Johann Pauls (9 February 1908 – 4 July 1946) was a German SS-''
Oberscharführer __NOTOC__
''Oberscharführer'' (, ) was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that existed between 1932 and 1945. ''Oberscharführer'' was first used as a rank of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) and was created due to an expansion of the enlisted positions ...
'' in
Stutthof concentration camp
Stutthof was a Nazi concentration camp established by Nazi Germany in a secluded, marshy, and wooded area near the village of Stutthof (now Sztutowo) 34 km (21 mi) east of the city of Danzig (Gdańsk) in the territory of the German-a ...
. He was executed for war crimes.
Career
Pauls was born in
Danzig (Gdańsk), the third child of Johann August Pauls and Minna Steingräber. He joined the
NSDAP
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 ...
, along with the
SS, in the
Free City of Danzig
The Free City of Danzig (german: Freie Stadt Danzig; pl, Wolne Miasto Gdańsk; csb, Wòlny Gard Gduńsk) was a city-state under the protection of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gda ...
on 1 April 1931. From 21 July 1939 to 31 October 1941, he served in the reserve police force. From 1 November 1941 to 11 March 1943, he served 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 ...
infantry and ''SS-
Schütze
''Schütze'' in German means "rifleman" or "shooter", or in older terms originally connoted "archer" before the advent of the rifle. It also occasionally occurs as a surname, or as Schütz, as in the opera ''Der Freischütz''. The word itself is ...
'' reserve.
Pauls was transferred to ''SS-Totenkopfsturmbann'' of
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners ...
in April 1943. Thereafter, as an SS-''
Oberscharführer __NOTOC__
''Oberscharführer'' (, ) was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that existed between 1932 and 1945. ''Oberscharführer'' was first used as a rank of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) and was created due to an expansion of the enlisted positions ...
'', he was commandant of the guards in
Stutthof concentration camp
Stutthof was a Nazi concentration camp established by Nazi Germany in a secluded, marshy, and wooded area near the village of Stutthof (now Sztutowo) 34 km (21 mi) east of the city of Danzig (Gdańsk) in the territory of the German-a ...
until the end of the war in 1945.
After the war
Trial
![Biskupia Gorka executions - 9 - Kapo, Pauls, Steinhoff (left to right)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Biskupia_Gorka_executions_-_9_-_Kapo%2C_Pauls%2C_Steinhoff_%28left_to_right%29.jpg)
He was tried in the first
Stutthof Trial
The Stutthof trials were a series of war crime tribunals held in postwar Poland for the prosecution of Stutthof concentration camp staff and officials, responsible for the murder of up to 85,000 prisoners during the occupation of Poland by Nazi G ...
by the Soviet/Polish Special Criminal Court, which was held in Gdańsk (Danzig) from 25 April 1946 to 31 May 1946. In the company of 12 other guards and
kapos, he was convicted of war crimes, along with 10 other accused, and sentenced to death.
Execution
Pauls was
executed by short-drop hanging on 4 July 1946 at
Biskupia Górka
Biskupia Górka (german: Bischofsberg, sometimes ''Bischofshügel'') is a neighbourhood and hill in Gdańsk, Poland, located in the Śródmieście district. Historically, Biskupia Górka had important strategic meaning, since it is a hill close t ...
(Bischofsberg). He was brought to the place of execution along with 10 other prisoners, five men and five women. The convicts were on the backs of 11 trucks, bound hand and foot. Pauls was collared with a noose at the centre of the gallows and pushed out of the truck. On one side of him was
Gerda Steinhoff
Gerda Steinhoff (29 January 1922 – 4 July 1946) was a ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) Nazi concentration camps, Nazi concentration camp overseer following the 1939 German invasion of Poland.
SS career
Steinhoff was born in Wrzeszcz, Danzig-Langfuhr ...
; on his other side, an unknown kapo.
External links
Executed Today – 1946: Eleven from the Stutthof concentration camp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pauls, Johann
1908 births
1946 deaths
Stutthof trials executions
SS non-commissioned officers
Sachsenhausen concentration camp personnel
Military personnel from Gdańsk
Executed German people
Executed people from Pomeranian Voivodeship
Filmed executions
Waffen-SS personnel
Publicly executed people
People executed for crimes against humanity