Harald Turner (8 October 1891 – 9 March 1947) was an SS commander and ''Staatsrat'' (privy councillor) in the German military administration of the

Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia The Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia (german: Gebiet des Militärbefehlshabers in Serbien; sr, Подручје Војног заповедника у Србији, Područje vojnog zapovednika u Srbiji) was the area of the Kin ...

in the partitioned

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 unt ...

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 ...

."...a 'Delousing Van'...": Euphemism for Murder
Turner Wolfe, www.holocaust-history.org. In a 1942 letter to

Karl Wolff Karl Friedrich Otto Wolff (13 May 1900 – 17 July 1984) was a German SS functionary who served as Chief of Personal Staff Reichsführer-SS (Heinrich Himmler) and an SS liaison to Adolf Hitler during World War II. He ended the war as the Supre ...

, chief of the personal staff of ''

Reichsführer-SS (, ) was a special title and rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945 for the commander of the (SS). ''Reichsführer-SS'' was a title from 1925 to 1933, and from 1934 to 1945 it was the highest rank of the SS. The longest-servi ...

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...

, Turner indicated the murderous nature of ''

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 d ...

'' (SS) activities in the occupied territory. In the letter he indirectly indicated that he intended to use vehicles most likely equipped with gas to murder Jews. His quotation marks around the vehicle's name indicate that the vehicle was meant for killing the Jews he mentioned. This follows a similar practice by the Nazis to publicly call gas chambers in concentration camps, "shower rooms". In 1946, Turner was extradited to Yugoslavia where he was tried and convicted. He was executed in 1947. (2006)
''Serbien und Montenegro: Raum und Bevölkerung, Geschichte, Sprache und Literatur, Kultur, Politik, Gesellschaft, Wirtschaft, Recht''
LIT Verlag,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Harald 1891 births 1947 deaths Holocaust perpetrators in Yugoslavia Nazi Party officials SS-Gruppenführer Executed people from Hesse Serbia under German occupation Nazis executed by Yugoslavia by hanging People from Lahn-Dill-Kreis Jewish Serbian history 20th-century Freikorps personnel German people convicted of war crimes Executed mass murderers

See also

References