|
Wilhelm Schäfer (SS)
Wilhelm Schäfer (20 October 1911 – 16 June 1961) was an SS-Hauptscharführer who was complicit in numerous war crimes, including the executions of hundreds of prisoners in Buchenwald concentration camp. He was exposed as a war criminal, put on trial, and executed after he was recognized by a survivor of Buchenwald. Early life and SS career Schäfer was born in a farmer's village in Obhausen. His father was extremely nationalistic. As a young adult, Schäfer got into the bricklayer's trade. After becoming unemployed, he got a job as a farmhand in his hometown. Schäfer joined the Nazi Party in 1932 and the SS in 1933. During this time, he got into street fights with political opponents. Between 1935 and 1937, Schäfer served at Lichtenburg concentration camp, where he was complicit in the abuse and killings of prisoners. Between 1937 and 1943, he served at Buchenwald concentration camp, where he was the deputy commandant of camp laundry area and a Blockführer for variou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Obhausen
Obhausen is a municipality in the Saalekreis district, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. In January 2010 it absorbed the former municipality Esperstedt. Statistisches Bundesamt
The Federal Statistical Office (german: Statistisches Bundesamt, shortened ''Destatis'') is a federal authority of Germany. It reports to the Federal Ministry of the Interior.
The Office is responsible for collecting, processing, presenting and ...
References [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SS Blood Group Tattoo
SS blood group tattoos (german: Blutgruppentätowierung) were worn by members of the ''Waffen-SS'' in Nazi Germany during World War II to identify the individual's blood type. After the war, the tattoo was taken to be ''prima facie'' evidence of being part of the ''Waffen-SS'', leading to potential arrest and prosecution. Description and purpose The SS blood group tattoo was applied, in theory, to all ''Waffen-SS'' members, except members of the British Free Corps. It was a small black ink tattoo located on the underside of the left arm. It generally measured around long and was placed roughly above the elbow. The tattoo consisted of the soldier's blood type letter, either A, B, AB or O. The discovery of the Rh factor had been made in 1937, but was not fully understood during World War II, so was not implemented. In the early part of the war, tattoos were printed in Fraktur, while later on they were printed in Latin-style. The purpose of the tattoo was to identify a soldier's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bandenbekämpfung
In German military history, ''Bandenbekämpfung'' (German; ), also 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 through extreme brutality. The doctrine provided a rationale for disregarding the established laws of war and for targeting of any number of groups, from armed guerrillas to the civilian population, as "bandits" or "members of gangs". As applied by the German Empire and later by Nazi Germany, it became instrumental in the mass crimes against humanity committed by the two regimes, including the Herero and Namaqua genocide and the Holocaust. Emergence Concept and origins According to historian and television documentary producer, Christopher Hale, there are indications that the term ''Bandenbekämpfung'' may go back as far as the Thirty Years' War. Under the German Empire established by Bismarck in 1871 after the Franco-Prussian War—formed as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genickschussanlage
Genickschussanlage (German for "neck shooting facility") is the official name of a facility used for surprise executions in Nazi Germany. The victim was placed, under the pretext of a medical examination, in a position where a shot could be fired into the back of their neck from the neighbouring room. For that purpose, the facilities were partly disguised as height measuring devices or medicinal instruments. The facilities are mostly known from concentration camps, where they were not only used to carry out official death sentences but also to carry out inconspicuous murder of larger groups of victims. In the Buchenwald concentration camp In the Buchenwald concentration camp, after 1941, the facility was mostly used to execute Soviet prisoners of war. These prisoners, who were brought to the camp from other concentration camps, were placed in a former horse stable A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blockführer
''Blockführer'' (Block Leader) was a paramilitary title specific to the SS-Death's Head Units in Concentration Camp Service. An SS-Block Leader was typically in charge of a prisoner barracks ranging from two hundred to three hundred concentration camp prisoners; in larger camps, the number of prisoners could reach as a high as a thousand. The Block Leader was in charge of daily attendance, supervising daily work details, and the distributing of rations to prisoners. Assisting in this case were several prisoner trustees, known as ''kapos''. The position of Block Leader was usually held by an SS soldier holding the rank of SS-Corporal or non-commissioned officer rank of SS-Sergeant. In the Nazi death camps, the task of gassing prisoners with Zyklon B was performed by a Block Leader. A similar title, known as ''Blockleiter'' (Block Warden), also existed in the Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsoziali ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hauptscharführer
__NOTOC__ ''Hauptscharführer'' ( ) was a Nazi paramilitary rank which was used by the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) between the years of 1934 and 1945. The rank was the highest enlisted rank of the SS, with the exception of the special Waffen-SS rank of '' Sturmscharführer''. The ''Hauptscharführer'' became a SS rank after a reorganization of the SS following the Night of the Long Knives. The first use of ''Hauptscharführer'' was in June 1934 when the rank replaced the older SA title of ''Obertruppführer''. Within the ''Allgemeine-SS'' (general-SS), a ''Hauptscharführer'' was typically the head SS- non-commissioned officer of an ''SS-Sturm'' (company) or was a rank used by enlisted staff personnel assigned to an SS headquarters office or security agency (such as the Gestapo and ''Sicherheitsdienst'' (SD)). The rank of ''Hauptscharführer'' was also commonly used in the concentration camp service and could also be found as a rank of the '' Einsatzgruppen''. The rank of SS-''H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iron Cross
The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia established it on 17 March 1813 during the Napoleonic Wars (EK 1813). The award was backdated to the birthday (10 March) of his late wife, Queen Louise. Louise was the first person to receive this decoration (posthumously). Recommissioned Iron Cross was also awarded during the Franco-Prussian War (EK 1870), World War I (EK 1914), and World War II (EK 1939). During the 1930s and World War II, the Nazi regime superimposed a swastika on the traditional medal. The Iron Cross was usually a military decoration only, though there were instances awarded to civilians for performing military functions, including Hanna Reitsch, who received the Iron Cross, 2nd class, and Iron Cross, 1st Class, and Melitta Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg, who received ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Lake Peipus and Russia. The territory of Estonia consists of the mainland, the larger islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa, and over 2,200 other islands and islets on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, covering a total area of . The capital city Tallinn and Tartu are the two largest urban areas of the country. The Estonian language is the autochthonous and the official language of Estonia; it is the first language of the majority of its population, as well as the world's second most spoken Finnic language. The land of what is now modern Estonia has been inhabited by '' Homo sapiens'' since at least 9,000 BC. The medieval indigenous population of Estonia was one of the last " pagan" civilisations in Europe to adopt Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between the Baltic and North seas to the north, and the Alps to the south; it covers an area of , with a population of almost 84 million within its 16 constituent states. Germany borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, and France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands to the west. The nation's capital and most populous city is Berlin and its financial centre is Frankfurt; the largest urban area is the Ruhr. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity. A region named Germania was documented before AD 100. In 962, the Kingdom of Germany formed the bulk of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th ce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nazism
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Nazi Germany. During Hitler's rise to power in 1930s Europe, it was frequently referred to as Hitlerism (german: Hitlerfaschismus). The later related term "neo-Nazism" is applied to other far-right groups with similar ideas which formed after the Second World War. Nazism is a form of fascism, with disdain for liberal democracy and the parliamentary system. It incorporates a dictatorship, fervent antisemitism, anti-communism, scientific racism, and the use of eugenics into its creed. Its extreme nationalism originated in pan-Germanism and the ethno-nationalist '' Völkisch'' movement which had been a prominent aspect of German nationalism since the late 19th century, and it was strongly influenced by the paramilitary groups that emerged af ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tallinn
Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ''maakond'' (county). Tallinn is the main financial, industrial, and cultural centre of Estonia. It is located northwest of the country's second largest city Tartu, however only south of Helsinki, Finland, also west of Saint Petersburg, Russia, north of Riga, Latvia, and east of Stockholm, Sweden. From the 13th century until the first half of the 20th century, Tallinn was known in most of the world by variants of its other historical name Reval. Tallinn received Lübeck city rights in 1248,, however the earliest evidence of human population in the area dates back nearly 5,000 years. The medieval indigenous population of what is now Tallinn and northern Estonia was one of the last " pagan" civilisations in Europe to adopt Christianit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.svg "Click for more on -> Nazism")
