Karl Freudenthal (died 5 July 1944) was a German lawyer, a

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

and an officer of 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 ...

. In 1941 he was made a Kreishauptmann of

powiat 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 ...

Garwolin Garwolin is a town on the Wilga river in eastern Poland, capital of Garwolin County, situated in the southeast part of the Garwolin plateau in Masovian Voivodeship, 62 km southeast of Warsaw, 100 km northwest of Lublin. As of December ...

German occupied Poland German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

. He was a relative of

Hans Frank Hans Michael Frank (23 May 1900 – 16 October 1946) was a German politician and lawyer who served as head of the General Government in Nazi-occupied Poland during the Second World War. Frank was an early member of the German Workers' Party ...

, the Governor-General of the

General Government The General Government (german: Generalgouvernement, pl, Generalne Gubernatorstwo, uk, Генеральна губернія), also referred to as the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (german: Generalgouvernement für die be ...

.(Polish
Jerzy Piesiewicz "Zamach na kata" (''Assassination of an executioner'')
. On-line reprint from "Biuletyn Informacyjny Armii Krajowej" (''Information Bulletin of the Home Army''), July 2000. In January 1941, as one of his first actions in his new post, he oversaw the removal of the Jewish population of the town of Garwolin and their transfer to the ghettos of

Żelechów Żelechów (Yiddish language, Yiddish זשעלעכאָוו) is a town in east Poland in Masovian Voivodeship in Garwolin County. It is the seat of Gmina Żelechów. Żelechów is from Warsaw and far from Lublin. More than 4000 people live in t ...

, Sobolew,

Łaskarzew Łaskarzew is a town in Garwolin County ( from Garwolin), Masovian Voivodeship, Poland, with 4,948 inhabitants (2004). It is located on the Promnik river, which is a tributary of the Vistula, near the ''Garwolin Forests'', on the border of histo ...

and Parysów. Between that date and end of 1942, acting on his orders, 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 ...

and other German police forces murdered 890 people from the town of Garwolin and the surrounding area. Another 2100 individuals were sent to

Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as concen ...

and for slave labor in Nazi Germany. On 28 February he personally led units of

Schutzpolizei The ''Schutzpolizei'' (), or ''Schupo'' () for short, is a uniform-wearing branch of the '' Landespolizei'', the state (''Land'') level police of the states of Germany. ''Schutzpolizei'' literally means security or protection police, but it is ...

and

Sonderdienst ''Sonderdienst'' (german: Special Services) were the Nazi German paramilitary formations created in semicolonial General Government during the occupation of Poland in World War II. They were based on similar '' SS'' formations called ''Volksdeuts ...

in the "pacification" of the village Wanaty, during which 108 inhabitants were murdered. In late 1942 or early 1943 the

Government Delegation for Poland The Government Delegation for Poland ( pl, Delegatura Rządu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na Kraj) was an agency of the Polish Government in Exile during World War II. It was the highest authority of the Polish Secret State in occupied Poland and was ...

, the underground representative of the

Polish Government-in-Exile The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile ( pl, Rząd Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na uchodźstwie), was the government in exile of Poland formed in the aftermath of the Invasion of Pola ...

, sentenced Freudenthal to death for crimes against the Polish and Jewish populations of

. The sentence was carried out on 5 July 1944 by two units of the Polish

Home Army 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 ...

, numbering twenty men, from Garwolin and the nearby village of Wola Rębkowska. Feudenthal's execution was part of the Home Army's

Operation Heads Operation Heads ( pl, Operacja Główki) was the code name for a series of assassinations of Nazi officials by the World War II Polish Resistance. Those targeted for assassination had been sentenced to death by Polish Underground Special Courts ...

References

Year of birth missing 1944 deaths Nazis assassinated by Polish resistance Holocaust perpetrators in Poland SS officers Lawyers in the Nazi Party People executed by the Polish Underground State {{Nazi-stub Executed mass murderers