Karl Jäger (; 20 September 1888 – 22 June 1959) was a German mid-ranking official in the ''
SS'' of
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
and ''
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 intellect ...
'' leader who perpetrated acts of
genocide
Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...
during
the Holocaust
The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
.
Early life and career
Jäger was born in
Schaffhausen
Schaffhausen (; ; ; ; ), historically known in English as Shaffhouse, is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Schaffh ...
,
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
, and moved with his father to Germany when he was 3 years of age. Jäger enlisted in the
German Imperial Army
The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the leadership of Kingdom o ...
at the start of
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, where he received the
Iron Cross
The Iron Cross (, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire (1871–1918), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). The design, a black cross pattée with a white or silver outline, was derived from the in ...
(1st Class) and other awards. After the war, Jäger, an
orchestrion
Orchestrion is a generic name for a machine that plays music and is designed to sound like an orchestra or band. Orchestrions may be operated by means of a large pinned cylinder or by a music roll and less commonly book music. The sound is ...
maker by profession, obtained a managerial position with the Weber orchestrion factory in
Waldkirch
Waldkirch () is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located 15 kilometers northeast of Freiburg im Breisgau. While the English translation of its name is ''Forest Church'', it is known as the "town of mechanical organs", where fairground org ...
. He joined the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...
in 1923 (party n°. 30988) and founded the local party chapter, as a result of which he became known as "Waldkirch's Hitler" among the ''
Alte Kämpfer'' (Old Fighters), as those who had joined before the ''Reichstag'' election of September 1930 called themselves.
The Weber company went bankrupt in 1931,
and he was unemployed for several years. According to his own account, he spurned unemployment benefits from the government of the
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...
, which he despised, so by 1934 he had used up all his savings and his wife Emma separated from him, though their divorce was not formalized until 1940.
In July 1933, deputy NSDAP Führer
Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Walter Richard Hess (Heß in German; 26 April 1894 – 17 August 1987) was a German politician, Nuremberg trials, convicted war criminal and a leading member of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, Germany. Appointed Deputy Führer ( ...
had officially decreed that well paid employment was to be found for ''Alte Kämpfer'' on a preferential basis.
Jäger joined the
SS in 1932 (serial n°. 62823), and soon had built a 100-strong troop in his small hometown of Waldkirch. His rise within the SS began in 1935,
when he was assigned to
Ludwigsburg
Ludwigsburg (; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Ludisburg'') is a Cities of Germany, city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about north of Stuttgart city centre, near the river Neckar. It is the largest and primary city of the Ludwigsburg (district), Lu ...
and then to
Ravensburg
Ravensburg ( or ; Swabian: ''Raveschburg'') is a city in Upper Swabia in Southern Germany, capital of the district of Ravensburg, Baden-Württemberg.
Ravensburg was first mentioned in 1088. In the Middle Ages, it was an Imperial Free City and ...
. After attracting the attention of
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful p ...
he was called to the ''
Sicherheitsdienst
' (, "Security Service"), full title ' ("Security Service of the ''Reichsführer-SS''"), or SD, was the intelligence agency of the Schutzstaffel, SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Established in 1931, the SD was the first Nazi intelligence ...
(SD)'' headquarters in Berlin in 1938 where he successfully completed a course of studies, and was promoted to head of the local ''SD'' office in
Münster
Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...
in 1939. During the
invasion of the Netherlands on 10 May 1940, Jäger was named commander of ''
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 intellect ...
3'', a unit of ''
Einsatzgruppe
(, ; 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 impl ...
A''. Additionally, Jäger was promoted to the rank of ''
Standartenführer
__NOTOC__
''Standartenführer'' (short: ''Staf'', , ) was a Nazi Party (NSDAP) paramilitary rank that was used in several NSDAP organizations, such as the SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK. First founded as a title in 1925, in 1928 it became one of ...
'', the equivalent of a colonel in the German army, the same year.
["Der Waldkircher Hitler"]
By Wolfram Wette
Wolfram Wette (born 11 November 1940) is a German military historian and peace researcher. He is an author or editor of over 40 books on the history of Nazi Germany, including the seminal '' Germany and the Second World War'' series from the G ...
in Spiegel Online
' () is a German news website. It was established in 1994 as ''Spiegel Online'' as a content mirror of the magazine ''Der Spiegel''. In 1995, the site began producing original stories and it introduced ''Spiegel Online International'' for artic ...
, 10 March 2008, retrieved 10 November 2018.
Mass murders in eastern Europe
Jäger was instrumental in the brutal and systematic destruction of the
Jewish community
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...
of
Lithuania
Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...
. From July 1941 until September 1943 Jäger served as commander of the ''SD
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 intellect ...
3a'', a sub-unit of ''Einsatzgruppe A'' under
Franz Walter Stahlecker, in
Kaunas
Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...
. Under Jäger's command, the ''Einsatzkommando'', with the help of Lithuanians, shot Jewish men, women and children indiscriminately. It perpetrated the
Ninth Fort massacres of November 1941.
During this time, reports detailing calculated acts of
mass murder
Mass murder is the violent crime of murder, killing a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time and in close geographic proximity. A mass murder typically occurs in a single location where one or more ...
were routinely submitted to his superiors. Some of these reports survived the war and are collectively referred to as the "
Jäger Report" from 2 July 1941 to 25 November 1941
pdated 9 February 1942 Reassigned back to Germany near the end of 1943 after a nervous breakdown occasioned by the mass murders he had participated in, Jäger was appointed commander of the ''SD'' in
Reichenberg in the
Sudetenland
The Sudetenland ( , ; Czech and ) is a German name for the northern, southern, and western areas of former Czechoslovakia which were inhabited primarily by Sudeten Germans. These German speakers had predominated in the border districts of Bohe ...
, and precluded from further promotions due to what the ''SS'' saw as a "lack of strength of nerve."
The Jäger Report
The actions by ''Einsatzkommando 3'', including the
Rollkommando Hamann
''Rollkommando'' Hamann () was a small mobile unit that committed mass murders of Lithuanian Jews in the countryside in July–October 1941, with an estimated death toll of at least 60,000 Jews. The unit was also responsible for many murders in L ...
killing squad were tallied by Jäger himself. The report keeps an almost daily running total of the liquidations of 137,346 people. The "
Jäger Report" provides a detailed account of the murderous rampage of this "special squad" in Nazi-occupied Lithuania.
Escape, capture and suicide
Jäger was able to assimilate back into society as a farm hand until his report was discovered in March 1959. Arrested and charged with his crimes, Jäger committed suicide by hanging himself in
Hohenasperg
Hohenasperg, located in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg near Stuttgart, Germany, of which it is administratively part, is an ancient fortress and prison overlooking the town of Asperg.
It was an important Celtic oppidum, and a number of ...
prison using "the wire of the cell's radio carphones," while he was awaiting trial on 22 May 1959.
["Ex-Nazi Hangs Himself in Cell" The New York Times, page 21, September 16, 1959.][judicial records entry]
retrieved 1 October 2023.
See also
*
List of people who died by suicide by hanging
Notes and references
*
Klee, Ernst, Dressen, Willi, and Riess, Volker, ''"The Good Old Days" – The Holocaust as Seen by its Perpetrators and Bystanders'', (translation by Deborah Burnstone) MacMillan, New York, 1991 , originally published as
Klee, Ernst, Dreßen, Willi, and Rieß, Volker (Hrsg.): ''Schöne Zeiten. Judenmord aus der Sicht der Täter und Gaffer.'' S. Fischer, Frankfurt / Main 1988.
*
Krausnick, Helmut, and Wilhelm, Hans-Heinrich: ''Die Truppe des Weltanschauungskrieges. Die Einsatzgruppen der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD 1938–1942.'' Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1981,
* Seljak, Anton: ''Monolithisches Leitbild und soziale Heterogenität einer Elite. Untersuchungen zum Ordensgedanken der SS und zur sozialen Stratifikation des SS-Führerkorps.'' Including a socio-biographical excursus on Karl Jäger. Universität Basel, 1992 (vgl
"Alexandria": Online-Katalog (OPAC) des Bibliotheksverbunds der Schweizerischen Bundesverwaltung
* Stang, Knut: ''Kollaboration und Massenmord. Die litauische Hilfspolizei, das Rollkommando Hamann und die Ermordung der litauischen Juden.'' Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main
.a.1996,
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaeger, Karl
1888 births
1959 suicides
1959 deaths
People from Schaffhausen
Nazis who died by suicide in prison custody
Kaunas in World War II
Holocaust perpetrators in Lithuania
SS-Standartenführer
Swiss emigrants to Germany
Holocaust perpetrators in Latvia
Holocaust perpetrators in Estonia
Holocaust perpetrators in Belarus
Einsatzgruppen personnel
Nazis who died by suicide in Germany
Suicides by hanging in Germany
German Army personnel of World War I
Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 1st class
Prisoners who died in German detention
Suicides in West Germany