Helmut Kapp (born as ''Konstanty Kapuścik''; died 31 May 1943) was a member of 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 ...

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 killed in 1943 by a

partisan Partisan may refer to: Military * Partisan (weapon), a pole weapon * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line Films * ''Partisan'' (film), a 2015 Australian film * ''Hell River'', a 1974 Yugoslavian film also know ...

death squad A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings or forced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases in which they are ...

in Jędrzejów, Poland. Kapp was born in Ratiborhammer,

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, located ...

. After the outbreak of World War II he joined the Gestapo. Initially a translator, he was promoted to the deputy commander of a Gestapo outpost in Jędrzejów. Among his tasks were recruitment of collaborators, assisting in the arrest of people in the

powiats A ''powiat'' (pronounced ; Polish plural: ''powiaty'') is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture ( LAU-1, formerly NUTS-4) in other countries. The term "''powia ...

of Jędrzejów and

Włoszczowa Włoszczowa is a town in southern Poland, in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, about west of Kielce. It is the capital of Włoszczowa County. Population is 10,756 (2004). Włoszczowa lies in historic Lesser Poland, and from its foundation until 1795 ...

, and the interrogation of suspects arrested by the Germans. According to his own testimony, he murdered 452 Poles, including 365 Jews. In the early months of 1943 Kapp was sentenced to death by the

Polish Underground The Polish Underground State ( pl, Polskie Państwo Podziemne, also known as the Polish Secret State) was a single political and military entity formed by the union of resistance organizations in occupied Poland that were loyal to the Gover ...

Special Courts An extraordinary court, or special court, is a type of court that is established outside of ordinary judiciary, composed of irregularly selected judges or applies irregular procedure for judgment. Since extraordinary court can be abused to infrin ...

for the Jędrzejów area and the verdict was supported by the local command of the

Armia Krajowa The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) esta ...

. After several initial attempts to poison Kapp, the Armia Krajowa formed a

to kill him. On 31 May 1943 the death squad was formed, composed of

2nd Lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

Zola Zola may refer to: People * Zola (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * Zola (musician) (born 1977), South African entertainer * Zola (rapper), French rapper * Émile Zola, a major nineteenth-century French writer Plac ...

'',

Corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non ...

'' Ryszard'' and

Private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

'' Wituś''. The squad, armed with pistols, notified that Kapp was having a meeting at the gardens near the Gestapo building in Jędrzejów. They reached the gardens and found Kapp returning home with a German Gestapo driver. After a short fight, the driver was killed and Kapp was severely wounded. Kapp died the following day. As a reprisal for this action, on 9 June 1943 the Germans killed 11 random civilians of Jędrzejów while an additional 25 were arrested, tortured and sent to

Auschwitz concentration camp 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 ...

References

* {{Holocaust-stub 1943 deaths Deaths by firearm in Poland Executed German mass murderers German military personnel killed in World War II German people of Polish descent Gestapo personnel Holocaust perpetrators in Poland Nazis assassinated by Polish resistance People executed by the Polish Underground State People from Racibórz County People from the Province of Silesia Year of birth missing