Erich Ehrlinger
Encyclopedia
Erich Ehrlinger was a member of the Nazi SS
who, as commander of Special Detachment (Sonderkommando, also known as Einsatzkommando
or EK) 1b, was responsible for mass murder in the Baltic states
and Belarus
.
He was also the commander of the Security Police and the Security Service (Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD (BdS)) for central Russia
as well as an office leader in the National Security Main Office Reichssicherheitshauptamt or RSHA
). He did not hold a doctorate degree, as is sometimes reported. He would eventually rise to the rank of SS-Brigadeführer
.
. In 1928 he completed high school (Abitur
) in Heidenheim, then studied law in Tübingen
, Kiel
, Berlin
(where in 1931 he joined the SA
) and then back at Tübingen. The nationalist and xenophobic
atmosphere at the University of Tübingen (already by 1931 there were no longer any Jewish professors there) fit in well with his later legal career in the SD
, the RSHA, and the Einsatzgruppen
.
As a student functionary, Ehrlinger was active not only at the university. According to his SA certificate of good conduct, "Ehrlinger was one of the few Tübingen-connected students, who even before the seizure of power put himself regularly where he was needed with the propaganda or other service."
and then a functionary with the title of Training Chief ("Chef AW" for SA-Ausbildungswesen). After that, in May 1935, he redirected himself towards the SD
. By September 1935 he had been assigned to the main office of the Berlin SD. Ehrlinger was with the SD in 1938 during the Nazi takeovers in Austria
and in April 1939 in Prague
.
in September 1939. In August 1940 he went to Norway
for the build up of the Waffen-SS
there under his later chief, Franz Walter Stahlecker
. In April 1941, he took over leadership of Special Commando (Sonderkommando) 1b, which was part of Einsatzgruppe A, of which Stahlecker was overall commander.
After the beginning of the German invasion of the Soviet Union
, on June 22, 1941, Ehrlinger's unit, 70 to 80 men strong, followed behind Army Group North
in the Baltic states and the area south of Leningrad
. Ehrlinger led the mass murder of Jews behind the front, in particular in the ghettos of Kovno, Dünaburg
and Rositten.
For example, on 16 July 1941, the SD entered Dünaburg. Ehrlinger reported that "[a]s of now the EK 1b has killed 1,150 Jews in Dünaburg." Ehrlinger himself oversaw these shootings, euphemistically called "actions", as a "hardened SS perpetrator who stood at the shoot pit and led the killers in the shooting."
In December 1941, after the completion of the work of Einsatzkommando 1b, Ehrlinger was promoted to commandant of the Security Police and SD (Kommandeur der Sicherheitspolize und des SD or KdS) for central Russia and Belarus, where under his orders many executions were carried out. During shootings, when he felt the pace was lagging, he personally picked up a weapon and started killing people.
In September 1943 Ehrlinger was promoted to SS-Standartenführer
and went to Minsk
where he became the liaison man of SD chief Ernst Kaltenbrunner
to the commanding generals of the security troops of Army Group Center, as well as taking over the offices of the Einsatzgruppe B chief and the Commander of the Security Police and the SD (Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD or BdS) for central Russia and Belarus. There he was involved with the murder of the remaining Jews of Minsk. He insisted that other officers take part, as he would not allow anyone to lead in the SS who was not willing to do some of the shooting himself.
In 1944, Ehrlinger went back to Berlin and, on 1 April 1944 became chief of the Main National Security Office (Reichsicherheitsamt or RSHA), Department I (Personnel). In November 1944 Ehrlinger became a special delegate from Ernst Kaltenbrunner to Heinrich Himmler
.
under the alias of Erich Fröscher. In October 1945 he went to Roth, near Nuremberg
. In 1950 he moved with his family to Konstanz
and worked under a false name as a host in the local casino. In 1952, he married for the second time, and started using his real name, but suffered no adverse consequences and by 1954 worked as a foreman in a Volkswagen
factory in Karlsruhe
.
In December 1958, he was arrested. Two years later he was sentenced by the State Court of Karlsruhe (Landsgericht Karlsruhe) to twelve years imprisonment. The case was appealed and eventually returned to the public prosecutor's office. Due to disability, his sentence was officially remitted in 1969, four years after he was released from prison.
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
who, as commander of Special Detachment (Sonderkommando, also known as Einsatzkommando
Einsatzkommando
During World War II, the Nazi German Einsatzkommandos were a sub-group of five Einsatzgruppen mobile killing squads—up to 3,000 men each—usually composed of 500-1,000 functionaries of the SS and Gestapo, whose mission was to kill Jews, Romani, communists and the NKVD collaborators in the captured...
or EK) 1b, was responsible for mass murder in the Baltic states
Baltic states
The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
and Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
.
He was also the commander of the Security Police and the Security Service (Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD (BdS)) for central 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...
as well as an office leader in the National Security Main Office Reichssicherheitshauptamt or RSHA
RSHA
The RSHA, or Reichssicherheitshauptamt was an organization subordinate to Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacities as Chef der Deutschen Polizei and Reichsführer-SS...
). He did not hold a doctorate degree, as is sometimes reported. He would eventually rise to the rank of SS-Brigadeführer
Brigadeführer
SS-Brigadeführer was an SS rank that was used in Nazi Germany between the years of 1932 and 1945. Brigadeführer was also an SA rank....
.
Youth and education
Ehrlinger was the son of the mayor of Giengen an der Brenz, a small town in southwestern Germany, in what is now the state of Baden-WürttembergBaden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
. In 1928 he completed high school (Abitur
Abitur
Abitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...
) in Heidenheim, then studied law in Tübingen
Tübingen
Tübingen is a traditional university town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, on a ridge between the Neckar and Ammer rivers.-Geography:...
, Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
, 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...
(where in 1931 he joined the SA
Sturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...
) and then back at Tübingen. The nationalist and xenophobic
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
atmosphere at the University of Tübingen (already by 1931 there were no longer any Jewish professors there) fit in well with his later legal career in the SD
Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst , full title Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS, or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. The organization was the first Nazi Party intelligence organization to be established and was often considered a "sister organization" with the...
, the RSHA, and the 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...
.
As a student functionary, Ehrlinger was active not only at the university. According to his SA certificate of good conduct, "Ehrlinger was one of the few Tübingen-connected students, who even before the seizure of power put himself regularly where he was needed with the propaganda or other service."
Career after the Nazi takeover of power
After he completed an SA leadership training course in 1934, Ehrlinger gave up his legal career and became a full time SA functionary. He was the leader of an SA sport school at Rieneck CastleRieneck Castle
Rieneck Castle is a castle built by Ludwig I, Count of Loon and Rieneck, in the year 1151. The city of Rieneck is situated about 80 km east of Frankfurt. The castle now serves as a Scouting facility and is owned by the German Christian Guide and Scout Association, VCP...
and then a functionary with the title of Training Chief ("Chef AW" for SA-Ausbildungswesen). After that, in May 1935, he redirected himself towards the SD
Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst , full title Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS, or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. The organization was the first Nazi Party intelligence organization to be established and was often considered a "sister organization" with the...
. By September 1935 he had been assigned to the main office of the Berlin SD. Ehrlinger was with the SD in 1938 during the Nazi takeovers in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and in April 1939 in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
.
Crimes during World War II
Ehrlinger was with the headquarters staff of Einsatzgruppe IV during the German attack on PolandInvasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
in September 1939. In August 1940 he went to Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
for the build up of the Waffen-SS
Waffen-SS
The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...
there under his later chief, Franz Walter Stahlecker
Franz Walter Stahlecker
Franz Walter Stahlecker was Commander of the Sicherheitspolizei and the Sicherheitsdienst for the Reichskommissariat Ostland in 1941/42...
. In April 1941, he took over leadership of Special Commando (Sonderkommando) 1b, which was part of Einsatzgruppe A, of which Stahlecker was overall commander.
After the beginning of the German invasion of the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
, on June 22, 1941, Ehrlinger's unit, 70 to 80 men strong, followed behind Army Group North
Army Group North
Army Group North was a German strategic echelon formation commanding a grouping of Field Armies subordinated to the OKH during World War II. The army group coordinated the operations of attached separate army corps, reserve formations, rear services and logistics.- Formation :The Army Group North...
in the Baltic states and the area south of Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
. Ehrlinger led the mass murder of Jews behind the front, in particular in the ghettos of Kovno, Dünaburg
Daugavpils Ghetto
Following the occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany in the summer of 1941, the Daugavpils Ghetto was established in an old fortress near Daugavpils. Daugavpils is the second largest city in Latvia and the principal city of the Latgalia region. Daugavpils was located in southeastern Latvia on the...
and Rositten.
For example, on 16 July 1941, the SD entered Dünaburg. Ehrlinger reported that "[a]s of now the EK 1b has killed 1,150 Jews in Dünaburg." Ehrlinger himself oversaw these shootings, euphemistically called "actions", as a "hardened SS perpetrator who stood at the shoot pit and led the killers in the shooting."
In December 1941, after the completion of the work of Einsatzkommando 1b, Ehrlinger was promoted to commandant of the Security Police and SD (Kommandeur der Sicherheitspolize und des SD or KdS) for central Russia and Belarus, where under his orders many executions were carried out. During shootings, when he felt the pace was lagging, he personally picked up a weapon and started killing people.
In September 1943 Ehrlinger was promoted to SS-Standartenführer
Standartenführer
Standartenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was used in the so-called Nazi combat-organisations: SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK...
and went to Minsk
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
where he became the liaison man of SD chief Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Ernst Kaltenbrunner was an Austrian-born senior official of Nazi Germany during World War II. Between January 1943 and May 1945, he held the offices of Chief of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt , President of Interpol and, as a Obergruppenführer und General der Polizei und Waffen-SS, he was the...
to the commanding generals of the security troops of Army Group Center, as well as taking over the offices of the Einsatzgruppe B chief and the Commander of the Security Police and the SD (Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD or BdS) for central Russia and Belarus. There he was involved with the murder of the remaining Jews of Minsk. He insisted that other officers take part, as he would not allow anyone to lead in the SS who was not willing to do some of the shooting himself.
In 1944, Ehrlinger went back to Berlin and, on 1 April 1944 became chief of the Main National Security Office (Reichsicherheitsamt or RSHA), Department I (Personnel). In November 1944 Ehrlinger became a special delegate from Ernst Kaltenbrunner to 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...
.
After WWII
After the end of the war Ehrlinger went into hiding in Schleswig-HolsteinSchleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...
under the alias of Erich Fröscher. In October 1945 he went to Roth, near Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
. In 1950 he moved with his family to Konstanz
Konstanz
Konstanz is a university city with approximately 80,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the south-west corner of Germany, bordering Switzerland. The city houses the University of Konstanz.-Location:...
and worked under a false name as a host in the local casino. In 1952, he married for the second time, and started using his real name, but suffered no adverse consequences and by 1954 worked as a foreman in a Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
factory in Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
.
In December 1958, he was arrested. Two years later he was sentenced by the State Court of Karlsruhe (Landsgericht Karlsruhe) to twelve years imprisonment. The case was appealed and eventually returned to the public prosecutor's office. Due to disability, his sentence was officially remitted in 1969, four years after he was released from prison.
Sources
- Ezergails, Andrew, The Holocaust in Latvia 1941-1944: The Missing Center, ISBN 9984-9054-3-8 Stadlbauer, Peter, Eichmanns Chef: Erich Ehrlinger. Exzellente SS-Karriere und unterbliebene strafrechtliche Sühne. Eine Fallstudie, unveröffentl. Magisterarbeit, Wien 2005 Wildt, Michael, Generation der Unbedingten – Das Führungskorps des Reichssicherheitshauptamtes. Hamburger Edition, Hamburg 2003, ISBN 3-930908-75-1 Wildt, Michael, Erich Ehrlinger - Ein Vertreter „kämpfender Verwaltung“. In: Klaus-Michael Mallmann, Gerhard Paul: Karrieren der Gewalt. Nationalsozialistische Täterbiographien. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2004, ISBN 3-534-16654-X.