Gustav Adolf Nosske (29 December 1902 – 9 August 1986) was a German lawyer and SS-''

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 ...

''. In 1941–42, he commanded ''Einsatzkommando 12'' within

Einsatzgruppe D (, ; also ' task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the im ...

, under the command of

Otto Ohlendorf Otto Ohlendorf (; 4 February 1907 – 7 June 1951) was a German SS functionary and Holocaust perpetrator during the Nazi era. An economist by education, he was head of the (SD) Inland, responsible for intelligence and security within Germ ...

. Tried in the Einsatzgruppen Trial in 1948, Nosske was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was released early in December 1951.

Career

Gustav Aldolf Nosske was born on 29 December in Halle. After studying law, he became a lawyer in Halle and

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

. Nosske 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 ...

and the SS in 1933. He became the 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 organi ...

in 1935 and then in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

from September 1936 to June 1941. As a SS-''

'' in rank, he was appointed chief of ''Einsatzkommando 12'' before the invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. In the areas of

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; uk, Донецьк, translit=Donets'k ; russian: Донецк ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin and Stalino (see also: Names of European cities in different languages (C–D), cities' alternat ...

and

Novocherkassk Novocherkassk (russian: Новочерка́сск, lit. ''New Cherkassk'') is a city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located near the confluence of the Tuzlov and Aksay Rivers, the latter a distributary of the Don River. Novocherkassk is best known as t ...

, his unit committed many atrocities against the civilian population. In mid-August 1941

ordered Nosske to transport 11,000 Jews from

Mohyliv-Podilskyi Mohyliv-Podilskyi (, , , ) is a city in the Mohyliv-Podilskyi Raion of the Vinnytsia Oblast, Ukraine. Administratively, Mohyliv-Podilskyi is incorporated as a town of regional significance. It also serves as the administrative center of Mohyliv- ...

to Yampil in order to make them cross the

Dniester The Dniester, ; rus, Дне́стр, links=1, Dnéstr, ˈdⁿʲestr; ro, Nistru; grc, Τύρᾱς, Tyrās, ; la, Tyrās, la, Danaster, label=none, ) ( ,) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and th ...

river and place them in the Romanian zone. During this walk, hundreds of Jews were murdered. Between 16 and 28 February 1942, ''Einsatzkommando 12'' killed 721 Jews, 271 communists, 74 partisans and 421 Roma. In April 1942 Nosske joined the

Reich Security Main Office The Reich Security Main Office (german: Reichssicherheitshauptamt or RSHA) was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as ''Chef der Deutschen Polizei'' (Chief of German Police) and ''Reichsführer-SS'', the head of the Nazi ...

(RSHA) in

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 ...

concerning the Occupied Eastern Territories. In 1943, he was appointed head of the "Foreigners and Enemies of the State" division of the

. He worked as a liaison officer between the

Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories The Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories (german: Reichsministerium für die besetzten Ostgebiete (RMfdbO) or ''Ostministerium'', ) was created by Adolf Hitler on 17 July 1941 and headed by the Nazi theoretical expert, the Baltic ...

and the RSHA. From August 1943 to September 1944 he was head of the state police in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

. During the later Einsatzgruppen Trial held in 1948, Nosske said that in 1944, he had been ordered to collect all German Jews of Düsseldorf married to non-Jews for extermination, but that he had refused to carry this out. The order was ultimately not enforced. The court accepted this as mitigation, but pointed out that this meant Nosske did not have to kill anyone.

Trial and conviction

Nosske was arrested by the Allies and brought to trial at the Einsatzgruppen Trial in 1948 at

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

. He was the only accused who did not seek clemency from General

Lucius D. Clay General Lucius Dubignon Clay (April 23, 1898 – April 16, 1978) was a senior officer of the United States Army who was known for his administration of occupied Germany after World War II. He served as the deputy to General of the Army Dwight D ...

in the American sector of occupation. On 10 April 1948, Nosske was sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

for war crimes. He was released early, on 15 December 1951. Details of his later life are largely unknown, other than a court appearance on 26 March 1965, where he testified as a witness at the

Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials The Frankfurt Auschwitz trials, known in German as ''der Auschwitz-Prozess'', or ''der zweite Auschwitz-Prozess,'' (the "second Auschwitz trial") was a series of trials running from 20 December 1963 to 19 August 1965, charging 22 defendants unde ...

, with Düsseldorf as declared place of residence and legal advisor as profession. He died in Düsseldorf on 9 August 1986.Death register of the Standesamt Düsseldorf, Nr. 5148/1986.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nosske, Gustav Adolf 1902 births 1990 deaths People from Halle (Saale) Lawyers in the Nazi Party SS-Obersturmbannführer Gestapo personnel Einsatzgruppen personnel Holocaust perpetrators in Russia Holocaust perpetrators in Ukraine People convicted by the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by the United States military Military personnel from Düsseldorf Reich Security Main Office personnel 20th-century German lawyers Jurists from North Rhine-Westphalia