Wilhelm Karl Johannes Rosenbaum (27 April 1915 – 4 April 1984) was a German

SS officer 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 duri ...

who was involved in numerous murders and other war crimes committed 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 ...

at the

Sipo-SD Academy The Sipo-SD Academy was an SS training school established by former Einstatzgruppen '' SS-Brigadeführer'' Bruno Streckenbach designed to train students in various torture and execution methods as well as to provide continuing education to the s ...

where he maintained a leadership role through a majority of its earlier years.

Family

Wilhelm Rosenbaum was born on 27, April, 1915 in

Prenzlauer Berg Prenzlauer Berg () is a locality of Berlin, forming the southerly and most urban district of the borough of Pankow. From its founding in 1920 until 2001, Prenzlauer Berg was a district of Berlin in its own right. However, that year it was incorp ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. His father, Peter Rosenbaum, was a municipal worker at the markets of

Alexanderplatz () ( en, Alexander Square) is a large public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin. The square is named after the Russian Tsar Alexander I, which also denotes the larger neighbourhood stretching from in the nort ...

. His biological mother died when he was just one year old. His father re-married, which resulted in a stepbrother named Wilhelm Franz. The second marriage was dissolved after about three years. In about 1917-18, his father married a third time. From this marriage comes another stepbrother, Kurt, who was born in 1919. He lives in Freyburg. Wilhelm's stepmother is said to have died in 1955 in a state of psychological confusion.

Service History

* November 1932 he joined the

Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...

(Hitler Jugend) and in April of the following year, 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 ...

. * 1933 he joined the SS and worked as an SS Clerk and then by 1936, was made an

Unterscharführer ''Unterscharführer'' (, ) was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party used by the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) between 1934 and 1945. The SS rank was created after the Night of the Long Knives. That event caused an SS reorganisation and the creation o ...

* 1939, he was promoted to Oberschaführer and sent to Opeln and Krakau as part of a Sipo contingent under the command of

Obersturmbannführer __NOTOC__ ''Obersturmbannführer'' (Senior Assault-unit Leader; ; short: ''Ostubaf'') was a paramilitary rank in the German Nazi Party (NSDAP) which was used by the SA (''Sturmabteilung'') and the SS (''Schutzstaffel''). The rank of ''Obersturm ...

Otto Sens * December 1939, he was commissioned

Untersturmführer (, ; short: ''Ustuf'') was a paramilitary rank of the German ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) first created in July 1934. The rank can trace its origins to the older SA rank of ''Sturmführer'' which had existed since the founding of the SA in 1921. ...

and sent to the SD Academy * June 1941 Rosenbaum was ordered to join Karl Eberhard Schöngarth's

Einsatzkommando During World War II, the Nazi German ' were a sub-group of the ' (mobile killing squads) – up to 3,000 men total – usually composed of 500–1,000 functionaries of the SS and Gestapo, whose mission was to exterminate Jews, Polish intellectu ...

* In August 1943 he was transferred to

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

where he remained until April 1945 as the Russian troops were advancing on the city

After World War II

Rosenbaum worked on a farm as a transport manager in the eastern Zone, but after a few months moved to

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

where he was worked various jobs such as an Insurance Agent, Private Detective and a Traveling Salesman. In 1949, he purchased a sweet shop in Hamburg, and then moved into the Wholesale Confectionery business where he had annual sales of approximately 1.3 million DM.

War Crimes

In 1968 he was found guilty of ordering mass executions of 159 Jews in the Cracow district and of having himself shot at least 10 persons, including children. The prosecution alleged that Rosenbaum ordered the shootings and hangings of Jews as his own “private affair” and not on the orders of superiors. He received 16 life sentences but was released early in 1982 due to chronic

rheumatic disease Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic pain, chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenbaum, Wilhelm 1915 births 1984 deaths Nazi Germany SS and Police Leaders War criminals Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Germany Holocaust perpetrators in Poland