Hans-Otto Woellke (18 February 1911 – 22 March 1943) was a German

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

ter, who won a gold medal at the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

and a bronze medal at the 1938 European Championships. Woellke served with the

Order Police The ''Ordnungspolizei'' (), abbreviated ''Orpo'', meaning "Order Police", were the uniformed police force in Nazi Germany from 1936 to 1945. The Orpo organisation was absorbed into the Nazi monopoly on power after regional police jurisdiction w ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he was a captain in the

Schutzmannschaft Battalion 118 ''Schutzmannschaft'' Battalion 118 (Ukrainian Schuma)Natalia Petrouchkevitch, Wilfrid Laurier UniversityVictims and criminals: Schutzmannschaft battalion 118 (Belarus, Ukraine) was a Schutzmannschaft auxiliary police battalion (Schuma). The core o ...

attached to a regiment in the

Waffen-SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...

. He was killed by partisans on 22 March 1943 near

Khatyn Khatyn ( be, Хаты́нь, Chatyń, ; russian: Хаты́нь, ) was a village of 26 houses and 157 inhabitants in Belarus, in Lahoysk Raion, Minsk Region, 50 km away from Minsk. On 22 March 1943, almost the entire population of the vil ...

village, after which a retaliatory

mass killing Mass killing is a concept which has been proposed by genocide scholars who wish to define incidents of non-combat killing which are perpetrated by a government or a state. A mass killing is commonly defined as the killing of group members withou ...

of civilians took place by Schutzmannschaft and Waffen-SS soldiers.Genocide Policy
khatyn.by

References

1911 births 1943 deaths People from Biskupiec People from East Prussia German male shot putters Olympic gold medalists for Germany Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Germany German military personnel killed in World War II Sportspeople from Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship European Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) SS-Hauptsturmführer Deaths by firearm in the Soviet Union Deaths by firearm in Belarus Reich Security Main Office personnel {{Germany-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub