Wilhelm Zoepf, also rendered Zöpf, (11 March 1908 in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

– 7 July 1980) was a German

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 duri ...

(SS)

Sturmbannführer __NOTOC__ ''Sturmbannführer'' (; ) was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank equivalent to major that was used in several Nazi organizations, such as the SA, SS, and the NSFK. The rank originated from German shock troop units of the First World War ...

and a figure in

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

Early years

Educated at the ''Maximiliansgymnasium München'', Zoepf was a lawyer by profession. He married in 1938 and divorced in 1957.Robert Kempner, ''Edith Stein und Anne Frank – zwei von Hunderttausend'', Freiburg 1968, p. 40 Zoepf joined 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 May 1933, also serving with 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. ...

until 1936. He joined the SS in 1937.

Netherlands

Zoepf was attached RSHA Referat IV B4 (RSHA Sub-Department IV-B4), the Jewish affairs and deportation agency headed by Adolf Eichmann. In this capacity Zoepf was sent by Eichmann in 1941 to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in order to work alongside the '' Sicherheitspolizei'' in deportations. Here he became directly subordinate to SS General

Wilhelm Harster Wilhelm Harster (21 July 1904 – 25 December 1991) was a German policeman and war criminal. A high-ranking member in the Schutzstaffel, SS and a Holocaust perpetrator during the Nazi era, he was twice convicted for his crimes by the Netherlands a ...

, the pair being old friends. From their base in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

the duo ran the Department of Jewish Affairs for the Nazi occupiers in the Netherlands.Betty Merti, ''The World of Anne Frank: a complete resource guide'', Walch Publishing, 1998, p. 36 In this role Zoepf oversaw the deportation of Jews to the concentration camps in the east. Most of his work was that of a bureaucrat although he took steps to ensure that deportation would not be disrupted, notably intercepting and destroying South American passports that were sent to some Jews and which would save them from deportation.

Post-war

Following 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 opposi ...

Zoepf disappeared within the Netherlands and returned to Germany. In the 1960s Zoepf was brought to trial in Munich, along with Harster and Gertrud Slottke for his complicity in the killing of 83,000 Dutch Jews.Christian Ritz, ''Schreibtischtäter vor Gericht. Das Verfahren vor dem Münchner Landgericht wegen der Deportation der niederländischen Juden (1959–1967)'', Paderborn: Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, 2012; 257 p. After a trial that received high media attention Zoepf was sentenced to nine years imprisonment.

References

1908 births 1980 deaths Holocaust perpetrators in the Netherlands SS-Sturmbannführer Nazis convicted of war crimes Military personnel from Munich People from the Kingdom of Bavaria Reich Security Main Office personnel Hitler Youth members {{nazi-stub