Joachim Hamann (18 May 1913 in

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...

– 13 July 1945 in

Heikendorf Heikendorf is a municipality in the district of Plön, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is a seaside resort off the Baltic Sea, located approximately 10 km from Kiel. The oldest part of the town is the Old Viking settlement in Möltenort. ...

) was an officer of the ''Einsatzkommando 3'', a killing unit of ''

Einsatzgruppe A (, ; 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 ...

'', responsible for tens of thousands of Jewish deaths in Lithuania. Hamann organized and commanded ''

Rollkommando Hamann ''Rollkommando'' Hamann ( lt, skrajojantis būrys) was a small mobile unit that committed mass murders of Lithuanian Jews in the countryside in July–October 1941, with an estimated death toll of at least 60,000 Jews. The unit was also responsible ...

'', a small mobile killing unit composed of 8–10 Germans and several dozen local Lithuanian collaborators. Hamann was of

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

parentage. Trained as a chemist, he had difficulties finding a job due to the Great Depression. He joined the SA in August 1931, the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

in December 1932, and the SS in July 1938. He served in the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

during the

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...

and Battle of France as a paratrooper (''

Fallschirmjäger The ''Fallschirmjäger'' () were the paratrooper branch of the German Luftwaffe before and during World War II. They were the first German paratroopers to be committed in large-scale airborne operations. Throughout World War II, the commander ...

''). He returned to Berlin where he joined the SS and completed training courses. In March 1941, he was promoted to SS-''

Obersturmführer __NOTOC__ (, ; short: ''Ostuf'') was a Nazi Germany paramilitary rank that was used in several Nazi organisations, such as the SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK. The rank of ''Obersturmführer'' was first created in 1932 as the result of an expa ...

'' (first lieutenant). After the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, Hamann organized and commanded ''

'' which killed at least 39,000 Jews in various locations across Lithuania and 9,102 people, almost all of whom were Jews, from the

Daugavpils Ghetto Following the occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany in the summer of 1941, the Daugavpils Ghetto (german: Ghetto Dünaburg) was established in an old fortress near Daugavpils. Daugavpils is the second largest city in Latvia, located on the Daug ...

. Hamann's superior,

Karl Jäger Karl Jäger (; 20 September 1888 – 22 June 1959) was a German mid-ranking official in the '' SS'' of Nazi Germany and '' Einsatzkommando'' leader who perpetrated acts of genocide during the Holocaust. Early life and career Jäger was born in Sc ...

, documented these killings in the

Jäger Report The so-called Jäger Report, also Jaeger Report (full title: ''Complete tabulation of executions carried out in the Einsatzkommando 3 zone up to December 1, 1941'') was written on 1 December 1941 by Karl Jäger, commander of ''Einsatzkommando'' ...

. Nevertheless,

Martin C. Dean Martin Christopher Dean (born March 14, 1962, in London, Ph.D. in history from Queens' College, Cambridge) is a research scholar at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM). He formerly worked as an ...

estimates the death toll of ''Rollkommando'' Hamann as an estimated 60,000 Jews in Lithuania alone.. Hamann left Lithuania in October 1941 and continued his SS career. In 1942, Hamann participated in Operation Zeppelin, a scheme to recruit Soviet POWs for espionage behind Russian lines. From 1943 he worked at Amt IV of RSHA (

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 orga ...

). He was involved in apprehending and executing suspected members of the 20 July plot to assassinate Hitler. He was appointed aide to Ernst Kaltenbrunner, director of the Reich Security Main Office. After the war, Hamann committed suicide.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamann, Joachim 1913 births Einsatzgruppen personnel Holocaust perpetrators in Lithuania SS-Sturmbannführer Nazis who committed suicide in Germany Military personnel from Kiel Reich Security Main Office personnel Sturmabteilung personnel German military personnel who committed suicide 1945 suicides