Hermann Höfle
Hermann Höfle | |
---|---|
Birth name | Hermann Julius Höfle |
Nickname(s) | Hans |
Born | Salzburg, Austria-Hungary | 19 June 1911
Died | 21 August 1962 Vienna, Austria | (aged 51)
Allegiance | Nazi Germany |
Service/ | Schutzstaffel |
Years of service | 1933–1945 |
Rank | Sturmbannführer (Major) |
Commands held | Second in command for Operation Reinhard |
Awards | War Merit Cross 2nd Class With Swords |
Other work | Auto mechanic |
Hermann Julius Höfle, also Hans (or) Hermann Hoefle (German:
SS career
Born in
Crimes against humanity
After the
Höfle was "Coordinator" of
I have been thoroughly informed and instructed by SS Hauptsturmführer Höfle, as Commander of the main department of Einsatz Reinhard of the SS and Police Leader in the District of Lublin:
1. that I may not under any circumstances pass on any form of information, verbally or in writing, on the progress, procedure or incidents in the evacuation of Jews to any person outside the circle of Einsatz Reinhard staff;
2. that the process of the evacuation of Jews is a subject that comes under "Secret Reich Document," in accordance with censorship regulation Vershl V. a;...
4. that there is an absolute prohibition on photography in the camps of Einsatz Reinhard;...
I am familiar with the above regulations and laws and am aware of the responsibilities imposed upon me by the task with which I have been entrusted. I promise to observe them to the best of my knowledge and conscience. I am aware that the obligation to maintain secrecy continues even after I have left the Service.
— From: Yitzhak Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka.[2]
As head of the "Main Department" (Hauptabteilung), Höfle was in charge of the organization and manpower of Operation Reinhard. He coordinated the deportations of Jews from all areas of the
Around May 1942 in the General Government, a substitution policy developed for a short time in which Polish workers who were sent to the German Reich were gradually replaced with Jewish laborers. It became standard procedure to stop deportation trains from the Reich and Slovakia in Lublin in order to select able-bodied Jews for work in the General Government, the others being sent on to their deaths in Belzec. In this way, many Jews were temporarily spared death and instead relegated to forced labor. Höfle was one of the chief supporters and implementers of this policy.[3][4]
Höfle personally oversaw the deportation of the
Adam Czerniaków wrote in his diary on 22 July 1942, the day before he died by suicide:
Sturmbannführer Höfle (who is in charge of the evacuation) asked me into his office and informed me that for the time being my wife was free, but if the deportation were impeded in any way, she would be the first one to be shot as a hostage.
— From: Yitzhak Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka[6]
Höfle also played a key role in the
Höfle Telegram
On 11 January 1943, Höfle sent a radiogram from Lublin to SS-Obersturmbannführer Franz Heim in Kraków, who was at the time the deputy commander of the Security Police and SD in the General Government, and to SS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann in Berlin. The message documented the total deportations of Jews to the four Operation Reinhard camps through 31 of December 1942. Today this document is called the Höfle Telegram.
After the war; arrest and suicide
On 31 May 1945 Höfle was found hiding in Möslacher Alm near the
After an extradition request on 9 July 1948 by the Polish government, he fled to Italy, where he lived under a false name until 1951. Later he returned to Austria and then emigrated to
Höfle returned to Salzburg, where he lived as a free man until 2 January 1961, when he was arrested by the Austrian authorities and sent to prison in Vienna, where in 1962 he hanged himself before his trial could begin.[7]
See also
References
- ^ a b Klee 2003.
- ^ a b Arad 1987, pp. 18–9.
- ^ Friedländer 2008, p. 347.
- ^ Browning 2000, p. 74.
- ^ Reich-Ranicki 2001, p. 235-8.
- ^ Arad 1987, p. 61.
- ^ Reich-Ranicki 2001, p. 242.
Literature
- ISBN 978-0253113696. 1999 edition in Google book.
- ISBN 978-0521774901. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
- ISBN 978-0060930486.
- ISBN 978-3100393098.
- ISBN 3-423-12830-5.
- Peter Witte, Stephen Tyas: A New Document on the Deportation and Murder of Jews during "Einsatz Reinhardt" 1942. In: Holocaust and Genocide Studies 15 (2001), S. 468-486
- Josef Wulf: Das Dritte Reich und seine Vollstrecker. K. G. Saur Verlag KG, München 1978, ISBN 3-598-04603-0, S. 275-287