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Generalbezirk Estland
Generalbezirk Estland (General District Estonia) was one of the four administrative subdivisions of ''Reichskommissariat Ostland'', the 1941-1945 civilian occupation regime established by Nazi Germany for the administration of the three Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and the western part of the Byelorussian SSR. Organization and Structure ''Generalbezirk Estland'' was the last of the four districts to be formally established on 5 December 1941. It was organized on the territory of German-occupied Estonia, which had until then been under the military administration of the ''Wehrmacht's'' Army Group North. The capital of ''Generalbezirk Estland'' was Tallinn (Reval). Administrative divisions ''Generalbezirk Estland'' had the following seven subdivisions called ''Kreisgebiete'' (County Areas). The seat of administration is in parentheses. *Arensburg (Kuressaare) *Dorpat (Tartu) *Narwa (Rakvere) *Pernau (Pärnu) *Petschur (Pechory) *Reval-Stadt (Tallinn) *Reval-La ... [...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 Ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reichskommissar
(, rendered as "Commissioner of the Empire", "Reich Commissioner" or "Imperial Commissioner"), in German history, was an official gubernatorial title used for various public offices during the period of the German Empire and Nazi Germany. German Empire Domestic In the unified German Empire (after 1871), Reichskommissars were appointed to oversee special tasks. For instance, there was a Reichskommisar for emigration (''Reichskommissar für das Auswanderungswesen'') in Hamburg. Presumably the same title is rendered as "German Imperial Commissioner" in the case of Heligoland, a strategically located once-Danish island in the North Sea, formally handed over to Germany by the UK on 9 August 1890 (under the Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty) and on 15 December 1890 formally annexed to Germany (after 18 February 1891 part of the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein): 9 August 1890 – 1891 Adolf Wermuth (b. 1855 – d. 1927) Colonial The title of Reichskommissar was used during th ... [...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'' Meckle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hinrich Möller
Hinrich Möller (20 April 1906 – 13 October 1974) was a German SS-''Brigadeführer'' and ''Generalmajor'' of Police. He served as police chief in Neumünster and Flensburg in the 1930s. During the Second World War, he was the SS and Police Leader (SSPF) "'' Estland''" (today, Estonia). After the war, he was convicted of the 1934 murders of two Communist Party leaders and sent to prison. Early life Möller was born in Grevenkop in the Province of Schleswig-Holstein. After completing his secondary education in 1924, he served very briefly with Pioneer Battalion 6 in the ''Reichswehr''. He was an early member of the Nazi Party (membership number 113,298) joining it and its paramilitary branch, the SA, on 1 February 1929. In April 1930, he joined the ''Schutzpolizei'', a branch of the uniformed police under the Weimar Republic and would remain with them after the Nazi seizure of power until July 1934. Peacetime SS and police career On 15 October 1930, Möller left the SA ... [...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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karl-Siegmund Litzmann
Karl-Siegmund Litzmann (1 August 1893, in Minden, Westphalia – August 1945, in Kappeln, Schleswig-Holstein) was the German General Commissioner for Generalbezirk Estland ( Estonia) in the Reichskommissariat Ostland during the German occupation. He was SA-Obergruppenführer and served from 5 December 1941 to 17 September 1944 in Tallinn (Reval). Karl-Siegmund Litzmann was the son of the general of the infantry Karl Litzmann Karl Litzmann (22 January 1850 – 28 May 1936) was a German World War I general and later Nazi Party member and state politician. World War I He is best known for his victory at the Battle of Łódź (1914); he earned the nickname "the Lion of ... and uncle of Walter Lehweß-Litzmann. In late 1944 he became an officer of the Waffen SS, and went missing after the fighting in Hungary and Bohemia in spring 1945. Litzmann reappeared in May 1945 under a false name in Kappeln (Schleswig-Holstein) where his sister was living, but died there under unexpla ... [...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, ... [...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 co ... [...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 prov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gruppenführer
__NOTOC__ ''Gruppenführer'' (, ) was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party (NSDAP), first created in 1925 as a senior rank of the SA. Since then, the term ''Gruppenführer'' is also used for leaders of groups/teams of the police, fire departments, military and several other organizations. History In 1930, ''Gruppenführer'' became an SS rank and was originally bestowed upon those officers who commanded '' SS-Gruppen'' and also upon senior officers of the SS command staff. In 1932, the SS was reorganized and the ''SS-Gruppen'' were reformed into '' SS-Abschnitte''. A ''Gruppenführer'' commanded an ''SS-Abschnitt'' while a new rank, that of '' Obergruppenführer'', oversaw the '' SS-Oberabschnitte'' which were the largest SS units in Germany. Initially in the SA, NSKK, and SS, the rank of ''Gruppenführer'' was considered equivalent to a full general, but became regarded as equivalent to '' Generalleutnant'' after 1934. During the Second World War, when the Waffen-S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of the Holocaust. As a member of a reserve battalion during World War I, Himmler did not see active service, and did not fight. He studied agriculture in university, and joined the Nazi Party in 1923 and the SS in 1925. In 1929, he was appointed by Adolf Hitler. Over the next 16 years, he developed the SS from a 290-man battalion into a million-strong paramilitary group, and set up and controlled the Nazi concentration camps. He was known for good organisational skills and for selecting highly competent subordinates, such as Reinhard Heydrich in 1931. From 1943 onwards, he was both Chief of German Police and Minister of the Interior, overseeing all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo (Secret State Police). H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reichsführer-SS
(, ) was a special title and rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945 for the commander of the (SS). ''Reichsführer-SS'' was a title from 1925 to 1933, and from 1934 to 1945 it was the highest rank of the SS. The longest-serving and most noteworthy office holder was Heinrich Himmler. Definition was both a title and a rank. The title of was first created in 1926 by the second commander of the SS, Joseph Berchtold. Julius Schreck, founder of the SS and Berchtold's predecessor, never referred to himself as . Yet, the title was retroactively applied to him in later years. In 1929, Heinrich Himmler became and referred to himself by his title instead of his regular SS rank of . This set the precedent for the commander of the SS to be called . Prior to the Night of the Long Knives, the SS was an elite corps of the (SA or storm troopers), and the was subordinate to the SA's operating head, the . On 20 July 1934, as part of the purge of the SA, the SS was made a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
