 1906December 13, 194539 years, 33 daysCommandant of Auschwitz-Birkenau (1944)

Commandant of Bergen-Belsen (1944–1945)

Executed by hanging
Martin Weiss Martin Gottfried Weiss (3x4 close cropped).jpg June 3, 1905May 29, 194640 years, 360 daysCommandant of Dachau, January 3, 1942 September 30, 1943

Commandant of Dachau, April 26, 1945 April 28, 1945
Commandant of Neuengamme, April 1940 August 1942
Commandant of Majdanek, November 1943 May 1944

Executed by hanging
Hans Kammler Hans Kammler.jpg August 26, 19011945 (assumed)44 years (assumed)A deputy to Oswald Pohl in WVHA and chief of its Office C that was responsible for designing and building concentration camps, including gas chambers and crematoria.Unknown
Alexander Piorkowski Alexander Piorkowski (3x4 cropped).jpg October 11, 1904October 22, 194844 years, 11 daysCommandant of Dachau, February 1940 – September 1942Executed by hanging
Otto Förschner Otto Forschner (3x4 cropped).jpg November 4, 1902May 28, 194643 years, 205 daysCommandant of Mittelbau-Dora, October 1944 – January 1945Executed by hanging
Max Pauly Max Pauly (3x4 cropped).png June 1, 1907October 8, 194639 years, 129 daysCommandant of Stutthof, September 1939 – August 1942

Commandant of Neuengamme, September 1942 – May 1945

Executed by hanging
Heinrich Schwarz June 14, 1906March 20, 194740 years, 279 daysCommandant of Monowitz,

Commandant of Natzweiler-Struthof, February 1945 – April 1945

Executed by firing squad
Karl-Otto Koch August 2, 1897April 5, 194547 years, 246 daysCommandant of Buchenwald, August 1, 1937 – September 1941

Commandant of Majdanek, September 1941 – August 24, 1942

Executed by Nazi Germany for multiple "unauthorized murders" and embezzlement
Paul-Werner Hoppe February 28, 1910July 15, 197464 years, 196 daysCommandant of Stutthof concentration camp, September 1942 - April 1945Died of natural causes
Hermann Pister Hermann Pister (3x4 cropped).jpg February 21, 1885September 28, 194863 years, 250 daysCommandant of Buchenwald, August 1, 1937 – September 1941Died awaiting execution
Irmfried Eberl Irmfried Eberl.jpg September 8, 1910February 16, 194837 years, 161 daysCommandant of Treblinka, July 11, 1942 August 26, 1942Arrested; committed suicide by hanging
Hans Bothmann Hans Bothmann (1911 - 1946) (3x4 close cropped).jpg November 11, 1911April 4, 194634 years, 144 daysCommandant of Chelmno, April 1942 July 1944Arrested by the British Army; committed suicide by hanging
Herbert Lange Herbert Lange - SS kommando Kulmhof (cropped).jpg September 29, 1909April 20, 194535 years, 203 daysCommandant of Chelmno, December 1941 March 1942 Killed in action during the Battle of Berlin
Franz Stangl Franz Stangl Treblinka (3x4 cropped).jpg March 26, 1908June 28, 197163 years, 94 daysCommandant of Sobibor, April 28, 1942 August 30, 1942 ;

Commandant of Treblinka, September 1, 1942 August 1943

Arrested on February 28, 1967; sentenced to life imprisonment on October 22, 1970; died in prison
Kurt Franz Kurt Franz Treblinka.jpg January 17, 1914July 4, 199884 years, 168 daysCommandant of Treblinka, August 1943 October 19, 1943Arrested on December 2, 1959; sentenced to life imprisonment in 1965; released on health grounds in 1993
Richard Thomalla Richard Thomalla (3x4 cropped).jpg October 23, 1903May 12, 194541 years, 201 daysIn charge of construction for the Operation Reinhard death camps: Bełżec, Sobibor and Treblinka Extrajudicially executed by the NKVD
Franz Reichleitner
Kommandant des Vernichtungslager Sobibor Franz Reichleitner (3x4 cropped).jpg
December 2, 1906January 3, 194437 years, 32 daysCommandant of Sobibor, September 1, 1942 October 17, 1943Killed in action
Gottlieb Hering Gottlieb Hering (3x4 cropped).jpg June 2, 1887October 9, 194558 years, 129 daysCommandant of Bełżec, end of August 1942 June 1943Died of mysterious health complications
Amon Göth Amon goeth 1946 (3x4 cropped).jpg December 11, 1908September 13, 194637 years, 276 daysCommandant of Kraków-Płaszów Executed by hanging
Siegfried Seidl
Siegfried Seidl.webp
August 24, 1911February 4, 194735 years, 164 daysCommandant of Theresienstadt, November 1941 July 1943

Leading member of the Sondereinsatzkommando Eichmann, which organized the mass deportations of approximately 437,000 Hungarian Jews, hundreds of thousands of whom were sent to Auschwitz and gassed

Executed by hanging
Karl Rahm Rahmthumbnail (3x4 close cropped).JPG April 2, 1907April 30, 194740 years, 28 daysCommandant of Theresienstadt, January 1944  May 1945Executed by hanging
Max Koegel 2015 09 15 KZ Ravensbruck Max Koegel 1 IMG 2353 S.JPG October 16, 1895June 27, 194650 years, 254 daysCommandant of Ravensbrück, January 1940 August 1942

Commandant of Majdanek, August 1942 November 1942
Commandant of Flossenbürg, April 1943 April 1945

Committed suicide by hanging
Fritz Suhren FritzSuhren.JPG June 10, 1908June 12, 195042 years, 2 daysCommandant of Ravensbrück, August 1942 April 1945Executed by firing squad
Franz Ziereis Portrait of SS Standartenfuehrer Franz Ziereis (close 3x4 cropped).jpg August 13, 1905May 25, 194539 years, 285 daysCommandant of Mauthausen, February 1939-May 1945Shot by American soldiers while trying to escape, died of his injuries the next day
Aleksander Laak August 24, 1907September 6, 196053 years, 13 daysCommandant of Jägala Committed suicide by hanging in Canada, allegedly to protect his relatives from potential reprisals
Hans Aumeier Aumeier, Hans.jpg August 20, 1906January 24, 194841 years, 157 daysCommandant of Vaivara, August 1943 November 1943

Deputy commandant at Auschwitz

Executed by hanging
Hanns Rauter Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1982-1021-509, Hanns Rauter-edit.jpg February 4, 1895March 24, 194954 years, 48 days Higher SS and Police Leader (HSSPF) for the NetherlandsExecuted by firing squad
Walter Rauff Walter Rauff (Walther Rauff, 1945) (cropped).jpg June 19, 1906May 14, 198477 years, 330 daysClose aide of Reinhard Heydrich. Group Leader II D of the RSHA (technical matters). Designed gas vans to poison Jews, and persons with disabilities. Einsatzkommando leader in North Africa (1942–43), SS and Gestapo commander in northwest Italy (1943–45).Arrested in Italy in 1945; escaped in 1946, fled to Syria in 1948, to Ecuador in 1949, to Chile in 1958. Extradition request by Germany denied by Chile in 1963 on the grounds of expired statute of limitations. Most wanted Nazi fugitive in the 1970s and 1980s. Died of natural causes in Chile in 1984.
Eduard Wirths Eduard Wirths.jpg September 4, 1909September 20, 194536 years, 16 daysHuman medical experimentation, and formal responsibility of medical staff at Auschwitz Arrested; committed suicide by hanging
Josef Mengele Josef Mengele, Auschwitz. Album Hocker (cropped).jpg March 16, 1911February 7, 197967 years, 328 daysHuman medical experimentation, particularly children, and selection of prisoners to be gassed at Auschwitz Escaped to Brazil; evaded arrest and suffered a heart attack while swimming in 1979
Fritz Katzmann Fritz Katzmann, occupied Poland (cropped).jpg May 6, 1906September 19, 195751 years, 136 days SS and Police Leader of the District of Galicia
Responsible for the establishment of the Lwów Ghetto, which had a population of 120,000 Polish Jews, only 823 surviving after the war.
SS and Police Leader of Radom District
In charge of the establishment of the Radom Ghetto, which enclosed about 33,000 Polish Jews, the majority of whom died.
Evaded arrest after the war and died in 1957
Philipp Bouhler Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1983-094-01, Phillip Bouhler.jpg September 11, 1899May 19, 194545 years, 250 daysDirector of Aktion T4 Arrested; committed suicide by cyanide poisoning
Karl Brandt Karl Brandt SS-Arzt (3x4 cropped).jpg January 8, 1904June 2, 194844 years, 146 daysCo-director of Aktion T4

Conducted human medical experimentation

Executed by hanging
Werner Heyde April 25, 1902February 13, 196461 years, 294 daysSenior medical expert for Aktion T4 Arrested in 1945; escaped custody in 1947; turned himself in 1959; committed suicide while awaiting trial in 1964
Paul Nitsche Hermann Paul Nitsche.jpg November 25, 1876March 25, 194871 years, 121 daysSenior medical expert for Aktion T4 Executed by guillotine
Ernst-Robert Grawitz Ernst Robert Grawitz (3x4 cropped).jpg June 8, 1899April 24, 194545 years, 320 daysInvolved in Aktion T4 and human medical experimentation in concentration campsCommitted suicide
Karl Gebhardt Karl Gebhardt, SS-Arzt (3x4 cropped).jpg November 23, 1897June 2, 194850 years, 192 daysOversaw human medical experimentation of concentration camp inmates at Ravensbrück and Auschwitz Executed by hanging
Wilhelm Harster Wilhelm Harster (3x4 cropped).jpg July 21, 1904December 25, 199187 years, 157 daysCommander of the Security Police (SiPo) and SD (Kraków, 1939–40; Netherlands, 1940–43; Italy, 1943–45). Responsible for the deaths of at least 104,000 Jews.Arrested in 1945 and transferred to Dutch custody. Tried and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment in 1949; served six years; deported to West Germany in 1955. Arrested and tried in 1967. Sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, but sentence commuted and released in 1969.
Karl Frenzel Karl Frenzel (3x4 cropped).jpg August 28, 1911September 2, 199685 years, 5 daysCommandant of Camp I (forced labor camp) at Sobibor Arrested on March 22, 1962; sentenced to life imprisonment on December 20, 1966; released on health grounds in 1982
Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski (3x4 cropped).jpg March 1, 1899March 8, 197273 years, 7 daysIn charge of Nazi security warfare Arrested in 1945; released in 1949; sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, which he served under house arrest; sentenced to 4.5 years imprisonment in 1958; sentenced to life imprisonment in 1961; died in prison in 1972
Herbert Backe Herbert Backe (3x4 cropped).jpg May 1, 1896April 6, 194750 years, 340 daysResponsible for the Hunger Plan Arrested; committed suicide by hanging
Hermann Fegelein Hermann Fegelein (3x4 cropped).jpg October 30, 1906April 28, 194538 years, 180 daysResponsible for the Pripyat Marshes massacres Executed by Nazi Germany for desertion after trying to flee from Berlin in April 1945
Oskar Dirlewanger Bundesarchiv Bild 183-S73495, Oskar Dirlewanger (3x4 cropped).jpg September 26, 1895June 7, 194549 years, 254 daysCommander of the Dirlewanger Brigade Arrested, then beaten to death by Polish guards while in custody
Bronislav Kaminski Bronislav Kaminski (3x4 cropped).jpg June 16, 1899August 28, 194445 years, 73 daysCommander of the Kaminski Brigade Executed by Nazi Germany after being court-martialed for looting
Jürgen Stroop Jurgen Stroop (3x4 cropped).jpg September 26, 1895March 6, 195256 years, 162 daysSuppression and destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Executed by hanging
Ferdinand von Sammern-Frankenegg Ferdinand von Sammern-Frankenegg.jpg March 17, 1897September 20, 194447 years, 187 daysSS and Police Leader of the Warsaw area from 1941–43

Responsible for the Grossaktion Warsaw, the single most deadly operation against the Jews in the course of the Holocaust in occupied Poland, which entailed sending between 254,000 and 265,000 men, women and children aboard overcrowded Holocaust trains to Treblinka

Leading figure in the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

Assassinated
Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger Friedrich Wilhelm Kruger.jpg February 27, 1894May 9, 194551 years, 71 daysHigher SS and Police Leader (HSPPF) in occupied Poland Committed suicide
Wilhelm Koppe Wilhelm Koppe.jpg June 15, 1896July 2, 197579 years, 17 daysSS and Police Leader in Reichsgau Wartheland

(September 1939 - October 1943) Supreme SS and Police Leader in General Government (October 1943 - 1945)

Died of natural causes
Friedrich Jeckeln FriedrichJeckeln.jpg February 2, 1895February 3, 194651 years, 1 dayHigher SS and Police Leader in Russia-South; Russia-North

Responsible for Rumbula, Babi Yar, and Kamianets-Podilskyi massacres

Executed by hanging
Karl Eberhard Schöngarth KarlEberhardSchongarth (3x4 cropped).jpg April 22, 1903May 16, 194643 years, 24 daysCommanded multiple Einsatzgruppen units in Poland

Commander of the BdS in the Netherlands (September 1944– May 1945)

Executed by hanging
Kurt Eberhard Eberhard Kurt (Generalmajor).jpg September 12, 1874September 8, 194772 years, 361 daysMilitary governor of German-occupied Kyiv

Responsible for the Babi Yar massacre

Arrested; committed suicide
Walter von Reichenau Bundesarchiv Bild 183-B05284, Walter v. Reichenau.jpg October 8, 1884January 17, 194257 years, 101 daysIssued the Severity Order

Responsible for the Babi Yar and Bila Tserkva massacres

Died after having a stroke, then suffering injuries in a plane crash
Hans Krueger July 1, 1909February 8, 198878 years, 222 daysCommandant of the Stanisławów Ghetto

Responsible for the Stanislawow Ghetto massacre

Arrested in 1945; released in 1948; re-arrested in 1962; sentenced to life imprisonment in 1968; released on health grounds in 1986; died in 1988
Hans-Adolf Prützmann Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R53525, Hans Prutzmann.jpg August 31, 1901May 16, 194543 years, 258 daysSupreme SS and Police Leader of Ukraine

Higher SS and Police Leader of Russia-North; Russia-South

Oversaw the activities of the Einsatzgruppen detachments that perpetrated the Holocaust in the Baltic States and Ukraine

Committed suicide by cyanide poisoning while in Allied custody
Bruno Streckenbach Bruno Streckenbach.jpg February 7, 1902October 28, 197775 years, 263 daysTrained the Einsatzgruppen

Commander of Einsatzgruppe I in Poland Supp

Served 10 years in Soviet custody, but never tried; released on October 10, 1955
Ludwig Hahn Ludwig Hahn personal SS files (3x4 cropped).jpg January 23, 1908November 10, 198678 years, 291 daysCommander of Einsatzkommando 1/I, Poland

Suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

Suppression of the Warsaw Uprising

Arrested in 1960; released in 1961; briefly re-arrested in 1965 and 1966; arrested for the last time in 1972; sentenced to 12 years in prison in 1973; sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975; released on health grounds in 1983; died in 1986
Hans Biebow
Hans Biebow trial (3x4 cropped).jpg
December 18, 1902June 23, 194745 years,

97 days

Chief of German administration of Litzmannstadt (Łódź) GhettoExecuted by hanging
Karl Brunner July 26, 1900December 7, 198080 years, 134 daysCommander of Einsatzkommando 4/I, Poland Never prosecuted
Emanuel Schäfer Emanuel Schafer (3x4 close cropped).jpg April 20, 1900December 4, 197474 years, 228 daysCommander of Einsatzgruppe II, Poland

Commander of the BdS in Serbia, (January 6, 1942 – December 1944)

Sentenced to 21 months in prison by a denazification court in 1951; released in 1953. Sentenced to a further 6.5 years in prison in June 1953; released in 1956.
Lothar Beutel May 6, 1902May 16, 198684 years, 10 daysCommander of Einsatzgruppe IV, Poland (1/2)Served 10 years in Soviet custody, but never tried; released in October 1955. Arrested and charged in West Germany in 1965; released on bail in 1967; charges dropped in 1971; died in 1986.
Josef Albert Meisinger Josef Meisinger (1899-1947).jpg September 14, 1899March 7, 194747 years, 174 daysCommander of Einsatzgruppe IV, Poland (2/2)
Commander of the state police in Warsaw
Executed by hanging
Ernst Damzog Damzog (3x4 cropped).jpg October 30, 1882July 24, 194562 years, 267 daysCommander of Einsatzgruppe V, Poland Died under unclear circumstances
Gerhard Flesch Gerhard Flesch (3x4 cropped).jpg October 18, 1909February 28, 194838 years, 133 daysCommander of Einsatzkommando 2/VI, Poland Executed by firing squad
Franz Walther Stahlecker Franz Walter Stahlecker01.jpg October 10, 1900March 23, 194241 years, 164 daysCommander of Einsatzgruppe A , Baltic states, June 22, 1941March 23, 1942(1/5)Killed in action
Heinz Jost Heinz Jost (3x4 cropped).jpg July 9, 1904November 12, 196460 years, 126 daysCommander of Einsatzgruppe A , Baltic states, March 29, 1942September 2, 1942(2/5)Sentenced to life imprisonment in 1948; commuted to 10 years; released in December 1951; died in 1964
Humbert Achamer-Pifrader November 21, 1900April 25, 194544 years, 155 daysCommander of Einsatzgruppe A , Baltic states, September 10, 1942September 4, 1943(3/5)Killed in air raid
Friedrich Panzinger February 1, 1903August 8, 195956 years, 188 daysCommander of Einsatzgruppe A , Baltic states, September 5, 1943May 6, 1944(4/5)
Last chief of the Kripo (2/2)
Arrested by the Soviets 1946, sentenced to 25 years in prison; released in 1955; re-arrested in 1959; committed suicide
Wilhelm Fuchs Wilhelm Fuchs (3x4 close cropped).jpg September 1, 1898January 24, 194748 years, 145 daysCommander of Einsatzgruppe A , Baltic states, May 6, 1944October 10, 1944(5/5)
Commander of Einsatzkommando 3 , September 15, 1943May 27, 1944
Commander of Einsatzgruppe E, Croatia, October 1944–November 1944 (3/3)
Commander of the BdS in Serbia, (1941 – January 1942)
Executed by hanging
Eduard Strauch Eduard Strauch (3x4 cropped).jpg August 17, 1906September 15, 195549 years, 29 daysCommander of Einsatzkommando 2 , Latvia, November 4, 1941December 2, 1941(2/6)

Commander of Sonderkommando 1b , March 1942August 1942(3/4)

Responsible for Rumbula massacre

Sentenced to death by hanging by an American military court in 1948, then transferred to Belgium, where he received another death sentence. Strauch was never executed and died in custody.
Rudolf Lange April 18, 1910February 23, 194534 years, 311 daysCommander of Einsatzkommando 2 , Latvia, December 3, 19411944Believed to have been killed in action
Karl Jäger KarlJaeger1.jpg September 20, 1888June 22, 195970 years, 275 daysCommander of Einsatzkommando 3 , Lithuania, June 1941August 1, 1943Discovered and arrested in 1959; committed suicide while awaiting trial
Hermann Schaper August 12, 1911deceased after 2002over 90 yearsCommander of Einsatzgruppe B , Poland Arrested in 1964; released due to insufficient evidence
Arthur Nebe Bundesarchiv Bild 101III-Alber-096-34, Arthur Nebe (3x4 cropped).jpg November 13, 1894March 21, 194550 years, 128 daysCommander of Einsatzgruppe B , Belarus, June 1941November 1941(1/5)
Chief of the Kripo (1/2)
President of Interpol
Executed by Nazi Germany for involvement in the failed 20 July 1944 attempt to kill Adolf Hitler
Erich Naumann Erich Naumann at the Nuremberg Trials (3x4 cropped).PNG April 29, 1905June 7, 195146 years, 40 daysCommander of Einsatzgruppe VI, Poland

Commander of Einsatzgruppe B , Belarus, November 1941March 1943(2/5)

Commander of the BdS in the Netherlands, September 1943–July 1944

Executed by hanging
Horst Böhme Horst.Bohme(1909-1945).gif August 24, 1909April 10, 194535 years, 229 days Lidice
Commander of Einsatzgruppe B , Belarus, March 12, 1943August 28, 1943, August 12, 1944(3/5) and (4/5)

Commander of Einsatzgruppe C , north and central Ukraine, September 6, 1943March 1944(3/3)

Presumed killed in action in Königsberg, East Prussia; officially declared dead in 1954
Erich Ehrlinger October 14, 1910July 31, 200493 years, 291 daysCommander of Einsatzgruppe B , Belarus, August 28, 1943April 1944(4/5);

Commander of Sonderkommando 1b , June 1941November 1941

Arrested in December 1958; sentenced to 12 years imprisonment
Heinrich Seetzen June 22, 1906September 28, 194539 years, 98 daysCommander of Einsatzgruppe B , Belarus, April 28, 1944August 1944(5/5);

Commander of Einsatzkommando 10a , Moldova, south Ukraine, the Crimea, and north Caucasus, June 1941July 1942

Arrested in September 1945; committed suicide by cyanide poisoning
Otto Bradfisch Prozess gegen SS-Obersturmfuhrer Hans Graalfs wegen Beihilfe zum Massenmord an Juden in Weissrussland (3x4 cropped).jpg May 10, 1903June 22, 199491 years, 43 daysCommander of Einsatzkommando 8 , Belarus, June 1941April 1, 1942Arrested on April 21, 1958; sentenced to 13 years imprisonment in 1963; released in 1969; died in 1994
Otto Rasch Otto Rasch at the Nuremberg Trials (3x4 cropped).jpg December 7, 1891November 1, 194856 years, 330 daysCommander of Einsatzgruppe C , north and central Ukraine, June 1941October 1941(1/3)

Responsible for the Babi Yar massacre

Arrested; removed from trial on health grounds in February 1948; died in November 1948
Paul Blobel Paul-Blobel (3x4 cropped).jpg August 13, 1894June 7, 195156 years, 298 daysCommander of Sonderkommando 4a , north and central Ukraine, June 1941–13 January 1942 (1/5), commander of the Sonderaktion 1005 project

Responsible for the Babi Yar and Bila Tserkva massacres

Executed by hanging
Otto Ohlendorf Otto Ohlendorf (3x4 cropped).jpg February 4, 1907June 7, 195144 years, 124 daysCommander of Einsatzgruppe D , Moldova, south Ukraine, the Crimea, and north Caucasus, June 1941July 1942(1/2)Executed by hanging
Walther Bierkamp December 17, 1901May 15, 194543 years, 149 daysCommander of Einsatzgruppe D , Moldova, south Ukraine, the Crimea, and north Caucasus, July 1942March 1943(2/2)Committed suicide
Bruno Müller Bruno Muller (SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer 3x4 cropped).jpg September 13, 1905March 1, 196054 years, 170 daysCommander of Einsatzkommando 2/I, Poland

Commander of Einsatzkommando 11b , south Ukraine and the Crimea, July 1941October 1941

Sentenced to 20 years in prison for unrelated crimes in 1948; released in 1953; died in 1960
Werner Braune Braune Werner (3x4 cropped).jpg April 11, 1909June 7, 195142 years, 58 daysCommander of Einsatzkommando 11b , south Ukraine and the Crimea, October 1941September 1942Executed by hanging
Rudolf Batz November 10, 1903February 8, 196157 years, 90 daysCommander of Einsatzkommando 2

Oversaw Einsatzgruppen killings in the Baltic States

Arrested in 1961; committed suicide while awaiting trial
Joachim Hamann [7] Joachim Hamann (cropped).jpg May 18, 1913July 13, 194532 years, 56 daysCommander of Rollkommando Hamann , a small mobile unit established by him that murdered an estimated 60,000 Latvian Jews in massacres across occupied territoryCommitted suicide
Ernst Girzick
Ernst Girzick (3x4 cropped).jpg
October 17, 1911March 4, 197765 yearsHead of Central Office for the Settlement of the Jewish Question in Bohemia and Moravia, Member of Eichmann-Kommando in Budapest.Cause of death is unknown
Franz Novak January 10, 1913October 21, 198370 yearsRailway and transportation expert in Eichmann's Office of Jewish Affairs. Member of the Eichmann-kommando responsible for the deportation of Hungarian Jews.Died of natural causes
Ernst Boepple Ernst Boepple 1 (3x4 cropped).jpg November 30, 1887December 15, 195063 years,

15 days

Deputy to Josef Bühler and State Secretary in General Government in occupied Poland, co-responsible for the policy of terror, deportations to concentration camps and forced labor.Executed by hanging
Gustav Lombard Gustav Lombard.jpg April 10, 1895September 18, 199297Commander of 8th SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer, in this position he took part in Pripyat Marshes massacres Died of natural causes
Anton Burger November 19, 1911December 25, 199180 years Judenreferent in Greece

Commandant of Theresienstadt concentration camp July 3, 1943 - February 7, 1944

Died of natural causes
Wolfgang Birkner October 27, 1913March 24, 194531 years, 148 daysCommander of Kommando Bialystok, a small mobile unit which murdered at least 1,800 Polish JewsKilled in action
Otto Wächter
Otto Wachter. 1940.jpg
July 8, 1901July 14, 194948 years, 6 daysGovernor of District of Kraków and District of Galicia in General Government Died reportedly from kidney disease
Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel Carl Heinrich von Stulpnagel (3x4 cropped).jpg January 2, 1886August 30, 194458 years, 241 daysOrdered the mass deportations of Jews in France as a reprisal policy

Collaborated with the Einsatzgruppen for reprisals against Jews in Ukraine

Executed by Nazi Germany for involvement in the failed 20 July 1944 attempt to kill Adolf Hitler
Erich Hoepner Erich Hoepner (3x4 cropped).jpg September 14, 1886August 8, 194457 years, 329 daysHeavily collaborated with Einsatzgruppe A

Carried out orders to summarily execute Communist officials under the Commissar Order

Executed by Nazi Germany for involvement in the failed 20 July 1944 attempt to kill Adolf Hitler
Hans Graf von Sponeck Hans Graf von Sponeck (3x4 close cropped).jpg February 12, 1888July 23, 194456 years, 154 daysCollaborated with Einsatzgruppe D Imprisoned by Nazi Germany after disobeying orders, then executed in the aftermath of the failed 20 July 1944 attempt to kill Adolf Hitler
Eduard Wagner Eduard Wagner (3x4 cropped).jpg April 1, 1894July 23, 194450 years, 113 daysDrew up regulations that allowed German soldiers to take hostages from civilian population and execute them as response to resistance

Drew up the regulations with Reinhard Heydrich to ensure the Wehrmacht's cooperation with the Einsatzgruppen in the murders of Soviet Jews

Created and implemented deliberate starvation policies against Soviet prisoners of war

Committed suicide in the aftermath of the failed 20 July 1944 attempt to kill Adolf Hitler
Ulrich Greifelt Ulrich Greifelt (3x4 cropped).jpg December 8, 1896February 6, 194952 years, 60 daysResponsible for the mass expulsions of non-Germans, as well as a directive ordering the mass abductions of children suspecting of being ethnic GermansDied in prison
Maria Mandel Maria Mandel (3x4 cropped).jpg January 10, 1912January 24, 194836 years, 14 daysCommandant of female camp at Auschwitz Executed by hanging
Fritz Hartjenstein Fritz Hartjenstein (3x4 cropped).jpg July 3, 1905October 20, 195449 years, 109 daysCommandant of Auschwitz-Birkenau

Commandant of Natzweiler-Struthof, May 9, 1944 – January 1945

Died awaiting execution
Johann Schwarzhuber Johann Schwarzhuber crop.png August 29, 1904May 3, 194742 years, 247 daysCommandant of men's camp at Auschwitz, and selection of prisoners to be gassed at Auschwitz

Commandant of Birkenau

Executed by hanging
Martin Weiss February 21, 1903September 30, 198481 years, 222 daysCommander of the Vilna Ghetto

Commander of the Ypatingasis būrys killing squad, which was largely responsible for the Ponary massacre where approximately 100,000 people were shot, including 70,000 Jews.

Arrested in 1949; sentenced to life imprisonment in 1950; sentence suspended in 1971 and revoked in 1977; died in 1984
Eduard Roschmann Edward Roschmann.jpg November 25, 1908August 8, 197768 years, 256 daysCommandant of the Riga Ghetto Arrested in 1945 but released early; fled to Argentina and subsequently escaped prosecution; died in 1977
Otto-Heinrich Drechsler HL Damals - Drechsler (3x4 cropped).jpg April 1, 1895May 5, 194550 years, 34 daysGeneral Commissioner for Latvia for Nazi Germany's occupation regime (Reichskommissariat Ostland)
Major figure in the establishment of the Riga Ghetto
Taken into British custody; committed suicide
Friedrich Buchardt Friedrich Buchardt (1909-1982).jpg March 17, 1909December 28, 198273 yearsCommandant of Vorkomando Moskau,a section of Einsatzgruppe B, later worked in SD headquarters in occupied Łódź and again as commandant of Einsatzkommando 9, another section of Einsatzgruppe B operating near Vitebsk Died of natural causes
Franz Murer January 24, 1912January 5, 199481 years, 346 daysResponsible for the establishment of the Vilna Ghetto, which hosted a population of about 55,000 Jews, none of whom survived after the war
Effectively ruled the ghetto until July 23, shortly before its liquidation
Arrested in 1947 and deported to the Soviet Union in January 1948; sentenced to 25 years in hard labor; released in 1955 due to the Austrian State Treaty. Arrested and prosecuted again in 1963 due to the intervention of the famous Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal; acquitted on all charges and died in 1994.
Franz Josef Huber January 22, 1902January 30, 197573 years, 8 daysChief of the SiPo (Security Police) and the Gestapo for Vienna, the "Upper" and "Lower Danube" regions and formal chief of the Central Agency for Jewish Emigration in Vienna
Responsible for the mass deportations of Austrian Jews from these regions
Died in 1975 without being suspected of any crimes
Edmund Veesenmayer Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1993-021-20, Edmund Veesenmayer (3x4 cropped).jpg November 12, 1904December 23, 197773 years, 42 daysReich plenipotentiary to Hungary after the occupation of the country

Helped establish the Ustaše-led Independent State of Croatia

Assisted in the deportations of 300,000 Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz

Arrested in 1945; sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in 1949; sentence commuted to 10 years imprisonment in 1951; released December, 1951; died in 1977
Jozef Tiso Bundesarchiv Bild 146-2010-0049, Josef Tiso.jpg October 13, 1887April 18, 194759 years, 187 daysLeader of the State of Slovakia Executed by hanging
Alexander Mach Alexander Mach Slovakia11.jpg October 11, 1902October 15, 198078 years, 4 daysHead of the Hlinka Guard, one of the leading forces in the extermination of 68,000–71,000 Slovak Jews during the Holocaust in SlovakiaSentenced to 30 years imprisonment; released in 1968; died in 1980
Vojtech Tuka Vojtech Tuka Novy svet cover (3x4 cropped).png July 4, 1880August 20, 194666 years, 47 daysPrime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak State

Leading figure in the mass deportations of Slovak Jews to Nazi concentration camps

Executed by hanging
Ludwig Fischer Ludwig Fischer (3x4 cropped).jpg April 6, 1905March 8, 194741 years, 336 daysGovernor of the Warsaw District

Responsible for the establishment of the Warsaw Ghetto, the largest ghetto ever built by the Nazis

Executed by hanging
Jakob Sporrenberg SporrenbergJakob.jpg September 16, 1902December 6, 195250 years, 91 daysOversaw and implemented Operation Harvest Festival Executed by hanging
Albert Forster Albert Forster.jpg July 26, 1902February 28, 195249 years, 217 daysReichsstatthalter and Gauleiter of Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia

Incited the massacres in Piaśnica

Executed by hanging
Arthur Greiser Arthur Greiser 1934.jpg January 22, 1897July 21, 194649 years, 180 daysReichsstatthalter and Gauleiter of Reichsgau Wartheland Executed by hanging
Josef Bürckel Josef Burckel (3x4 cropped).jpg March 30, 1895September 28, 194449 years, 182 daysInfluential in the rise of the Nazi movement

Responsible for the establishment of the Central Agency for Jewish Emigration in Vienna
Gauleiter of Vienna
Governor of the Vienna region
Gauleiter of Gau Westmark

Died because of ill health
Ferdinand aus der Fünten Ferdinand aus der Funten voor het Bijzonder Gerechtshof, Bestanddeelnr 903-7460 (cropped) (cropped).jpg December 17, 1909April 19, 198979 years, 123 daysHead of the Central Office for Jewish Emigration in AmsterdamSentenced to death in 1950, which was commuted to life in imprisonment in 1951; released on health grounds in 1989; died later that year
Erich Koch Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H13717, Erich Koch.jpg June 19, 1896November 12, 198690 years, 146 daysGauleiter of East Prussia

Chief of Civil Administration (Chef der Zivilverwaltung) of Bezirk Bialystok
Reich Commissioner for Ukraine (Reichskommissariat Ukraine)

Arrested by the British in 1949, and extradited to Poland in 1950. Sentenced to death in 1959, which was commuted to life imprisonment in 1960; died in prison in 1986.
Hinrich Lohse Hinrich Lohse (3x4 cropped).png September 2, 1896February 25, 196467 years, 176 daysGauleiter of Schleswig-Holstein

Reich Commissioner for Ostland (Reichskommissariat Ostland)

Arrested by the British in 1945; sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1948; released due to ill health in 1951
Viktors Arājs January 13, 1910January 13, 198878 yearsLeader of the Arajs Kommando, which murdered half of Latvia's Jewish populationHeld in a British internment camp until 1949; evaded prosecution until 1979 when convicted for his involvement in the Rumbula massacre and sentenced to life imprisonment; died in prison in 1988.
Fritz Dietrich August 6, 1898October 22, 194850 years, 77 daysCommander of SS police in Liepāja

Responsible for Liepāja massacres

Executed by hanging
Jonas Noreika Jonas Noreika (3x4 cropped).jpg October 8, 1910February 26, 194736 years, 141 daysResponsible for Plungė massacre Executed by shooting
Ion Antonescu Ion Antonescu portrait (3x4 close cropped).jpg June 14, 1882June 1, 194663 years, 352 daysLeader of Romania during World War II

Responsible for the Odessa massacre, deportations to Transnistria, and the Iași pogrom

Executed by firing squad
Pierre Laval Pierre Laval a Meurisse 1931 (3x4 cropped).jpg June 28, 1883October 15, 194562 years, 109 daysPrime Minister of Vichy France Executed by firing squad
Philippe Pétain Petain - Portrait photographique 1941 (3x4 cropped).jpg April 24, 1856July 23, 195195 years, 90 daysChief of Vichy France Sentenced to death in 1945, but had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment due to his World War I service and old age; died in custody in 1951
Benito Mussolini Mussolini biografia.jpg July 29, 1883April 28, 194561 years, 273 daysPrime Minister of Fascist Italy
Duce of the Italian Social Republic
Executed by firing squad
Vidkun Quisling Portrett av Vidkun Quisling i sivile klaer, ukjent datering (3x4 cropped).jpg July 18, 1887October 24, 194558 years, 98 daysPrime Minister of German-occupied Norway Executed by firing squad
Josef Terboven Terboven statsakten (3x4 cropped).jpg May 23, 1898May 8, 194546 years, 350 daysReichkommissar of German-occupied Norway Committed suicide
Werner Best Werner Best 1942 (3x4 cropped).jpg July 10, 1903June 23, 198985 years, 348 daysChief of Department 1 of the Gestapo; initiated a registry of all Jews in Germany

Deputy to Reinhard Heydrich

Sentenced to death in 1948, later to 12 years imprisonment; released in 1951; held in detention in 1958 and charged again of war crimes in 1972; died in 1989 without serving time in prison a second time
Gustav Simon G-simon-gauleiter.jpg August 2, 1900December 18, 194545 years, 138 daysChief of German-occupied Luxembourg Arrested; committed suicide by hanging
Vjekoslav Luburić Vjekoslav Luburic (3x4 cropped).jpg March 6, 1914April 20, 196955 years, 45 days Croatian Ustaše official who headed the system of concentration camps in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) during much of World War II Murdered in exile
Kurt Lischka August 16, 1909May 16, 198979 years, 273 daysChief of the Gestapo and commander of the SiPo and the SD in Paris

Responsible of the single largest mass deportation of French Jews in Occupied France

Sentenced in 1980 to ten years imprisonment; released early on health grounds and died in 1989
Enno Lolling June 19, 1888May 27, 194556 years, 342 daysChief medical officer of all SS concentration camps.
Involved in human experimentation
Committed suicide
Ferenc Szálasi Ferenc Szalasi (3x4 cropped).jpg Jan 6, 1897Mar 12, 194649 years, 65 daysLeader of the Hungarian Government of National Unity from 1944-1945.

Deported tens of thousands of Jews to Nazi concentration camps

Executed by hanging

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Final Solution</span> Nazi plan for the genocide of Jews

The Final Solution or the Final Solution to the Jewish Question refers to a plan orchestrated by the Nazi regime of Germany during World War II for the genocide of individuals they defined as Jews. The "Final Solution to the Jewish question" was the official code name for the murder of all Jews within reach, which was not restricted to the European continent. This policy of deliberate and systematic genocide starting across German-occupied Europe was formulated in procedural and geopolitical terms by Nazi leadership in January 1942 at the Wannsee Conference held near Berlin, and culminated in the Holocaust, which saw the murder of 90% of Polish Jews, and two-thirds of the Jewish population of Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gestapo</span> Secret police of Nazi Germany

The Geheime Staatspolizei, abbreviated Gestapo, was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.

<i>Schutzstaffel</i> Nazi paramilitary organisation (1925–1945)

The Schutzstaffel was a major paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II.

<i>Generalplan Ost</i> Nazi German plan of ethnic cleansing of Central and Eastern European peoples

The Generalplan Ost, abbreviated GPO, was Nazi Germany's plan for the settlement and "Germanization" of captured territory in Eastern Europe, involving the genocide, extermination and large-scale ethnic cleansing of Slavs, Eastern European Jews, and other indigenous peoples of Eastern Europe categorized as "Untermenschen" in Nazi ideology. The campaign was a precursor to Nazi Germany's planned colonisation of Central and Eastern Europe by Germanic settlers, and it was carried out through systematic massacres, mass starvations, chattel labour, mass rapes, child abductions, and sexual slavery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reich Security Main Office</span> Nazi German police and intelligence organization (1939–45)

The Reich Security Main Office was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as Chef der Deutschen Polizei and Reichsführer-SS, the head of the Nazi Party's Schutzstaffel (SS). The organization's stated duty was to fight all "enemies of the Reich" inside and outside the borders of Nazi Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heinrich Müller (Gestapo)</span> German police official and head of the Gestapo (1900-c.1945)

Heinrich Müller was a high-ranking German Schutzstaffel (SS) and police official during the Nazi era. For most of World War II in Europe, he was the chief of the Gestapo, the secret state police of Nazi Germany. Müller was central in the planning and execution of the Holocaust and attended the January 1942 Wannsee Conference, which formalised plans for deportation and genocide of all Jews in German-occupied Europe—The "Final Solution to the Jewish Question". He was known as "Gestapo Müller" to distinguish him from another SS general named Heinrich Müller.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Nebe</span> German SS functionary and Holocaust perpetrator (1894–1945)

Arthur Nebe was a German SS functionary who held key positions in the security and police apparatus of Nazi Germany and was, from 1941, a major perpetrator of the Holocaust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Werner Best</span> German jurist and SS-Obergruppenführer (1903–1989

Karl Rudolf Werner Best was a German jurist, police chief, SS-Obergruppenführer, Nazi Party leader, and theoretician from Darmstadt. He was the first chief of Department 1 of the Gestapo, Nazi Germany's secret police, and initiated a registry of all Jews in Germany. As a deputy of SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, he organized the SS-Einsatzgruppen paramilitary death squads that carried out mass-murder in Nazi-occupied territories.

<i>Schutzmannschaft</i> Collaborationist police force of Nazi-occupied areas of the Soviet Union during WWII

The Schutzmannschaft, or Auxiliary Police was the collaborationist auxiliary police of native policemen serving in those areas of the Soviet Union and the Baltic states occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II. Heinrich Himmler, head of the Schutzstaffel (SS), established the Schutzmannschaft on 25 July 1941, and subordinated it to the Order Police. By the end of 1941, some 45,000 men served in Schutzmannschaft units, about half of them in the battalions. During 1942, Schutzmannschaften expanded to an estimated 300,000 men, with battalions accounting for about a third, or less than one half of the local force. Everywhere, local police far outnumbered the equivalent German personnel several times; in most places, the ratio of Germans to natives was about 1-to-10.

In World War II, many governments, organizations and individuals collaborated with the Axis powers, "out of conviction, desperation, or under coercion". Nationalists sometimes welcomed German or Italian troops they believed would liberate their countries from colonization. The Danish, Belgian and Vichy French governments attempted to appease and bargain with the invaders in hopes of mitigating harm to their citizens and economies.

Responsibility for the Holocaust is the subject of an ongoing historical debate that has spanned several decades. The debate about the origins of the Holocaust is known as functionalism versus intentionalism. Intentionalists such as Lucy Dawidowicz argue that Adolf Hitler planned the extermination of the Jewish people as early as 1918 and personally oversaw its execution. However, functionalists such as Raul Hilberg argue that the extermination plans evolved in stages, as a result of initiatives that were taken by bureaucrats in response to other policy failures. To a large degree, the debate has been settled by acknowledgement of both centralized planning and decentralized attitudes and choices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Holocaust in Lithuania</span> Genocide of Lithuanian Jews

The Holocaust resulted in the near total eradication of Lithuanian (Litvaks) and Polish Jews[a] in Generalbezirk Litauen of the Reichskommissariat Ostland in the Nazi-controlled Lithuania. Of approximately 208,000–210,000 Jews at the time of the Nazi invasion, an estimated 190,000 to 195,000 were killed before the end of World War II, most of them between June and December 1941. More than 95% of Lithuania's Jewish population was murdered over the three-year German occupation, a more complete destruction than befell any other country in the Holocaust. Historians attribute this to the massive collaboration in the genocide by the non-Jewish local paramilitaries, though the reasons for this collaboration are still debated. The Holocaust resulted in the largest loss of life in so short a period of time in the history of Lithuania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ideology of the SS</span> Various racial, political, and religious views of the Schutzstaffel (SS)

The ideology of the Schutzstaffel, a paramilitary force and an instrument of terror of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, emphasized a racist vision of "racial purity", primarily based on antisemitism and loyalty to Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joachim Hamann</span> SS officer (1913–1945)

Joachim Hamann was an officer of the Einsatzkommando 3, a killing unit of Einsatzgruppe A, responsible for tens of thousands of Jewish deaths in Lithuania. Hamann organized and commanded Rollkommando Hamann, a small mobile killing unit composed of 8–10 Germans and several dozen local Lithuanian collaborators.

<i>Bandenbekämpfung</i> Aspect of war fighting

In German military history, Bandenbekämpfung, also referred to as Nazi security warfare during World War II, refers to the concept and military doctrine of countering resistance or insurrection in the rear area during wartime with extreme brutality. The doctrine provided a rationale for disregarding the established laws of war and for targeting any number of groups, from armed guerrillas to civilians, as "bandits" or "members of gangs". As applied by the German Empire and later Nazi Germany, it became instrumental in the crimes against humanity committed by the two regimes, including the Herero and Nama genocide and the Holocaust.

The Police Battalion 322 was a formation of the German Order Police during the Nazi era. During Operation Barbarossa, it was subordinated to the SS and deployed in German-occupied areas, specifically the Army Group Centre Rear Area, of the Soviet Union, as part of Police Regiment Centre.

The Police Battalion 316 was a formation of the Order Police during the Nazi era. During Operation Barbarossa, it was subordinated to the SS and deployed in German-occupied areas, specifically the Army Group Centre Rear Area, of the Soviet Union, as part of Police Regiment Centre. Alongside detachments from the Einsatzgruppen and the SS Cavalry Brigade, it perpetrated mass murder in the Holocaust and was responsible for large-scale crimes against humanity targeting civilian populations under the guise of "anti-partisan" warfare. In mid-1942, the battalion was reassigned to the 4th Police Regiment and operated in Slovenia.

The Police Battalion 307 was a formation of the Order Police during the Nazi era. During Operation Barbarossa, it was subordinated to the SS and deployed in German-occupied areas, specifically the Army Group Centre Rear Area, of the Soviet Union, as part of Police Regiment Centre. Alongside detachments from the Einsatzgruppen, it perpetrated mass murder in the Holocaust and was responsible for large-scale crimes against humanity targeting civilian populations. In mid-1942, the battalion was reassigned to the 23rd Police Regiment and operated in Belarus.

The Police Battalion 309 was a formation of the Order Police during the Nazi era. During Operation Barbarossa, it was subordinated to the German Army's 221st Security Division and deployed in German-occupied areas, specifically the Army Group Centre Rear Area, of the Soviet Union, as part of Wehrmacht's security forces. Alongside detachments from the Einsatzgruppen and the SS Cavalry Brigade, it perpetrated mass murders and was responsible for large-scale crimes against humanity targeting civilian populations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Order Police battalions</span> Militarised police units of Nazi Germany

Order Police battalions were battalion-sized militarised units of Nazi Germany's Ordnungspolizei which existed during World War II from 1939 to 1945. They were subordinated to the Schutzstaffel and deployed in areas of German-occupied Europe, specifically the Army Group Rear Area Commands and territories under civilian administration. Alongside the Einsatzgruppen, Waffen-SS and Wehrmacht, these units were involved in perpetrating the Holocaust and were responsible for large-scale crimes against humanity against civilian populations under German occupation.

References

  1. Kershaw (2008) Hitler: A Biography, p. 955
  2. Joachimsthaler (1999) [1995] The Last Days of Hitler: The Legends, the Evidence, the Truth, pp. 160–182
  3. Beevor (2002) Berlin: The Downfall 1945, p. 383
  4. Miller (2006) Leaders of the SS and German Police, Vol. 1, p. 154
  5. "Nazi war criminal Alois Brunner died in Syria basement in 2001 – report". The Times of Israel. 11 January 2017.
  6. 2014 Annual Report on the Status of Nazi War Criminals (PDF). Los Angeles, California: Simon Wiesenthal Center. 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-10-30. Retrieved 2014-06-06.
    • Matthaūs, Jūrgen. "Anti-Semitism as an Offer: The Function of Ideological indoctrination in the SS and Police Corps During the Holocaust" in Hayes, Peter and Herzog, Dagmar eds. (1991) Lessons and Legacies VII: The Holocaust in International Perspective] Northwestern University Press. p. 119. ISBN   97-80810109551
    • Struve, Kai "Anti-Jewish Violence in the Summer of 1941" in Geissbühler, Simon (2016) Romania and the Holocaust: Events Contexts Aftermath] New York: Columbia University Press. p. 106. ISBN   978-3838269245
    • Bubnys, Arŭnas "The Holocaust in Lithuania: An Outline of the Major Stages and their Results" in Nikžentaitis, Alvydas; Schreiner, Stefan; and Staliūnas, Darius eds. (2004) The Vanished World of Lithuanian Jews] Rodopi. p.210 ISBN   978-9042008502
    • Friedman, Jonathan C. ed. (2010) The Routledge History of the Holocaust] New York: Routledge. ISBN   978-1136870590