Friedrich Panzinger
Friedrich Panzinger | |
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Einsatzgruppe A |
Friedrich Panzinger (1 February 1903 – 8 August 1959) was a German
Biography
Panzinger attended night school and began studying law. He took part in a recruitment test for the police and was admitted as a police officer in the civil service in the Munich Police Directorate in 1919.
In April 1937, Panzinger joined the SS with member number 322,118. He was then employed as a Kriminalkommissar (Chief Inspector) in the state police headquarters in Berlin. On 29 June 1940 he began working in the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo; Security Police) in Sofia, Bulgaria. In August 1940 he assumed the position of Secretary of Section IV A (Enemies) of the Gestapo, where his sub-office focused on communism, Marxism and enemy propaganda within Nazi Germany until 4 September 1943.[3] Panzinger's office consisted of the following subdivisions:
- IV A 1 (Communism, Marxism and subsidiary organizations, war crimes, illegal and enemy propaganda):[3]
- IV A 2 (Sabotage defense, counter-sabotage, political-police officer defense, political forgery):[3]
- IV A 3 (Reactionaries, opposition, legitimism, liberalism, emigration, treacherous affairs and opposition):[3]
- IV A 4 (Protection service, assassination attempts, monitoring, special order, investigation squad):[3]
From 4 September 1943 to 6 May 1944 Panzinger succeeded
A reorganization of Amt IV of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) in March 1944 led to a breakdown of territory divisions between Panzinger and Achamer-Pifrader. While Panzinger took over leadership of sub-office IV A, he also served under Achamer-Pifrader in sub-office IV B. Panzinger's group now stood as follows:
- IV A 1 (Opposition): Panzinger
- IV A 2 (Sabotage): Horst Kopkow
- IV A 3 (Abwehr): SS-Obersturmbannführer Walter Huppenkothen
- IV A 4 (Ideological opponents): SS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann
- IV A 5 (Special cases): SS-Standartenführer and government director Rudolf Mildner
- IV A 6 (Index, files, protective custody): SS-Sturmbannführer, government and police superintendent Dr. Emil Berndorff
In July 1944, after the
Post-war arrest and suicide
After the war, Panzinger was arrested in 1946 and imprisoned by the Soviet Union for being a war criminal. In Moscow on 22 March 1952 he was twice sentenced to 25 years of forced labor. As a so-called Nichtamnestierter ("non-amnestied"), he was released in September 1955 and repatriated to then West Germany. He worked for a time on the staff of the
References
Citations
- ^ Tuchel 1992, p. 147.
- ^ Weale 2010, p. 132.
- ^ a b c d e McNab 2009, p. 160.
- ^ a b Friedlander 1995, p. 55.
- ^ Shirer 1960, p. 1393.
- ^ Weitkamp 2006, pp. 31–40.
- ^ "Records of the Central Intelligence Agency (RG 263)". National Archives. August 15, 2016.
- ^ Sebastian Weitkamp: Kopfschuss in der Dämmerung, SPIEGEL Geschichte, 16 November 2008, retrieved 19 June 2020.
Bibliography
- Friedlander, Henry (1995). The Origins of Nazi Genocide: From Euthanasia to the Final Solution. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0807822081.
- McNab, Chris (2009). The SS: 1923–1945. Amber Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1906626495.
- Patzwall, Klaus D.; Scherzer, Veit (2001). Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 – 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II [The German Cross 1941 – 1945 History and Recipients Volume 2] (in German). Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall. ISBN 978-3-931533-45-8.
- ISBN 978-0-671-62420-0.
- Tuchel, Johannes (1992). "Die Gestapo-Sonderkommision Rote Kapelle". In Coppi Jr., Hans; Danyel, Jürgen; Tuchel, Johannes (eds.). Die Rote Kapelle im Widerstand gegen Nationalsozialismus [The Red Orchestra in opposition to Hitler. Writings of the Memorial of the German Resistance, The Gestapo special commission Red Orchestra] (in German) (1st ed.). Berlin: Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand. ISBN 978-3-89468-110-4.
- Weale, Adrian (2010). The SS: A New History. London: Little, Brown. ISBN 978-1-4087-0304-5.
- Weitkamp, Sebastian (2006). ""Mord mit reiner Weste". Die Ermordung des Generals Maurice Mesny im Januar 1945" ["Murder with a clean slate". The murder of General Maurice Mesny in January 1945]. In Richter, Timm C. (ed.). Krieg und Verbrechen : Situation und Intention: Fallbeispiele [War and crime : situation and intention: case studies]. Villa ten Hompel Aktuell. Munich: Meidenbauer. OCLC 71814258.