Harald Turner
Harald Turner | |
|---|---|
 Turner in the uniform of an SS-Untersturmführer (1933) | |
| Deputy Chief SS Race and Settlement Main Office | |
| In office 25 December 1943 – 5 September 1944 | |
| Chief of Military Administration Staff Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia | |
| In office April 1941 – 7 November 1942 | |
| District President Koblenz | |
| In office 13 May 1933 – 17 January 1936 | |
| Preceded by | Walter von Sybel |
| Succeeded by | Ernst von Heydebrand und der Lasa (Richter) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 8 October 1891 War crimes in Serbia |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  German Empire Nazi Germany |
| Branch/service | Imperial German Army Schutzstaffel (SS) |
| Years of service | 1908–1920 1932–1945 |
| Rank | Hauptmann SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS |
| Battles/wars | World War I World War II |
| Awards | Iron Cross, 1st and 2nd class Clasp to the Iron Cross, 2nd class War Merit Cross, 1st and 2nd class with Swords Wound Badge, in silver |
Harald Turner (8 October 1891 – 9 March 1947) was a German lawyer, civil servant and
Early life
The son of a military officer, Turner attended cadet schools, including the
Nazi party and SS career
In January 1930, Turner became a member of the
After the
Turner suggested that all Serbian Jews be deported to Romania or the General Government. SS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann, head of the RSHA office that handled Jewish affairs and evacuations, sent a reply indicating that those places could not even take all the German Jews, and he proposed that Turner focus on killing the Serbian Jews by shooting them. Soon after Turner received this response, he began the rapid and ruthless massacre of Serbian Jews and Roma. In an order dated 26 October 1941, Turner wrote that Jews and Roma represented a threat to public order and security, the more so as the Jewish intelligentsia had caused the war and had to be destroyed.[5] Turner alleged, without evidence, that Roma men were working with the Jews in partisan warfare and were responsible for many atrocities, and several thousands were killed.[6] Just six months later, on 11 April 1942, he reported to Karl Wolff, chief of the Personal Staff Reichsführer-SS, about the murders that were carried out:
Already some months ago, I shot dead all the Jews I could get my hands on in this area, concentrated all the Jewish women and children in a camp and with the help of the SD got my hands on a "delousing van", that in about 14 days to 4 weeks will have brought about the definitive clearing out of the camp … [7]
By the beginning of May 1942, all 7,500 inmates of the
In April 1942, Turner was losing the support of higher ups in the Third Reich for his policies, which resulted in his organizing visits to various parts of Serbia to secure the support of local administrators. Turner realized that his ideas in Serbia could not be easily achieved because of the opposition of
In December 1943, Turner was appointed Deputy Chief of the
Dismissal, capture, trial and execution
In July 1944, when speaking at the
SS ranks
| SS officer ranks[10][11] | |
|---|---|
| Date | Rank |
| 12 June 1933 | SS-Untersturmführer |
| 20 August 1933 | SS-Sturmbannführer |
| 20 April 1934 | SS-Obersturmbannführer |
| 20 May 1934 | SS-Standartenführer |
| 30 January 1936 | SS-Oberführer |
| 30 January 1939 | SS-Brigadeführer |
| 27 September 1941 | SS-Gruppenführer |
| 30 January 1944 | Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS |
References
- ^ a b c d Lilla 2005, pp. 245–246.
- ^ a b Klee 2007, p. 633.
- ^ Glišić 1970, pp. 39–40.
- ^ Glišić 1970, p. 71.
- ^ Bartrop & Grimm 2019, p. 293.
- ^ Evans 2009, p. 531.
- ^ "Letter to Himmler's Staff Describing the Use of a "De-Lousing Van"". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
- ^ Evans 2009, p. 259.
- ^ Glišić 1970, pp. 105–108.
- ^ SS Seniority List, 1 December 1937, pp.16–17, #153 Retrieved 10 July 2023.
- ^ Schiffer Publishing Ltd. 2000, p. 10.
Sources
- Bartrop, Paul R.; Grimm, Eve E. (2019). Perpetrating The Holocaust: Leaders, Enablers, and Collaborators. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-440-85897-0.
- Evans, Richard J. (2009). The Third Reich at War. New York: Penguin Press. ISBN 978-1-594-20206-3.
- Glišić, Venceslav (1970). Teror i zločini nacističke Nemačke u Srbiji 1941–1945 [Terror and Crimes of Nazi Germany in Serbia 1941–1945] (in Serbo-Croatian). Belgrade: Rad. OCLC 9151138.
- Klee, Ernst (2007). Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945. Frankfurt-am-Main: Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8.
- Lilla, Joachim (2005). Der Prußische Staatsrat 1921–1933: Ein biographisches Handbuch. Düsseldorf: Droste Verlag. ISBN 978-3-770-05271-4.
- Schiffer Publishing Ltd., ed. (2000). SS Officers List: SS-Standartenführer to SS-Oberstgruppenführer (As of 30 January 1942). Schiffer Military History Publishing. ISBN 9781440858963.