Friedrich Boßhammer (1906–1972) was a German jurist, SS-''

Sturmbannführer __NOTOC__ ''Sturmbannführer'' (; ) was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank equivalent to major that was used in several Nazi organizations, such as the SA, SS, and the NSFK. The rank originated from German shock troop units of the First World War ...

'' and close associate of

Adolf Eichmann Otto Adolf Eichmann ( ,"Eichmann"
''

extermination camp Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...

s from January 1944 until the end of the war in Europe. He was arrested in West Germany in 1968 and stood trial. Boßhammer was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in April 1972 for his involvement in the deportation of 3,300 Jews from Italy, but died before he could serve time in prison.

Biography

Friedrich Bosshammer RSHA investigation card

Boßhammer studied law in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

and

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, taking his first and second

State examination The ("state examination" or "exam by state"; pl.: ''Staatsexamina'') is a German government licensing examination that future physicians, dentists, teachers, pharmacists, food chemists, psychotherapists and jurists (i.e., lawyers, judges, p ...

in 1931 and 1935. Boßhammer joined the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

in 1933 and the ''

Schutzstaffel The ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS; also stylized as ''ᛋᛋ'' with Armanen runes; ; "Protection Squadron") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe d ...

'' (SS) in 1937. He worked for the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

and

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

before becoming a close associate of

Adolf Eichmann Otto Adolf Eichmann ( ,"Eichmann"
''

Final Solution The Final Solution (german: die Endlösung, ) or the Final Solution to the Jewish Question (german: Endlösung der Judenfrage, ) was a Nazi plan for the genocide of individuals they defined as Jews during World War II. The "Final Solution to th ...

, the genocide on the Jews. Boßhammer was a convinced anti-Semite who saw Jews as sub-humans and fully supported the work of the ''

Einsatzgruppen (, ; 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 im ...

''. Before his transfer to Italy, when the possibility arose that Bulgaria could allow 8,000 Jews to emigrate, he demanded that this had to be stopped. He was actively involved in attempts to pressure Bulgaria, Romania and Italy into a harder line against the Jews and to deport their Jewish population to German camps. From January 1942 Boßhammer was a member of the Jewish Section in the

Reich Security Main Office The Reich Security Main Office (german: Reichssicherheitshauptamt or RSHA) was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as ''Chef der Deutschen Polizei'' (Chief of German Police) and ''Reichsführer-SS'', the head of the Nazi ...

, where he was responsible for the section "Preparation of the European solution to the Jewish problem in political regard", and was considered a specialists in regards to the deportation of Jews. German historian Carlo Gentile evaluated him as "one of the men best informed about the

Final solution The Final Solution (german: die Endlösung, ) or the Final Solution to the Jewish Question (german: Endlösung der Judenfrage, ) was a Nazi plan for the genocide of individuals they defined as Jews during World War II. The "Final Solution to th ...

process. In January 1944 he replaced

Theodor Dannecker Theodor Denecke (also spelled Dannecker) (27 March 1913 – 10 December 1945) was a German SS-captain (), a key aide to Adolf Eichmann in the deportation of Jews during World War II. A trained lawyer Denecke first served at the Reich Security M ...

in the ''

Judenreferat The or (German plural: ; ), variously translated as Jewish advisers or Jewish experts, were Nazi SS officials who supervised anti-Jewish legislation and the deportations of Jews in the countries under their responsibility. Key architects of the ...

'' of the ''

Sicherheitsdienst ' (, ''Security Service''), full title ' (Security Service of the ''Reichsführer-SS''), or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Established in 1931, the SD was the first Nazi intelligence organization ...

'' (SD) in

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

, Italy, a role that involved the deportation of the Italian Jews to

s. Contrary to earlier agreements with Fascist Italy, in which Boßhammer and his staff were only to assist the Italian's in the persecution of Jews, he took a lead role, making his organisation a centralised department that coordinated all German and Italian resources available for the arrests and deportations of the Italian Jews. Boßhammer operated independently of the Fascist authorities and rarely consulted them, the exception being a meeting with

Giovanni Preziosi Giovanni Preziosi (24 October 1881, in Torella dei Lombardi – 26 April 1945, in Milan) was an Italian fascist politician noted for his contributions to Fascist Italy. Early career Born into a middle-class family, he joined the priesthood after ...

, one of the few true anti-semitists in the Fascist Government, who later served as the General Inspectorate of Race in the RSI. Boßhammer received an official recommendation and the

War Merit Cross The War Merit Cross (german: Kriegsverdienstkreuz) was a state decoration of Nazi Germany during World War II. By the end of the conflict it was issued in four degrees and had an equivalent civil award. A " de-Nazified" version of the War Merit ...

, Second Class with Swords, for his work in Italy, stating that "Boßhammer has led the fight against the Jews in the Italian region since February 1944. In so doing, he has performed noteworthy work in the service of the Final Solution to the Jewish problem and has personally distinguished himself in numerous actions against Jews". At the end of 1944 he decided to evacuate the camp of Fossoli to the new camp of Gries (Bozen) due to an air bombing.

Post-war

Boßhammer disappeared at the end of the war in 1945 and subsequently worked as a lawyer in

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; "''Wupper Dale''") is, with a population of approximately 355,000, the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the 17th-largest city of Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of the cities and to ...

. He was arrested in West Germany in 1968 and eventually sentenced to life in prison for his involvement in the deportation of 3,300 Jews from Italy to

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

. During the Holocaust almost 8,000 of the 45,000 Jews living in Italy perished. During his trial over 200 witnesses were heard before he was sentenced in April 1972. He died a few months after the verdict without having spent any time in prison. One of the witnesses at the trial was Italian writer

Primo Levi Primo Michele Levi (; 31 July 1919 – 11 April 1987) was an Italian chemist, partisan, writer, and Jewish Holocaust survivor. He was the author of several books, collections of short stories, essays, poems and one novel. His best-known works ...

, an Auschwitz survivor.

References

Bibliography

External link

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bosshammer, Friedrich 1906 births 1972 deaths People from Leverkusen Germans convicted of war crimes committed in Italy during World War II Nazis convicted of war crimes Holocaust perpetrators in Italy SS-Sturmbannführer Jurists from North Rhine-Westphalia Reich Security Main Office personnel