Mass suicides in 1945 Nazi Germany
Encyclopedia
Germany was stricken by a series of unprecedented waves of suicides during the final days of the Nazi regime. The reasons for these waves of suicides were numerous and include the effects of Nazi propaganda, the example of the suicide of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

, victims' attachment to the ideals of the Nazi party, and a reaction to the loss of the war and, consequently, the anticipated Allied occupation of Nazi Germany.

Life Magazine wrote about the suicides: "In the last days of the war the overwhelming realization of utter defeat was too much for many Germans. Stripped of the bayonets and bombast which had given them power, they could not face a reckoning with either their conquerors or their consciences. These found the quickest and surest escape in what Germans call selbstmord, self-murder." The Catholic psychiatrist Erich Menninger-Lerchenthal noted the existence of "organised mass suicide on a large scale which had previously not occurred in the history of Europe . . . there are suicides which do not have anything to do with mental illness or some moral and intellectual deviance, but predominantly with the continuity of a heavy political defeat and the fear of being held responsible".

Three phases of the suicide wave

The suicides happened in three waves:
  • The first phase began in early January of 1945, when Soviet forces drove Germany back to its territories in East Prussia
    East Prussia
    East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...

     and Silesia
    Silesia
    Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...

    ;

  • The second phase occurred in April and May when many Nazi officials committed suicide;

  • The final phase occurred after the takeover of Germany by the Allies.


While each suicide had its own unique motives, the scale of the suicide waves suggests that fear and anxiety were common motivations.

Nazi propaganda and suicides

The willingness to commit suicide before accepting defeat was a key Nazi idea during the Second World War. Adolf Hitler declared his preference of suicide over defeat in a speech he gave in the Reichstag during the invasion of Poland in 1939, saying, "I now wish to be nothing other than the first soldier of the German Reich. Therefore I have put on that tunic which has always been the most holy and dear to me. I shall not take it off again until after victory is ours, or I shall not live to see the day!"

When it became apparent that the Nazis were about to lose the war, Germany's leaders (including Goebbels and Hitler) spoke publicly in favour of suicide as an option. Hitler declared on 30 August 1944 during a military briefing, "It’s only (the fraction) of a second. Then one is redeemed of everything and finds tranquility and eternal peace."
In contrast to Imperial Japan, the Nazis refused to surrender and continued to fight on, led by Hitler's vision of only two possible outcomes: victory or destruction. Many supporters of Nazi ideology and party shared the apocalyptic message of National Socialism and looked forward to ending their lives. Years of exposure to Nazi propaganda also led many Germans to assume that suicide was the only way out.

The glorification of violent death is believed to have originated with the post-World War I Nazi struggle for power and the early deaths of Nazi activists such as Horst Wessel
Horst Wessel
Horst Ludwig Wessel was a German Nazi activist who was made a posthumous hero of the Nazi movement following his violent death in 1930...

. In the same way, the suicides of leading Nazis were meant to be seen as heroic sacrifices. In a radio speech on 28 February 1945 (circulated in most newspapers in the Reich on 1 March), Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...

 declared on public radio that if Germany were to be defeated he would "cheerfully throw away his life" as Cato the Younger
Cato the Younger
Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis , commonly known as Cato the Younger to distinguish him from his great-grandfather , was a politician and statesman in the late Roman Republic, and a follower of the Stoic philosophy...

 did. On 28 March of the same year the Nazi paper Völkischer Beobachter
Völkischer Beobachter
The Völkischer Beobachter was the newspaper of the National Socialist German Workers' Party from 1920. It first appeared weekly, then daily from February 8, 1923...

published an article titled "Risk of One's Life" by Wilhelm Pleyer which called on Germans to fight to the death.

The suicidal atmosphere was enhanced by the Nazis' report of numerous Soviet mass graves and other atrocities committed by the NKVD and Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

 towards the end of the war. A Nazi leaflet distributed in February 1945 in Czech territories warned German readers about the "Bolshevik murderer-pack" whose victory would lead to "incredible hatred, looting, hunger, shots in the back of the neck, deportation and extermination" and appealed to German men to "save German women and girls from defilement and slaughter by the Bolshevik bloodhounds". These fears, and the portrayal of "Soviet Bolsheviks" as sub-human monsters, led to a number of mass suicides in eastern Germany. One female clerk in the city of Schönlanke within Pomerania said, "Out of fear of these animals from the east, many Schönlankers ended their lives (around 500 of them!) Whole families were wiped out in this way." The fear of Soviet occupation was so great that even people living far from Soviet lines, including a pensioner in Hamburg, killed themselves in fear of what Soviet soldiers would do to them. The behaviour of Soviet troops also played a role, as many Germans committed suicide to avoid rape or out of shame at having been raped. In addition, many suicides are believed to have occurred due to depression caused or exacerbated by living in a war zone among ruins.

Methods

A common method of suicide was cyanide
Cyanide
A cyanide is a chemical compound that contains the cyano group, -C≡N, which consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Cyanides most commonly refer to salts of the anion CN−. Most cyanides are highly toxic....

 poisoning. Many Germans hoarded cyanide capsules in anticipation of the Allied occupation, and there are stories about Hitler giving out cyanide to members of his staff. It was also claimed by some that cyanide pills were distributed by the Hitler Youth during the last concert of the Berlin Philharmonic on 12 April 1945. Suicide levels reached their maximum in Berlin in April of 1945 when 3,881 people killed themselves during the Battle of Berlin
Battle of Berlin
The Battle of Berlin, designated the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, was the final major offensive of the European Theatre of World War II....

.

In March 1945, the British printed a German-language black propaganda
Black propaganda
Black propaganda is false information and material that purports to be from a source on one side of a conflict, but is actually from the opposing side. It is typically used to vilify, embarrass or misrepresent the enemy...

 postcard, supposedly issued by the Nazis, which encouraged suicide by hanging, giving detailed instructions as to how this can be achieved with minimum pain. It is not clear why this postcard was designed, or whether anybody actually followed its instructions.

Locations

Just over 7,000 suicides were reported in Berlin during the year 1945, but it is thought that many suicides went unreported due to the chaos of the post-war period. Other locations where suicides happened include:
  • Neubrandenburg
    Neubrandenburg
    Neubrandenburg is a city in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is located in the southeastern part of the state, on the shore of a lake called the Tollensesee ....

  • Burg Stargard
    Burg Stargard
    Burg Stargard is a municipality in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated southeast of Neubrandenburg.Burg Stargard is a small town in Mecklenburg Strelitz...

  • Neustrelitz
    Neustrelitz
    Neustrelitz is a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the shore of the Zierker See in the Mecklenburg Lake District. From 1738 until 1918 it was the capital of the duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz...

  • Demmin, see Mass suicide in Demmin
    Mass suicide in Demmin
    On May 1, 1945, hundreds of people committed mass suicide in the town of Demmin, in the Province of Pomerania , Germany. The suicides occurred during a mass panic that was provoked by atrocities committed by soldiers of the Soviet Red Army, who had sacked the town the day before...

  • Penzlin
    Penzlin
    Penzlin is a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It is situated 13 km southwest of Neubrandenburg, and 27 km east of Waren....

  • Tessin
    Tessin, Germany
    Tessin is a town in the Rostock district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It is situated on the river Recknitz, 22 km east of Rostock.-References:...

  • Vietzen and Rechlin
    Rechlin
    Rechlin is a municipality in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. The town's airport has a long history and was the Luftwaffe's main testing ground for new aircraft designs during the Third Reich....

     Müritz
    Müritz
    Müritz is a former Kreis in the southern part of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is named after the lake Müritz. Neighboring districts were Demmin, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the district-free city Neubrandenburg, the district Ostprignitz-Ruppin in Brandenburg, Parchim and Güstrow...

  • Teterow
    Teterow
    Teterow is a town of Germany, in the district of Rostock, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Population: 9,535 .The Teterower See is to the north-east of the town.-History:The Stadtkirche St. Peter und Paul Teterow is a town of Germany, in the district of Rostock, in Mecklenburg-Western...

    , Güstrow
    Güstrow
    Güstrow is a town in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany the capital of the district of Güstrow. It has a population of 30,500 and is the seventh largest town in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Since 2006 Güstrow has the official suffix Barlachstadt.-Geography:The town of Güstrow is located...

    , Rostock
    Rostock
    Rostock -Early history:In the 11th century Polabian Slavs founded a settlement at the Warnow river called Roztoc ; the name Rostock is derived from that designation. The Danish king Valdemar I set the town aflame in 1161.Afterwards the place was settled by German traders...

    , Bad Doberan
    Bad Doberan
    Bad Doberan is a town in the district of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It was the capital of the former district of Bad Doberan. As of 2010 its population was 11,325.-Geography:...

  • Malchin
    Malchin
    Malchin is a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district , in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany.It offers some notable landmarks, such as two Brick Gothic town gates, a medieval defense tower, the Gothic town church of St. Johannis and the Neo Baroque town hall.-External links:*...

  • Schönlanke
  • Stolp
  • Lauenburg
  • Grünberg
    Zielona Góra
    Zielona Góra is a city in Lubusz Voivodeship, in western Poland, with 117,557 inhabitants within the city limits and 294,000 inhabitants within the metropolitan area, including three neighbouring counties ....



There were also a large number of family suicides or murder-suicides; both mothers and fathers are reported as having killed their children.

Notable suicides

Many prominent Nazis, Nazi followers, and members of the armed forces committed suicide during the last days of the war. Others killed themselves after being captured. The list includes eight out of 41 NSDAP regional leaders who held office between 1926 and 1945, seven out of 47 higher SS and police leaders, 53 out of 554 Army generals, 14 out of 98 Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....

 generals, 11 out of 53 admirals in the Kriegsmarine, and an unknown number of junior officials.

Other notable examples include:
  • Alwin-Broder Albrecht
    Alwin-Broder Albrecht
    Alwin-Broder Albrecht was a German naval officer who was one of Adolf Hitler's adjutants during World War II.-Biography:...

  • Herbert Backe
    Herbert Backe
    Herbert Backe was a German Nazi politician and Obergruppenführer in the SS.Backe was born in Batumi, Georgia, the son of a trader. He studied at the Tbilisi Gymnasium from 1905 and was interned on the outbreak of World War I as an enemy alien...

  • Erich Bärenfänger
    Erich Bärenfänger
    Erich Bärenfänger was an officer in the German Army during World War II. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords...

  • Ernst Bergmann
  • Kurt Bolender
    Kurt Bolender
    Heinz Kurt Bolender was an SS-Oberscharführer during the Second World War. In 1942 Bolender operated the gas chambers at Sobibor extermination camp, thereby directly perpetrating acts of genocide against Jews and Gypsies during the Nazi operation known as Operation Reinhard.After the war,...

  • Martin Bormann
    Martin Bormann
    Martin Ludwig Bormann was a prominent Nazi official. He became head of the Party Chancellery and private secretary to Adolf Hitler...

  • Philipp Bouhler
    Philipp Bouhler
    Philipp Bouhler was a senior Nazi Party official who was both a Reichsleiter and Chief of the Chancellery of the Führer of the NSDAP...

  • Fritz Bracht
    Fritz Bracht
    Fritz Bracht was Nazi Gauleiter of Upper Silesia. He was directly involved in the mass murder of Jews and Poles....

  • Walter Buch
    Walter Buch
    Walter Buch was a German jurist and SS-Obergruppenführer war criminal, as well as being Martin Bormann's father in law.-Life:...

  • Erwin Bumke
    Erwin Bumke
    Erwin Konrad Eduard Bumke was the last president of the Reichsgericht, Germany's old Imperial Court....

  • Wilhelm Burgdorf
    Wilhelm Burgdorf
    Wilhelm Burgdorf was a German general. Born in Fürstenwalde, Burgdorf served as a commander and staff officer in the German Army during World War II.- Military career :...

  • Leonardo Conti
    Leonardo Conti
    Leonardo Conti was the Reich Health Leader in Nazi Germany. He was born to a Swiss Italian father and mother in Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland; his mother later became the Reich Midwifery Leader in Nazi Germany....

  • Theodor Dannecker
    Theodor Dannecker
    Theodor Dannecker was an SS Hauptsturmführer and one of Adolf Eichmann's associates....

  • Irmfried Eberl
    Irmfried Eberl
    SS-Obersturmführer Irmfried Eberl was an Austrian Nazi war criminal who helped to establish, and was the first commandant of, the Treblinka extermination camp, where he worked from until his dismissal on . As a psychiatrist, Eberl was the only physician to command an extermination camp. In...

  • Joachim Albrecht Eggeling
    Joachim Albrecht Eggeling
    Joachim Albrecht Leo Eggeling was the Nazi Gauleiter of Saxony and Anhalt and the High President of the Province of Halle-Merseburg.Eggeling was born in Blankenburg am Harz, Province of Saxony...

  • Heinrich Fehlis
    Heinrich Fehlis
    Heinrich Fehlis was an SS officer during World War II, most noted for his command of the Sicherheitspolizei and Sicherheitsdienst in Norway during the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany....

  • Hans-Georg von Friedeburg
    Hans-Georg von Friedeburg
    Hans-Georg von Friedeburg was the deputy commander of the U-Boat Forces of Nazi Germany and the last Commanding Admiral of the Kriegsmarine....

  • Robert van Genechten
    Robert van Genechten
    Robert van Genechten was a Belgian-born Dutch politician and writer who was a leading collaborator during the German occupation of the Netherlands.-Early years:...

  • Paul Giesler
    Paul Giesler
    Paul Giesler was a member of the NSDAP, from 1941 NSDAP Gauleiter of Westphalia-South and as of 1942 also acting Gauleiter of the Gau Munich-Upper Bavaria...

  • Edmund Glaise-Horstenau
    Edmund Glaise-Horstenau
    Edmund Glaise-Horstenau was an Austrian officer in the Bundesheer, last Vice-Chancellor of Austria before the 1938 Anschluss, and general in the German Wehrmacht during the Second World War.- Life :Born in Braunau am Inn the son of an officer, Glaise-Horstenau attended the Theresian Military...

  • Odilo Globocnik
    Odilo Globocnik
    Odilo Lotario Globocnik was a prominent Austrian Nazi and later an SS leader. He was an acquaintance of Adolf Eichmann, who played a major role in the extermination of Jews and others during the Holocaust...

  • Richard Glücks
    Richard Glücks
    Richard Glücks was a high-ranking Nazi official. He attained the rank of a SS-Gruppenführer and a Generalleutnant of the Waffen-SS and from 1939 until the end of World War II was the head of Amt D: Konzentrationslagerwesen of the WVHA; the highest-ranking Concentration Camps Inspector in Nazi...

  • Joseph Goebbels
    Joseph Goebbels
    Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...

  • Magda Goebbels
    Magda Goebbels
    Johanna Maria Magdalena "Magda" Goebbels was the wife of Nazi Germany's Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels...

  • Hermann Göring
    Hermann Göring
    Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...

  • Curt von Gottberg
    Curt von Gottberg
    Curt von Gottberg was a Nazi official and military commander. Beginning in October 1942, within a few years he had personally combined the highest civil and military powers in occupied Belarus: from March 1943 as representative of the HSSPF for central Russia, and from October 1943 as the acting...

  • Ernst-Robert Grawitz
    Ernst-Robert Grawitz
    Ernst-Robert Grawitz was a German physician in Nazi Germany during World War II.- Early life :Grawitz was born in Charlottenburg, in the western part of Berlin, Germany.- Career :...

  • Emil Haussmann
    Emil Haussmann
    Emil Haussmann served as an SS Sturmbannführer ; an officer in Einsatzkommando 12 of Einsatzgruppe D.One of 24 officers indicted during the Einsatzgruppen Trial, Haussmann committed suicide before the arraignment on July 31, 1947 - the only defendant who thus escaped being sentenced....

  • Rudolf Hess
    Rudolf Hess
    Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was a prominent Nazi politician who was Adolf Hitler's deputy in the Nazi Party during the 1930s and early 1940s...

  • Walther Hewel
    Walther Hewel
    Walther Hewel was a German diplomat before and during World War II, an early and active member of the Nazi Party, and one of German dictator Adolf Hitler's few personal friends.-Early life:...

  • 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...

  • Adolf Hitler
    Adolf Hitler
    Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

  • Eva Hitler
  • Hermann Höfle
    Hermann Höfle
    Hermann Julius "Hans" Höfle was an Austrian-born SS-Sturmbannführer . He was deputy to Odilo Globocnik in the Aktion Reinhard program, serving as his main deportation and extermination expert...

  • Karl Jäger
    Karl Jäger
    Karl Jäger was a Swiss-born SS-Standartenführer and Einsatzkommando leader who perpetrated acts of genocide.-Early life and career:...

  • Hans Jeschonnek
    Hans Jeschonnek
    Hans Jeschonnek was a German Generaloberst and a Chief of the General Staff of Nazi Germany′s Luftwaffe during World War II. He committed suicide in August 1943.-Biography:...

  • Hugo Jury
    Hugo Jury
    Hugo Jury was an Austrian Nazi....

  • Manfred Freiherr von Killinger
    Manfred Freiherr von Killinger
    Manfred Freiherr von Killinger was a German naval officer, Freikorps leader, military writer and Nazi politician. A veteran of World War I and member of the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt during the German Revolution, he took part in the violent intervention against the Bavarian Soviet Republic...

  • Matthias Kleinheisterkamp
    Matthias Kleinheisterkamp
    Matthias Kleinheisterkamp was an SS Obergruppenführer and a Heer officer who served in both World War I and World War II. During World War II, Kleinheisterkamp commanded the 3. SS-Division Totenkopf, 6. SS-Gebirgs-Division Nord, 2. SS-Division Das Reich, III. SS-Panzerkorps, VII. SS-Panzerkops,...

  • Ilse Koch
    Ilse Koch
    Ilse Koch, née Köhler , was the wife of Karl-Otto Koch, commandant of the Nazi concentration camps Buchenwald from 1937 to 1941, and Majdanek from 1941 to 1943...

  • Max Kögel
    Max Kögel
    Otto Max Koegel was a Nazi officer who served as a commander at Lichtenburg, Ravensbrück, Majdanek and Flossenbürg concentration camps.-Early life:...

  • Hans Krebs
    Hans Krebs (general)
    Hans Krebs was a German Army general of infantry who served during World War II.-Early life:Krebs was born in Helmstedt. He volunteered for service in the Imperial German Army in 1914, was promoted to lieutenant in 1915, and to first lieutenant in 1925...

  • Walter Krüger
    Walter Krüger (SS officer)
    Walter Krüger was an SS Obergruppenführer. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords...

  • Friedrich Krüger
  • Robert Ley
    Robert Ley
    Robert Ley was a Nazi politician and head of the German Labour Front from 1933 to 1945. He committed suicide while awaiting trial for war crimes.- Early life :...

  • Hans Loritz
    Hans Loritz
    Oberführer Hans Loritz joined the SS in 1930 and in 1933, began work as an officer at the Dachau concentration camp. In July 1934 he became the commander of KZ Esterwegen where he was the Commandant for two years before being transferred back to serve as Commandant of Dachau until 1939...

  • Alfred Meyer
    Alfred Meyer
    Dr. Alfred Meyer was a Nazi official, achieving the rank of Staatssekretär and Deputy Reichsminister in the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories .-Early life:Meyer was born in Göttingen, the son of a government official...

  • Ludwig Müller (theologian)
  • Hans-Adolf Prützmann
    Hans-Adolf Prützmann
    Hans-Adolf Prützmann was a Superior SS and Police Leader, as well as an SS Obergruppenführer...

  • Carl Friedrich von Pückler-Burghauss
    Carl Friedrich von Pückler-Burghauss
    Carl Friedrich Count of Pückler-Burghauss, Baron of Groditz was a German politician and Waffen-SS officer in the rank of SS-Gruppenführer and Lieutenant General of the Waffen-SS and member of the German parliament during the Weimar Republic and also a writer,...

  • Wilhelm Rediess
    Wilhelm Rediess
    Wilhelm Rediess was the SS and Police Leader during the German occupation of Norway in the Second World War. He was also the commanding General of all SS troops stationed in occupied Norway, assuming command on 22 June 1940 until his death in 1945.- Early life :Rediess was born in Heinsberg,...

  • Meinoud Rost van Tonningen
    Meinoud Rost van Tonningen
    Meinoud Marinus Rost van Tonningen was a Dutch politician of the National Socialist Movement . During World War II and the German occupation of the Netherlands, he collaborated extensively with the German occupation forces.-Early life:Rost van Tonningen was born in the Dutch East Indies...

  • Bernhard Rust
    Bernhard Rust
    Dr. Bernhard Rust was Minister of Science, Education and National Culture in Nazi Germany. A combination of school administrator and zealous Nazi, he issued decrees, often bizarre, at every level of the German educational system to immerse German youth in the National Socialist philosophy...

  • Walter Schimana
    Walter Schimana
    Walter Schimana was a German Nazi Party and SS member, who rose to General rank during World War II, and was HSSPF in occupied Greece from October 1943.- Early life :Schimana was born in Troppau, then part of Austria-Hungary, the son of a newspaper editor...

  • Carl Schneider
    Carl Schneider
    Carl Schneider , professor at Heidelberg University, chairman of its department of Psychiatry, director of its clinic, was a senior researcher for the Action T4 Euthanasia program....

  • Jakob Sprenger
    Jakob Sprenger
    Jakob Sprenger was a Nazi politician.Sprenger was born in Oberhausen near Bad Bergzabern in the Palatinate. In 1922, the postal inspector Sprenger became a member of the Nazi Party...

  • Ludwig Stumpfegger
    Ludwig Stumpfegger
    SS-Obersturmbannführer Ludwig Stumpfegger was a German SS doctor in World War II and Adolf Hitler's personal surgeon from 1944....

  • Josef Terboven
    Josef Terboven
    Josef Antonius Heinrich Terboven was a Nazi leader, best known as the Reichskommissar during the German occupation of Norway.-Early life:...

  • Otto Georg Thierack
    Otto Georg Thierack
    Otto Georg Thierack was a Nazi jurist and politician.-Early life and career:Thierack was born in Wurzen in Saxony. He took part in the First World War from 1914 to 1918 as a volunteer, reaching the rank of lieutenant. He suffered a face injury and was decorated with the Iron Cross, second class...

  • Karl Fischer von Treuenfeld
    Karl Fischer von Treuenfeld
    Karl Fischer von Treuenfeld was a Gruppenführer and Generalleutnant of the Waffen SS during World War II and the commander of the VI SS Army Corps....

  • Gustav Wagner
  • Ernst Weiner
    Ernst Weiner
    Ernst Josef Albert Weiner was a German SS Hauptsturmführer during World War II, most noted for his role in the Sicherheitspolizei in Norway during the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany....

  • Eduard Wirths
    Eduard Wirths
    Eduard Wirths was the Chief SS doctor at the Auschwitz concentration camp from September 1942 to January 1945...


Sources

  • Richard Bessel, Alf Lüdtke, Bernd Weisbrod No man's land of violence: extreme wars in the 20th century Wallstein Verlag 2005
  • Richard Bessel Nazism and War Modern Library 2006
  • David R. Beisel “The German Suicide, 1945.” The Journal of Psychohistory 34(2007)
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