Erhard Kroeger
Encyclopedia
Erhard Kroeger or “Kröger” (24 March 1905, Riga
- 28 September 1987) was a Latvian-born Baltic German
SS officer involved in the resettlement of Baltic Germans before World War II
, and later attached to General Vlasov
and the German
sponsored Russia
n Liberation Army of World War II.
, Latvia
, a member of the historic German
minority there. In his youth he played ice hockey
with Wilfried Strik-Strikfeldt
. Kroeger made his name as an SS activist challenging the conservative Baltic German
leadership of Wilhelm von Rüdiger and trying to Nazify the Latvian German minority before 1939.
“In July 1937 the new VOMI chief ordered Eric Mundel, who in 1935 had replaced Rüdiger as the leader of the Volksgemeinschaft [Latvian German minority association], to bring Kröger into the leadership.”
: “Kröger.…without authorization from Berlin, assured his followers that the Fuhrer had not abandoned them, implying that revision remained a possibility.”
SS Oberführer
Kroeger was admonished by his SS and VOMI superiors and visited Berlin
in September 1939 where he was secretly advised of the Nazi plans to trade Latvia
and Estonia
to Stalin. In a post-war document he related :
“The only thing that rushed through my mind was the salvation of an essential and closely linked ethnic group which, it seemed to me, was at this moment already threatened with certain destruction without even knowing it.”
At a meeting with Heinrich Himmler
Kroeger stressed the serious hostility and animosity of the Communists to the Baltic Germans following the Russian civil war
.
“The next day Himmler received him for a second time. He had spoken to Hitler, and he told Kroeger that “the Fuhrer agreed with the evacuation of the Baltic German community as a whole, but stipulated that this should be done with the approval of the Soviet government.” Himmler also reported that the Baltic Germans were to be settled in those parts of Poland annexed to the Reich, including Posen and West Prussia.”
Erhard Kroeger then worked extremely hard to ensure as many as 60,000 Baltic Germans were allowed to leave Estonia
and Latvia
over the autumn of 1939 to be settled in Germany
.
SS-Sturmbannführer Erhard Kröger was engaged in security details between June and November 1941, as part of an Einsatzgruppen
.
and his Russian Liberation Movement
and in summer the head of the SS main leadership office, SS Obergruppenführer
Gottlob Berger, specifically appointed Kroeger as a formal liaison officer between Vlasov
and the SS.
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
- 28 September 1987) was a Latvian-born Baltic German
Baltic German
The Baltic Germans were mostly ethnically German inhabitants of the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, which today form the countries of Estonia and Latvia. The Baltic German population never made up more than 10% of the total. They formed the social, commercial, political and cultural élite in...
SS officer involved in the resettlement of Baltic Germans before World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and later attached to General Vlasov
Vlasov
Vlasov or Vlasoff is a common Russian surname formed from the first name Vlas or from the Slavonic vlas meaning hair. The feminine form of the surname is Vlasova...
and the German
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...
sponsored Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n Liberation Army of World War II.
Early years
Erhard Kroeger grew up in RigaRiga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
, Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
, a member of the historic German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
minority there. In his youth he played ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
with Wilfried Strik-Strikfeldt
Wilfried Strik-Strikfeldt
Wilfried Karl Strik-Strikfeldt was a Baltic German soldier involved with General Vlasov and the German sponsored Russian Liberation Army of World War II.-Early years:...
. Kroeger made his name as an SS activist challenging the conservative Baltic German
Baltic German
The Baltic Germans were mostly ethnically German inhabitants of the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, which today form the countries of Estonia and Latvia. The Baltic German population never made up more than 10% of the total. They formed the social, commercial, political and cultural élite in...
leadership of Wilhelm von Rüdiger and trying to Nazify the Latvian German minority before 1939.
“In July 1937 the new VOMI chief ordered Eric Mundel, who in 1935 had replaced Rüdiger as the leader of the Volksgemeinschaft [Latvian German minority association], to bring Kröger into the leadership.”
Germany
At the height of the Sudetenland crisis and Hitler’s guarantees that he had no further territorial interests in EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
: “Kröger.…without authorization from Berlin, assured his followers that the Fuhrer had not abandoned them, implying that revision remained a possibility.”
SS Oberführer
Oberführer
Oberführer was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party dating back to 1921. Translated as “Senior Leader”, an Oberführer was typically a Nazi Party member in charge of a group of paramilitary units in a particular geographical region...
Kroeger was admonished by his SS and VOMI superiors and visited Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
in September 1939 where he was secretly advised of the Nazi plans to trade Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
and Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
to Stalin. In a post-war document he related :
“The only thing that rushed through my mind was the salvation of an essential and closely linked ethnic group which, it seemed to me, was at this moment already threatened with certain destruction without even knowing it.”
At a meeting with Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
Kroeger stressed the serious hostility and animosity of the Communists to the Baltic Germans following the Russian civil war
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
.
“The next day Himmler received him for a second time. He had spoken to Hitler, and he told Kroeger that “the Fuhrer agreed with the evacuation of the Baltic German community as a whole, but stipulated that this should be done with the approval of the Soviet government.” Himmler also reported that the Baltic Germans were to be settled in those parts of Poland annexed to the Reich, including Posen and West Prussia.”
Erhard Kroeger then worked extremely hard to ensure as many as 60,000 Baltic Germans were allowed to leave Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
and Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
over the autumn of 1939 to be settled in Germany
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...
.
Einsatzkommando
Following the Nazi attack on Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
SS-Sturmbannführer Erhard Kröger was engaged in security details between June and November 1941, as part of an Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen were SS paramilitary death squads that were responsible for mass killings, typically by shooting, of Jews in particular, but also significant numbers of other population groups and political categories...
.
Vlasov
In 1944 the SS took an interest in General Andrey VlasovAndrey Vlasov
Andrey Andreyevich Vlasov or Wlassow was a Russian Red Army general who collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II.-Early career:...
and his Russian Liberation Movement
Russian Liberation Movement
Russian Liberation Movement is a term used to describe Russians during World War II who tried to create an anti-communist armed force which would topple the regime of Joseph Stalin...
and in summer the head of the SS main leadership office, SS Obergruppenführer
Obergruppenführer
Obergruppenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the SA and until 1942 it was the highest SS rank inferior only to Reichsführer-SS...
Gottlob Berger, specifically appointed Kroeger as a formal liaison officer between Vlasov
Vlasov
Vlasov or Vlasoff is a common Russian surname formed from the first name Vlas or from the Slavonic vlas meaning hair. The feminine form of the surname is Vlasova...
and the SS.
Postwar
At war's end dived Kroeger: Until 1962 he lived under assumed names in the Federal Republic of Germany, Switzerland and in Bologna. After the District Court of Wuppertal on 10 January 1962 had an arrest warrant on suspicion Kroeger, during the war have been involved in massacres to be issued, he was on 31 Steinmaur Sünikon-December 1965 in the canton of Zurich arrested. The Land of North Rhine-Westphalia then made a formal extradition request. Kroeger argued that the killings were politically motivated and would therefore form after the Swiss law does not auslieferungswürdigen event. The Swiss Federal Court rejected this argument, however, from and agreed to his extradition. After the extradition to Germany and the issuance of a second arrest warrant on 22 February 1966 was Kroeger, 17 May 1966 until 5 October 1967 held in custody. [2] On 31 Kroeger was sentenced in July 1969 by the District Court of Tuebingen to three years and four months in prison. [3] The method was the subject of the mass killing of Jews in Western Ukraine between June 1941 and February 1942.Literature
- Lumans, Valdis O., “Himmler’s Auxiliaries; The Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle and the German National Minorities of Europe, 1933-1945” - 1993. ISBN 0807820660 / ISBN 978-0807820667
- Debórah DworkDebórah DworkDebórah Dwork, B.A., M.P.H., Ph.D., is an American historian. She is the Rose Professor of Holocaust History and Director of the Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies in the Department of History, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts. Dwork is the daughter of...
and Robert Jan van PeltRobert Jan van PeltRobert Jan van Pelt is an author, architectural historian, professor at the University of Waterloo and University of Toronto in Ontario and a Holocaust scholar. One of the world's leading experts on Auschwitz, he regularly speaks on Holocaust related topics, through which he has come to address...
, “Auschwitz; 1270 to the Present” - 1996. ISBN 0300067550 ISBN 978-0300067552 - Erhard Kroeger, Dokument 314, in Dietrich A. Loeber, ed. Diktierte Option: Die Umsiedlung der Deutsch-Balten und Lettland (Neumünster : Karl Wachholtz, 1972.
- Strik-Strikfeldt, W. Against Stalin and Hitler: Memoir of the Russian Liberation Movement, 1941-1945. — NY: Day, 1970. ISBN 0381981851 ISBN 978-0381981853