Rudolf Creutz (6 April 1896 – 8 July 1980) was an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

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 a high-ranking member of the SS 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 involved in the implementation of racial resettlement programs in the

Occupied Territories Military occupation, also known as belligerent occupation or simply occupation, is the effective military control by a ruling power over a territory that is outside of that power's sovereign territory.Eyāl Benveniśtî. The international law ...

and was convicted of war crimes by the Allies in 1948.

Life

Rudolf Creutz was born in the city of

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

on 6 April 1896, when it was part of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. He married the Countess Marie Margarethe Christiane Rességuier von Miremont and the couple had one son. Creutz became a member of 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 ...

(member no. 2,367,675) and the SS (member no. 77,813), reaching the rank of SS-Brigadeführer on 9 November 1943. Ernst Klee: ''Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich – Wer war was vor und nach 1945.'' 2nd Edition (Frankfurt am Main, 2007) p. 96 Creutz became a deputy of

Ulrich Greifelt Ulrich Heinrich Emil Richard Greifelt (8 December 1896 – 6 February 1949) was a German SS functionary and war criminal during the Nazi era. He was convicted at the RuSHA trial at Nuremberg, sentenced to life imprisonment, and died in prison ...

, an SS Major General and Chief of Staff of the ''

Reichskommissariat ''Reichskommissariat'' ( en, Imperial Commissariat) is a German word for a type of administrative entity headed by a government official known as a ''Reichskommissar'' ( en, Imperial Commissioner). Although many offices existed, primarily throug ...

for the Consolidation of German Nationhood'' (german: Reichskommissariat für die Festigung des deutschen Volkstums) or RKFDV. This was an SS organization tasked with

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...

Heim ins Reich The ''Heim ins Reich'' (; meaning "back home to the Reich") was a foreign policy pursued by Adolf Hitler before and during World War II, beginning in 1938. The aim of Hitler's initiative was to convince all ''Volksdeutsche'' (ethnic Germans) wh ...

and Germanization initiatives during

. The RKFDV's responsibilities were the "final return of ethnic Germans to the Reich," the "elimination of harmful influences," and "the design of new German settlement areas by trans-location". Creutz was head of RKFDV Office A which operated the "Wiedereindeutschungs" program, whereby orphans in occupied territories were selected according to their "racial appearance" and forcibly removed to Germany to be adopted by "Nordic parents". These children were orphans primarily because their parents had already been sent to concentration camps. As early as 1941, Creutz was involved in the deportation and resettlement of German families from Lorraine and

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

to Germany, in order to protect them from "undesirable influences" in those areas. He issued detailed instructions on the procedures to be followed and provided progress reports directly to Heinrich Himmler. In 1942, Creutz issued these orders to Reich Governors: "There are a great number of children in former Polish orphanages who, on account of their racial characteristics, must be considered to be children of Nordic parents. These children must be subjected to a racial and psychological selection procedure. Children found to be biologically valuable for the German Reich are to be Germanized." By 1943 these programs had expanded to include the outright abduction of both children and adults. In an eight-page report to Himmler, dated 25 March 1943, Creutz outlined the operations and gave details as to the measures he had ordered: "The selection of persons is to be made by the branch office of the SS Race and Settlement Main Office ( RuSHA) in Litzmannstadt (

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of canti ...

). Persons found suitable for being Germanized are to be turned over to the individual Higher SS and Police Leaders in Germany proper." Creutz was arrested by the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

at the end of World War II. In 1947 he was a defendant in the RuSHA Trial, the eighth trial of the

Subsequent Nuremberg Trials The subsequent Nuremberg trials were a series of 12 military tribunals for war crimes against members of the leadership of Nazi Germany between December 1946 and April 1949. They followed the first and best-known Nuremberg trial before the Int ...

. He was charged with

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...

, war crimes and membership of a criminal organization (the SS). On 10 March 1948 he was convicted on the following counts: the kidnapping of alien children, in particular from France, Luxembourg, and Poland; the forced evacuation and resettlement of populations; the forced Germanization of enemy nationals; and the utilization of foreign nationals as slave labor. He was sentenced to 15 years in

Landsberg Prison Landsberg Prison is a penal facility in the town of Landsberg am Lech in the southwest of the German state of Bavaria, about west-southwest of Munich and south of Augsburg. It is best known as the prison where Adolf Hitler was held in 1924, a ...

. US Military Tribunal Nuremberg: ''Griefelt, et al. Judgment of 10 March 1948'' p. 5
Online version
/ref> Creutz's sentence was reduced to 10 years in 1951, and he was released from prison later that year. He died on 8 July 1980 in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

References

External links

Rudolf Creutz
at www.dws-xip.pl {{DEFAULTSORT:Creutz, Rudolf 1896 births 1980 deaths Military personnel from Trieste SS-Brigadeführer Austrian Nazis convicted of war crimes Austrian people convicted of crimes against humanity People from Austrian Littoral People convicted by the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals Waffen-SS personnel

Life

See also

References

External links