Adam Grünewald
Encyclopedia
Adam Grünewald was a German
Schutzstaffel
officer and Nazi concentration camp commandant.
The son of a carpenter who died when he was 8, Grünewald apprenticed as a baker but found work difficult to come by when the First World War ended and the demobilised soldiers entered the labour market Attracted to the nationalist propaganda
prevalent at the time Grünewald joined the Freikorps
before signing on with the army for a 12 year stint. Leaving the army as a staff sergeant in April 1931 Grünewald again struggled to find employment and so joined the Sturmabteilung
. He rose to the rank of Obersturmbannführer
in the SA before switching to the SS shortly after the Night of the Long Knives
.
In 1943 he succeeded Karl Chmielewski
as commandant of Herzogenbusch concentration camp however like his predecessor he too was tried and found guilty of causing the deaths of prisoners by excess cruelty, in his case for the Bunker Tragedy
. He was sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment but was then pardoned. He finished the war with the 3rd SS Division Totenkopf
and died in battle.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Schutzstaffel
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
officer and Nazi concentration camp commandant.
The son of a carpenter who died when he was 8, Grünewald apprenticed as a baker but found work difficult to come by when the First World War ended and the demobilised soldiers entered the labour market Attracted to the nationalist propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
prevalent at the time Grünewald joined the Freikorps
Freikorps
Freikorps are German volunteer military or paramilitary units. The term was originally applied to voluntary armies formed in German lands from the middle of the 18th century onwards. Between World War I and World War II the term was also used for the paramilitary organizations that arose during...
before signing on with the army for a 12 year stint. Leaving the army as a staff sergeant in April 1931 Grünewald again struggled to find employment and so joined the Sturmabteilung
Sturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...
. He rose to the rank of Obersturmbannführer
Obersturmbannführer
Obersturmbannführer was a paramilitary Nazi Party rank used by both the SA and the SS. It was created in May 1933 to fill the need for an additional field grade officer rank above Sturmbannführer as the SA expanded. It became an SS rank at the same time...
in the SA before switching to the SS shortly after the Night of the Long Knives
Night of the Long Knives
The Night of the Long Knives , sometimes called "Operation Hummingbird " or in Germany the "Röhm-Putsch," was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany between June 30 and July 2, 1934, when the Nazi regime carried out a series of political murders...
.
In 1943 he succeeded Karl Chmielewski
Karl Chmielewski
Karl Chmielewski was a German Schutzstaffel officer and concentration camp commandant. Such was his cruelty that he was dubbed Teufel von Gusen or the Devil of Gusen....
as commandant of Herzogenbusch concentration camp however like his predecessor he too was tried and found guilty of causing the deaths of prisoners by excess cruelty, in his case for the Bunker Tragedy
Bunker Tragedy
The incident known as the Bunker Tragedy or the Bunker Drama was an atrocity committed by the staff at the Herzogenbusch concentration camp in the Netherlands, on January 1944 during World War II.-Events:...
. He was sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment but was then pardoned. He finished the war with the 3rd SS Division Totenkopf
3rd SS Division Totenkopf
The SS Division Totenkopf , also known as 3. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Totenkopf and 3. SS-Panzer-Division Totenkopf, was one of the 38 divisions fielded by the Waffen-SS during World War II. Prior to achieving division status, the formation was known as Kampfgruppe Eicke...
and died in battle.