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Generalbezirk Lettland
Generalbezirk Lettland (General District Latvia) was one of the four administrative subdivisions of '' Reichskommissariat Ostland'', the civilian occupation regime established by Nazi Germany for the administration of the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and the western part of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. Organization and Structure ''Generalbezirk Lettland'' was originally organized on 25 July 1941 on the territory of the then German-occupied Latvia, which had until then been under the military administration of the ''Wehrmacht's'' Army Group North. By 1 September 1941, in the wake of further German gains, it expanded to its full extent, reaching the former Estonian and Soviet borders. The capital of ''Generalbezirk Lettland'' was Riga.Generalbezirk Lettland i [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reichskommissariat Ostland
The Reichskommissariat Ostland (RKO) was established by Nazi Germany in 1941 during World War II. It became the civilian occupation regime in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the western part of Byelorussian SSR. German planning documents initially referred to an equivalent ''Reichskommissariat Baltenland''. The political organization for this territory – after an initial period of military administration before its establishment – involved a German civilian administration, nominally under the authority of the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories led by Nazi ideologist Alfred Rosenberg, but actually controlled by the Nazi official Hinrich Lohse, its appointed ''Reichskommissar''. Germany's main political objectives for the ''Reichskommissariat'', as laid out by the Ministry within the framework of Nazism's policies for the east established by Adolf Hitler, included the genocide of the Jewish population, as well as the ''Lebensraum'' settlement of ethnic Germa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arajs Kommando
The Arajs ''Kommando'' (also: ''Sonderkommando Arajs''; ), led by SS commander and Nazi collaborator Viktors Arājs, was a unit of Latvian Auxiliary Police (german: Lettische Hilfspolizei) subordinated to the German ''Sicherheitsdienst'' (SD). It was a notorious killing unit during the Holocaust. Formation After the entry of the ''Einsatzkommando'' into the Latvian capital contact between Viktors Arājs and ''Brigadeführer'' Walter Stahlecker was established on 1 July 1941. Stahlecker instructed Arājs to set up a commando group that obtained the official name ''Latvian Auxiliary Security Police'' or ''Arajs Kommando''.Ruth Bettina Birn and Volker Riess. "Revising the Holocaust". ''The Historical Journal'', Vol. 40, No. 1 (Mar., 1997), pp. 195-215. Published by: Cambridge University Press. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3020959 The unit was composed of students and former officers of far-right wing orientation. All of the Arajs Kommando members were volunteers, and free ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Einsatzgruppe
(, ; also 'task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the implementation of the so-called "Final Solution to the Jewish question" () in territories conquered by Nazi Germany, and were involved in the murder of much of the intelligentsia and cultural elite of Poland, including members of the Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church in Poland, Catholic priesthood. Almost all of the people they murdered were civilians, beginning with the intelligentsia and swiftly progressing to Soviet political commissars, Jews, and Romani people, as well as actual or alleged Partisan (military), partisans throughout Eastern Europe. Under the direction of Heinrich Himmler and the supervision of SS- Reinhard Heydrich, the operated in territories occupied by the Wehrmacht (German armed forces) following the invasion of P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after Frederick Barbarossa ("red beard"), a 12th-century Holy Roman emperor and German king, put into action Nazi Germany's ideological goal of conquering the western Soviet Union to repopulate it with Germans. The German aimed to use some of the conquered people as forced labour for the Axis war effort while acquiring the oil reserves of the Caucasus as well as the agricultural resources of various Soviet territories. Their ultimate goal was to create more (living space) for Germany, and the eventual extermination of the indigenous Slavic peoples by mass deportation to Siberia, Germanisation, enslavement, and genocide. In the two years leading up to the invasion, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed political and economic pacts for st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walther Schröder
Walther Schröder (26 November 1902 – 31 October 1973) was a German Nazi Party politician, SS-''Brigadeführer'' and Police President of Lübeck, who served as an SS and Police Leader in Latvia and Estonia during the Second World War. Early life Schröder was born in Lübeck and went to school until 1919, followed by three years of practical training in mechanical engineering. From 1922 he studied at the technical state school in Hamburg. In the same year he joined the Freikorps Oberland, remaining a member until 1925. In autumn 1924 he passed his state examination. Until 1932 he worked as a designer and engineer at a shipyard in Hamburg and a machine building company in Lübeck. Peacetime Party, political and police career Schröder joined the Nazi Party (membership number 6,288) and the SA on 5 May 1925. As an early Party member, he would later be awarded the Golden Party Badge. From September 1927 to 1929 he was SA-''Sturmführer'' of the '' Gausturm'' Mecklenburg-S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brigadeführer
''Brigadeführer'' (, ) was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) that was used between the years of 1932 to 1945. It was mainly known for its use as an SS rank. As an SA rank, it was used after briefly being known as ''Untergruppenführer'' in late 1929 and 1930. The rank was first created due to an expansion of the SS and assigned to those officers in command of ''SS-Brigaden''. In 1933, the ''SS-Brigaden'' were changed in name to ''SS-Abschnitte''; however, the rank of ''Brigadeführer'' remained the same. Originally, ''Brigadeführer'' was considered the second general officer rank of the SS and ranked between ''Oberführer'' and '' Gruppenführer''. This changed with the rise of the Waffen-SS and the ''Ordnungspolizei''. In both of those organizations, ''Brigadeführer'' was the equivalent to a ''Generalmajor'' and ranked above an ''Oberst'' in the German Army or police. The rank of ''Generalmajor'' was the equivalent of brigadier general, a one-star general in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Otto-Heinrich Drechsler
Otto-Heinrich Drechsler (1 April 1895 – 5 May 1945) was the General Commissioner of Latvia for the Nazi Germany's occupation regime ( Reichskommissariat Ostland) during World War II. In this capacity, he played a role in setting up the Riga ghetto and was implicated in the extermination of the Latvian Jews. He committed suicide on 5 May 1945, after being captured by the British forces. Early life Drechsler became an officer cadet (''Fahnenjunker'') in the Lübeck infantry regiment of the German Army in 1914. He was severely wounded and lost a leg. He was mustered out of the Reichswehr in 1920. Andreas Zellhuber: ''"Unsere Verwaltung treibt einer Katastrophe zu …" Das Reichsministerium für die besetzten Ostgebiete und die deutsche Besatzungsherrschaft in der Sowjetunion 1941–1945.'' Vögel, München 2006, S. 87, . (Quelle: Erich Stockhorst: ''Fünftausend Köpfe''. Velbert 1967, S. 112.) During the Weimar Republic Drechsler began the study of dentistry, and obtained the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Friedrich Jeckeln
Friedrich Jeckeln (2 February 1895 – 3 February 1946) was a German SS commander during the Nazi era. He served as a Higher SS and Police Leader in the occupied Soviet Union during World War II. Jeckeln was the commander of one of the largest collection of ''Einsatzgruppen'' death squads and was personally responsible for ordering and organizing the deaths of over 100,000 Jews, Romani, and others designated by the Nazis as "undesirables". After the end of World War II in Europe, Jeckeln was convicted of war crimes by a Soviet military tribunal in Riga and executed in 1946. SS career Jeckeln served in World War I as an officer. After being discharged following Germany's defeat, Jeckeln worked as an engineer before joining the Nazi Party on 1 October 1929. In January 1931, he was accepted into the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS). By the end of 1931 he was placed in charge of a regiment and then a brigade. In 1932, Jeckeln was elected as a member of the Reichstag. In January 1933, when ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Obergruppenführer
' (, "senior group leader") was a paramilitary rank in Nazi Germany that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) and adopted by the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) one year later. Until April 1942, it was the highest commissioned SS rank after only ''Reichsführer-SS''. Translated as "senior group leader", the rank of ''Obergruppenführer'' was senior to '' Gruppenführer''. A similarly named rank of ''Untergruppenführer'' existed in the SA from 1929 to 1930 and as a title until 1933. In April 1942, the new rank of ''SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer'' was created which was above ''Obergruppenführer'' and below ''Reichsführer-SS''. Creation and history The rank of ''Obergruppenführer'' was created in 1932 by Ernst Röhm and was intended as a seniormost rank of the Nazi stormtroopers for use by Röhm and his top SA generals. In its initial concept, the rank was intended to be held by members of the ''Oberste SA-Führung'' (Supreme SA Command) and also by veteran c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hans-Adolf Prützmann
Hans-Adolf Prützmann (31 August 1901 – 16 May 1945) was among the highest-ranking German SS officials during the Nazi era. From June 1941 to September 1944, he served as a Higher SS and Police Leader in the occupied Soviet Union, and from November 1943 was the Supreme SS and Police Leader in Ukraine. He oversaw the activities of the ''Einsatzgruppen'' detachments that perpetrated the Holocaust in the Baltic States and Ukraine. After being captured at the end of the Second World War, he committed suicide. Early life Prützmann was born in the East Prussian town of Tolkemit, the son of a businessman. After completing his secondary education at the gymnasium, Prützmann became a member of the ''Freikorps'' "Aulock" between 1918 and 1921, seeing active service in the Upper Silesian uprisings in the summer of 1921. Afterwards, he studied agriculture at the University of Göttingen from 1921 to 1923 and then worked for seven years as an agricultural official in the Prussian provi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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