Franz Walter Stahlecker (10 October 1900 – 23 March 1942) was commander of the SS security forces ('' Sicherheitspolizei'' (SiPo) and 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) for the '' Reichskommissariat Ostland'' in 1941–42. Stahlecker commanded '' Einsatzgruppe A'', the most murderous of the four '' Einsatzgruppen'' ( death squads during

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; ...

) active in German-occupied Eastern Europe. He was fatally wounded in action by

Soviet partisans Soviet partisans were members of resistance movements that fought a guerrilla war against Axis forces during World War II in the Soviet Union, the previously Soviet-occupied territories of interwar Poland in 1941–45 and eastern Finland. The ...

and was replaced by Heinz Jost.

Early life

Stahlecker was born into a wealthy family in Sternenfels,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

on 10 October 1900. He was the second of three sons of the pastor and director of studies Eugen Stahlecker and his wife Anna Zaiser. He served in the military from 21 September to 7 December 1918. From 1919 to 1920 Stahlecker was a member of the Deutschvölkischer Schutz und Trutzbund and the

Organisation Consul Organisation Consul (O.C.) was an ultra-nationalist and anti-Semitic terrorist organization that operated in the Weimar Republic from 1920 to 1922. It was formed by members of the disbanded Freikorps group Marine Brigade Ehrhardt and was respons ...

. He studied at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-W� ...

, where he obtained a doctorate of law in 1927. On 14 October 1932, he married Luise-Gabriele Freiin von Gültlingen; their marriage produced four children.

Early Nazi career

On 1 May 1932, Stahlecker 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 ...

(no. 3,219,015) as well as the SS (no. 73,041). On 29 May 1933, he was appointed deputy director of the Political Office of the Württemberg State Police. In 1934, he was appointed head of 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 orga ...

in the German state of

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Württ ...

and soon assigned to the main office of the ''

'' (SD). On 11 May 1937, he became head of the Gestapo in Breslau. After the incorporation of Austria in 1938, Stahlecker became SD chief of the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...

district (

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

), a post he retained even after being promoted to SS-'' Standartenführer''. In the summer of 1938, Stahlecker became Inspector of the Security Police in Austria, succeeding Gestapo chief Heinrich Müller in that position. As of 20 August 1938, Stahlecker was the formal head of the

Central Agency for Jewish Emigration in Vienna The Central Agency for Jewish Emigration in Vienna () was a ''Sicherheitsdienst'' (SD-Security Service) agency established in August 1938 to accelerate the forced emigration of the Austrian Jews and (starting in October 1939) to organize and carr ...

, though its de facto leader was Adolf Eichmann. Differences of opinion with

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 ...

motivated Stahlecker to move to the '' Auswärtiges Amt'' (Foreign Office), after which he held posts as the commander of the Security Police and SD in the

Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia; cs, Protektorát Čechy a Morava; its territory was called by the Nazis ("the rest of Czechia"). was a partially annexed territory of Nazi Germany established on 16 March 1939 following the German oc ...

under 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 ''Untergruppenf ...

Karl Hermann Frank Karl Hermann Frank (24 January 1898 – 22 May 1946) was a prominent Sudeten German Nazi official in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia prior to and during World War II. Attaining the rank of '' Obergruppenführer'', he was in command of th ...

. In mid-October 1939, Eichmann and Stahlecker decided to begin implementation of the

Nisko Plan The Nisko Plan was an operation to deport Jews to the Lublin District of the General Governorate of occupied Poland in 1939. Organized by Nazi Germany, the plan was cancelled in early 1940. The idea for the expulsion and resettlement of the Je ...

. On 29 April 1940, Stahlecker arrived in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

, where he held various posts, most notably as commander of about 200 ''Einsatzgruppe'' members of the Security Police and SD. He was promoted to 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 ...

''. He was succeeded in this position in autumn 1940 by

Heinrich Fehlis Heinrich Fehlis (1 November 1906 – May 1945) was a German ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) officer during World War II. He commanded the ''Sicherheitspolizei'' (SiPo) and ''Sicherheitsdienst'' (SD) in Norway and Oslo during the German occupation of No ...

Karte - Einsatzgruppen in der Sowjetunion 1941

Map used to illustrate Stahlecker's report to Heydrich on January 31, 1942

Belorussian SSR in 1940 after annexation of eastern Poland

Einsatzgruppe A

On 6 February 1941 Stahlecker was promoted to SS-''

'' and ''Generalmajor der Polizei'' and took over as commanding officer of '' Einsatzgruppe A'', in hopes of furthering his career with the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA),

Nazi Germany 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 ...

security police Security police officers are employed by or for a governmental agency or corporations to provide security service security services to those properties. Security police protect facilities, properties, personnel, users, visitors and enforce cer ...

and intelligence organization. In June 1941, ''Einsatzgruppe A'' followed

Army Group North Army Group North (german: Heeresgruppe Nord) was a German strategic formation, commanding a grouping of field armies during World War II. The German Army Group was subordinated to the ''Oberkommando des Heeres'' (OKH), the German army high comman ...

and operated in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and areas of Russia up to

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. Its mission was to hunt down and murder the

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

Gypsies The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...

Communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

, and other "undesirables". In a 15 October 1941 report, Stahlecker wrote: Bundesarchiv Bild 101III-Duerr-053-07A, Lettland, Verwundeter

By winter 1941, Stahlecker reported to the German government that ''Einsatzgruppe A'' had murdered some 249,420 Jews. He was made Commander of the

Security Police Security police officers are employed by or for a governmental agency or corporations to provide security service security services to those properties. Security police protect facilities, properties, personnel, users, visitors and enforce cer ...

and the SD (''Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD'') of '' Reichskommissariat Ostland'', which included the occupied territory of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus, at the end of November 1941.'' Encyclopedia of the Holocaust'', Israel Gutman, editor-in-chief. New York: Macmillan, 1990. 4 volumes. , p. 1404 Stahlecker was fatally wounded in action on 22 March 1942, by

near Krasnogvardeysk, Russia. Heinz Jost then assumed command of ''Einsatzgruppe A'' and of the Security Police and SD.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stahlecker, Franz Walter 1900 births 1942 deaths People from Enzkreis People from the Kingdom of Württemberg Nazi Party members SS-Brigadeführer Einsatzgruppen personnel Jungfernhof concentration camp German military personnel of World War I Riga Ghetto Lawyers in the Nazi Party Gestapo personnel 20th-century German lawyers University of Tübingen alumni Holocaust perpetrators in Lithuania Holocaust perpetrators in Latvia Holocaust perpetrators in Russia Holocaust perpetrators in Estonia Holocaust perpetrators in Belarus Holocaust perpetrators in Czechoslovakia German military personnel killed in World War II

Early life

Early Nazi career

Einsatzgruppe A

See also

References

Bibliography