Carl Oberg (27 January 1897 – 3 June 1965) was a German
SS functionary during the
Nazi era
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. He served as
Senior SS and Police Leader (HSSPF) in occupied France, from May 1942 to November 1944, during the
Second World War
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 ...
, Oberg came to be known as the Butcher of Paris. From May 1942, under orders from
Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( ; ; 7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was a high-ranking German SS and police official during the Nazi era and a principal architect of the Holocaust.
He was chief of the Reich Security Main Office (inclu ...
, Oberg ordered the execution of hundreds of hostages and the roundup and deportation of over 40,000 Jews from France to extermination camps, most infamously during the
Vel' d'Hiv Roundup
The Vel' d'Hiv' Roundup ( ; from french: Rafle du Vel' d'Hiv', an abbreviation of ) was a mass arrest of foreign Jewish families by Vichy France, French police and Gendarmerie, gendarmes at the behest of the Nazi Germany, German authorities, tha ...
with the assistance of the Vichy French police.
Arrested by American military police in
Tyrol
Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...
in July 1945, Oberg was sentenced to death by two different courts: British and French before being handed over to the French. In 1958 his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and later reduced to 20 years
hard labour. Oberg was eventually released on 28 November 1962 and pardoned by President
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...
. He died in
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
on 3 June 1965.
Early life
Carl Albrecht Oberg was born in
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
on 27 January 1897, the son of a physician and professor of medicine. In August 1914, he enlisted in the army and was assigned to the artillery, serving as battery officer. In November 1915, he was commissioned as a
Leutnant
() is the lowest Junior officer rank in the armed forces the German (language), German-speaking of Germany (Bundeswehr), Austrian Armed Forces, and military of Switzerland.
History
The German noun (with the meaning "" (in English "deputy") fro ...
fighting on the
Western Front and was awarded the
Iron Cross
The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia est ...
in both classes. He worked in manufacturing as a branch manager after the war until he was laid off in 1930.
Nazi career
![Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H25719, Paris, Ministerpräsident Pierre Laval und SS-Obergruppenführer Carl Oberg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-H25719%2C_Paris%2C_Ministerpr%C3%A4sident_Pierre_Laval_und_SS-Obergruppenf%C3%BChrer_Carl_Oberg.jpg)
He joined the
Nazi Party
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 ...
on 1 April 1931 and the
SS on 7 April 1932. After meeting
Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( ; ; 7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was a high-ranking German SS and police official during the Nazi era and a principal architect of the Holocaust.
He was chief of the Reich Security Main Office (inclu ...
in May 1933, he asked Heydrich for a job and joined the ''
Sicherheitsdienst
' (, ''Security Service''), full title ' (Security Service of the ''Reichsführer-SS''), or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Established in 1931, the SD was the first Nazi intelligence organization ...
'' (SD). Oberg was later promoted to an SS-''
Oberführer
__NOTOC__
''Oberführer'' (short: ''Oberf'', , ) was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) dating back to 1921. An ''Oberführer'' was typically a NSDAP member in charge of a group of paramilitary units in a particular geographic ...
'' and made the police administrator for
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
. He served in that capacity from September 1938 until January 1939. Oberg then served as Police President of
Zwickau
Zwickau (; is, with around 87,500 inhabitants (2020), the fourth-largest city of Saxony after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz and it is the seat of the Zwickau District. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ' ...
until late 1941. He served as ''SS-und Polizeiführer'' (
SS and Police Leader - SSPF), "Radom" from August 1941 to May 1942. Oberg was promoted to SS-''
Brigadeführer
''Brigadeführer'' (, ) was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) that was used between the years of 1932 to 1945. It was mainly known for its use as an SS rank. As an SA rank, it was used after briefly being known as ''Untergruppenfà ...
'' on 20 April 1942.
From 5 May 1942 to 28 November 1944, Oberg served as
Higher SS and Police Leader (, HSSPF) "Frankreich" (France) over all German police forces in France, including the SD and 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 ...
. He was the supreme authority in France for managing anti-Jewish policy and the battle against the
French Resistance
The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...
. In 1942, shortly after his arrival, he issued the
Jewish badge
Yellow badges (or yellow patches), also referred to as Jewish badges (german: Judenstern, lit=Jew's star), are badges that Jews were ordered to wear at various times during the Middle Ages by some caliphates, at various times during the Medieva ...
decree for identification, supported the roundup of 13,152 Jews in the Paris
Vélodrome d'Hiver
The Vélodrome d'Hiver (, ''Winter Velodrome''), colloquially Vel' d'Hiv', was an indoor bicycle racing cycle track and stadium (velodrome) on rue Nélaton, not far from the Eiffel Tower in Paris. As well as a Track cycling, cycling track, it was ...
(
Vel' d'Hiv Roundup
The Vel' d'Hiv' Roundup ( ; from french: Rafle du Vel' d'Hiv', an abbreviation of ) was a mass arrest of foreign Jewish families by Vichy France, French police and Gendarmerie, gendarmes at the behest of the Nazi Germany, German authorities, tha ...
), and ordered mass execution of hostages in retribution for acts of the French resistance. By that time he had been condemned as the "Butcher of Paris". On Heydrich's orders, Oberg deported over 40,000 Jews from the country with the assistance of the
Vichy France
Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...
police force headed by
René Bousquet
René Bousquet (; 11 May 1909 – 8 June 1993) was a high-ranking French political appointee who served as secretary general to the Vichy French police from May 1942 to 31 December 1943. For personal heroism, he had become a protégé of promine ...
.
On 18 January 1943, Himmler demanded a cleansing of
Marseilles
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
with 100,000 arrests and explosive demolition of the city's crime district. Working with the French police, Oberg supervised a lesser response of 6,000 arrests, 20,000 people displaced, and partial destruction of the harbour area. In 1944, Oberg blocked an attempt to establish an ''Einsatzkommando'' of the Waffen-SS in France. On 10 March 1945, he became a ''General der Waffen-SS''.
Post-war trial, sentence, and reprieve
Oberg was captured in June 1945 in the mountains near
Kitzbuhel by the U.S. military. He had been disguised as a private in the Austrian Army. He was sentenced to death by a British court before receiving another death sentence from the French in October 1954. On 10 April 1958, the sentence was commuted to life by French President
Vincent Auriol
Vincent Jules Auriol (; 27 August 1884 – 1 January 1966) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1947 to 1954.
Early life and politics
Auriol was born in Revel, Haute-Garonne, as the only child of Jacques Antoine Aurio ...
, his successor
René Coty
Jules Gustave René Coty (; 20 March 188222 November 1962) was President of France from 1954 to 1959. He was the second and last president of the Fourth French Republic.
Early life and politics
René Coty was born in Le Havre and studied at th ...
then reduced it further to 20 years hard labor in 1959. On 20 November 1962, Oberg was finally pardoned by President
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...
and set free on 28 November 1962.
Oberg then was repatriated to
Flensburg
Flensburg (; Danish, Low Saxon: ''Flensborg''; North Frisian: ''Flansborj''; South Jutlandic: ''Flensborre'') is an independent town (''kreisfreie Stadt'') in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the ...
, in the north of the
German
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 ...
state of
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...
, at the time, according to
Die Zeit
''Die Zeit'' (, "The Time") is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles.
History
The ...
, a stronghold of former Nazis and SS cadres.
Notes
References
Sources
*
Birn, Ruth Bettina, ''Die höheren SS- und Polizeiführer. Himmlers Vertreter im Reich und in den besetzten Gebieten'' Düsseldorf 1986 (Seite 252ff, 341)
* Lappenküper, Ulrich ''Der "Schlächter von Paris". Carl-Albrecht Oberg als Höherer SS- und Polizeiführer in Frankreich (1942-1944)'' in: ''Deutschland und Frankreich im Krieg (Nov. 1942 - Herbst 1944). Okkupation, Kollaboration, Résistance'' Hg. S. Martens, M. Vaisse, Bonn: Bouvier, 2000 (Seite 129-143)
* ''Die faschistische Okkupationspolitik in Frankreich (1940-1944)'' Dokumentenauswahl. Hg. und Einl. Ludwig Nestler. Berlin:
Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften
(DVW) (English: ''German Publisher of Sciences'') was a scientific publishing house in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR/).
Situated in Berlin, DVW was founded as (VEB) on 1 January 1954 as the successor of the main department of "un ...
, 1990 (Orts-, Personenregister) (zahlreiche Einträge im Index)
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External links
Wiesenthal Center
{{Portal bar, Germany, World War II, biography
SS and Police Leaders
1897 births
1965 deaths
Holocaust perpetrators in France
Prisoners sentenced to death by the British military
Prisoners and detainees of the United States military
Prisoners sentenced to death by France
Recipients of French presidential pardons
Military personnel from Hamburg
German prisoners sentenced to death
SS-Obergruppenführer
Kapp Putsch participants
20th-century Freikorps personnel
Nazis convicted of war crimes
People convicted of crimes against humanity