Jürgen Stroop
Encyclopedia
Jürgen Stroop, was a high-ranking Nazi Party and Gestapo
official during World War II
. In 1952, he was extradited to Poland, convicted of war crime
s, and hanged
.
, in the Principality of Lippe
, German Empire
, the son of a police officer. In conversation with Kazimierz Moczarski
, Stroop recalled that his mother was far more devoutly Roman Catholic than his father. Both, however, were enthusiastic monarchists. The elder Stroop often expressed hope that his son would also enter the service of the Prince of Lippe.
After receiving an elementary education, he became an apprentice with the land register in Detmold, where he worked until the outbreak of World War I
. He joined the Imperial German Army in 1914 as a volunteer, served in several infantry regiments at the Western Front
. Stroop was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class
and was wounded in action
. Stroop subsequently served on the Eastern Front and in Romania. At the end of the war, he held the rank of a vice- Feldwebel
(Sergeant
). After the Armistice, Stroop returned to work at the land register, while remaining active in a veterans' organization.
During the 1920s
, Stroop embraced Germanic neo-paganism under the influence of General and Mathilde Ludendorff
. He later recalled,
. One year later, he was promoted from the rank of SS-Oberscharführer
to the rank of Hauptsturmführer
. Subsequently he worked for the SS administration in Münster
and Hamburg
. In the fall (autumn) of 1938, he was promoted again, this time to the rank of SS-Standartenführer
(Colonel
). Stroop served in the Sudetenland
. After the invasion of Poland, he served as commander of the SS-section in Gnesen (Gniezno
). During the occupation of Poland, Stroop was transferred to Poznan
as head of Selbstschutz
, the notorious "self-defense" formation of the local ethnic Germans.
In May 1941, Stroop changed his name from Josef to Jürgen for ideological reasons and in honor of his deceased son. From July 7 to September 15, 1941, Stroop served in combat on the eastern front
with the infantry regiment of the 3rd SS Division Totenkopf
. He was awarded a Clasp to the Iron Cross 2nd Class and an Infantry Assault Badge
in Bronze. On 16 September 1942, he was promoted to SS-Brigadeführer
and assigned as an Inspector of the SiPo
and SD
of the Higher SS and Police Leader
for Russia
South. In this position Stroop worked to help secure a key logistical
route for German forces on the Eastern Front. Beginning in October 1942, Stroop commanded an SS garrison at Kherson
, before becoming the SS and Police Leader for Lemberg (Lviv
) in February 1943.
Stroop's most historically prominent role was the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
, an action which cost the lives of over 50,000 people. He was sent to Warsaw on April 17, 1943 by Heinrich Himmler
, as a replacement for SS-Oberführer
Ferdinand von Sammern-Frankenegg
, who was relieved of duty. Stroop took over from Sammern following the latter's failure at the onset of the uprising:
Stroop had recently been involved in operations against Soviet partisans
in Ukraine
and was familiar with the latest German counter-insurgency
tactics. He ordered the entire ghetto to be burned down systematically and blown up building by building, and all of Warsaw's Jews to be killed or deported to extermination camps. After the uprising was suppressed, he prepared a detailed record of the operation, a 75-page report, bound in black leather and included copies of all communiqués sent to SS Police Leader East Friedrich-Wilhelm Kruger and photographs. Originally titled "The Jewish Quarter of Warsaw is no more!", it is commonly referred to as "The Stroop Report" and would later be used as evidence at the Nuremberg Trials
. Stroop then formally assumed the position of SS and Police Leader
of Warsaw. Kruger presented an Iron Cross 1st Class
to him on 18 June 1943 for the Warsaw Ghetto "action" at a gala reception in Warsaw’s Lazienki Park
.
Stroop was subsequently named the Higher SS and Police Leader in Greece
on September 8, 1943. The local civilian administration found his methods and behaviour unacceptable and withdrew cooperation, forbidding the local Order Police from having anything to do with him, which made his position untenable. Consequently, he was removed and on November 9 he was appointed Commander of SS-Oberabschnitt Rhein-Westmark (an SS administrative district named for the Rhine and Gau Westmark
) in Wiesbaden
, serving until the close of the war.
In early May 1945, Stroop was captured by American forces
in the town of Rottau in Bavaria
. Wearing the uniform of an infantry officer, he bore false discharge papers made out to a Wehrmacht
Captain of Reserve Josef Straub. He kept to this story for nearly two months, before admitting to being Jürgen Stroop on July 2.
He was then put on trial by the U.S. Military Tribunal at Dachau
(Dachau Trials) for the summary execution
s of Allied airmen (Fliegermorde), shot down over Germany in his field of command. On March 21, 1947, he was sentenced to death by the tribunal. However, that sentence was not carried out; instead, he was extradited for trial in the People's Republic of Poland
.
While awaiting trial in Warsaw's Mokotów Prison
, Stroop was placed in the same cell with Kazimierz Moczarski
, an anti-communist political prisoner
who had been jailed by the Poland's Ministry of Public Security
. In conversation with Moczarski, Stroop gleefully recalled the destruction of Warsaw's Great Synagogue,
On July 23, 1951, after a trial lasting three days, a Polish court sentenced Stroop and Franz Konrad
to death by hanging
. Stroop was hanged on March 6, 1952, outside the Mokotow prison in Warsaw.
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
official during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. In 1952, he was extradited to Poland, convicted of war crime
War crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
s, and hanged
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
.
Early life
Jürgen Stroop was born in DetmoldDetmold
Detmold is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with a population of about 74,000. It was the capital of the small Principality of Lippe from 1468 until 1918 and then of the Free State of Lippe until 1947...
, in the Principality of Lippe
Principality of Lippe
Lippe was a historical state in Germany. It was located between the Weser River and the southeast part of the Teutoburg forest.-History:...
, German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
, the son of a police officer. In conversation with Kazimierz Moczarski
Kazimierz Moczarski
Kazimierz Damazy Moczarski was a Polish writer and journalist, officer of the Polish Home Army...
, Stroop recalled that his mother was far more devoutly Roman Catholic than his father. Both, however, were enthusiastic monarchists. The elder Stroop often expressed hope that his son would also enter the service of the Prince of Lippe.
After receiving an elementary education, he became an apprentice with the land register in Detmold, where he worked until the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. He joined the Imperial German Army in 1914 as a volunteer, served in several infantry regiments at the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
. Stroop was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class
Iron Cross
The Iron Cross is a cross symbol typically in black with a white or silver outline that originated after 1219 when the Kingdom of Jerusalem granted the Teutonic Order the right to combine the Teutonic Black Cross placed above a silver Cross of Jerusalem....
and was wounded in action
Wounded in action
Wounded in action describes soldiers who have been wounded while fighting in a combat zone during war time, but have not been killed. Typically it implies that they are temporarily or permanently incapable of bearing arms or continuing to fight....
. Stroop subsequently served on the Eastern Front and in Romania. At the end of the war, he held the rank of a vice- Feldwebel
Feldwebel
Feldwebel is a German military rank which has existed since at least the 18th century with usage as a title dating to the Middle Ages. The word Feldwebel is usually translated as sergeant being rated OR-6 in the NATO rank comparison scale, equivalent to the British Army Sergeant and the US Army...
(Sergeant
Sergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
). After the Armistice, Stroop returned to work at the land register, while remaining active in a veterans' organization.
During the 1920s
1920s
File:1920s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: Third Tipperary Brigade Flying Column No. 2 under Sean Hogan during the Irish Civil War; Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcohol in accordance to the 18th amendment, which made alcoholic beverages illegal throughout the entire decade; In...
, Stroop embraced Germanic neo-paganism under the influence of General and Mathilde Ludendorff
Mathilde Ludendorff
Mathilde Friederike Karoline Ludendorff was a German teacher and doctor. She was the second wife of Erich Ludendorff - he was her third husband - as well as a leading figure in the Völkisch movement, where she was known for her esoteric and conspiratorial ideas...
. He later recalled,
"We found the Ludendorffs' views extremely attractive, especially hers. She was the one who revealed the truth about the Catholic Church in Germany and returned us to the true Germanic gods. By recalling the pure, pre-Germanic ways, she pointed out the rottenness of the Judeo-ChristianJudeo-ChristianJudeo-Christian is a term used in the United States since the 1940s to refer to standards of ethics said to be held in common by Judaism and Christianity, for example the Ten Commandments...
ethic and showed how the organized Church had been strangling the Reich for twelve hundred years. If she hadn't been a woman, we would have made the Frau Doktor an an honorary member of our veterans' associations. It was thanks to what I was lucky enough to learn from her books that I was able to rid myself of religious prejudice and mark Gottgläubig in the column concerning belief."
Gestapo career
Stroop joined the SS and the NSDAP in 1932. His career took off during the election campaign of the same year. In 1933, he was appointed leader of the state auxiliary policeAuxiliary police
Auxiliary police or special constables in England) are usually the part-time reserves of a regular police force. They may be armed or unarmed. They may be unpaid volunteers or paid members of the police service with which they are affiliated...
. One year later, he was promoted from the rank of SS-Oberscharführer
Oberscharführer
Oberscharführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that existed between the years of 1932 and 1945. Translated as “Senior Squad Leader”, Oberscharführer was first used as a rank of the Sturmabteilung and was created due to an expansion of the enlisted positions required by growing SA membership...
to the rank of Hauptsturmführer
Hauptsturmführer
Hauptsturmführer was a Nazi rank of the SS which was used between the years of 1934 and 1945. The rank of Hauptsturmführer was a mid-grade company level officer and was the equivalent of a Captain in the German Army and also the equivalent of captain in foreign armies...
. Subsequently he worked for the SS administration in Münster
Münster
Münster is an independent city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also capital of the local government region Münsterland...
and Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. In the fall (autumn) of 1938, he was promoted again, this time to the rank of 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...
(Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
). Stroop served in the Sudetenland
Sudetenland
Sudetenland is the German name used in English in the first half of the 20th century for the northern, southwest and western regions of Czechoslovakia inhabited mostly by ethnic Germans, specifically the border areas of Bohemia, Moravia, and those parts of Silesia being within Czechoslovakia.The...
. After the invasion of Poland, he served as commander of the SS-section in Gnesen (Gniezno
Gniezno
Gniezno is a city in central-western Poland, some 50 km east of Poznań, inhabited by about 70,000 people. One of the Piasts' chief cities, it was mentioned by 10th century A.D. sources as the capital of Piast Poland however the first capital of Piast realm was most likely Giecz built around...
). During the occupation of Poland, Stroop was transferred to Poznan
Poznan
Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...
as head of Selbstschutz
Selbstschutz
Selbstschutz stands for two organisations:# A name used by a number of paramilitary organisations created by ethnic Germans in Central and Eastern Europe# A name for self-defence measures and units in ethnic German, Austrian, and Swiss civil defence....
, the notorious "self-defense" formation of the local ethnic Germans.
In May 1941, Stroop changed his name from Josef to Jürgen for ideological reasons and in honor of his deceased son. From July 7 to September 15, 1941, Stroop served in combat on the eastern front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
with the infantry regiment of the 3rd SS Division Totenkopf
3rd SS Division Totenkopf
The SS Division Totenkopf , also known as 3. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Totenkopf and 3. SS-Panzer-Division Totenkopf, was one of the 38 divisions fielded by the Waffen-SS during World War II. Prior to achieving division status, the formation was known as Kampfgruppe Eicke...
. He was awarded a Clasp to the Iron Cross 2nd Class and an Infantry Assault Badge
Infantry Assault Badge
The Infantry Assault Badge was a German war badge awarded to Waffen SS and Wehrmacht Heer soldiers during WWII. This decoration was instituted on December 20th 1939 by the Oberstbefehlshaber des Heeres, Generalfeldmarschall von Brauchitsch...
in Bronze. On 16 September 1942, he was promoted to 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....
and assigned as an Inspector of the SiPo
Sicherheitspolizei
The Sicherheitspolizei , often abbreviated as SiPo, was a term used in Nazi Germany to describe the state political and criminal investigation security agencies. It was made up by the combined forces of the Gestapo and the Kripo between 1936 and 1939...
and 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...
of the Higher SS and Police Leader
SS and Police Leader
SS and Police Leader was a title for senior Nazi officials that commanded large units of the SS, of Gestapo and of the regular German police during and prior to World War II.Three levels of subordination were established for bearers of this title:...
for 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...
South. In this position Stroop worked to help secure a key logistical
Logistics
Logistics is the management of the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of destination in order to meet the requirements of customers or corporations. Logistics involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, material handling, and packaging, and...
route for German forces on the Eastern Front. Beginning in October 1942, Stroop commanded an SS garrison at Kherson
Kherson
Kherson is a city in southern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Kherson Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast. Kherson is an important port on the Black Sea and Dnieper River, and the home of a major ship-building industry...
, before becoming the SS and Police Leader for Lemberg (Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
) in February 1943.
The Warsaw Ghetto, transfer to Greece and return to Germany
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the Jewish resistance that arose within the Warsaw Ghetto in German occupied Poland during World War II, and which opposed Nazi Germany's effort to transport the remaining ghetto population to Treblinka extermination camp....
, an action which cost the lives of over 50,000 people. He was sent to Warsaw on April 17, 1943 by 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...
, as a replacement for SS-Oberführer
Oberführer
Oberführer was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party dating back to 1921. Translated as “Senior Leader”, an Oberführer was typically a Nazi Party member in charge of a group of paramilitary units in a particular geographical region...
Ferdinand von Sammern-Frankenegg
Ferdinand von Sammern-Frankenegg
Ferdinand von Sammern-Frankenegg was an SS-Oberführer and the SS and Police Leader of the Warsaw area from 1941...
, who was relieved of duty. Stroop took over from Sammern following the latter's failure at the onset of the uprising:
Soviet partisans
The Soviet partisans were members of a resistance movement which fought a guerrilla war against the Axis occupation of the Soviet Union during World War II....
in Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
and was familiar with the latest German counter-insurgency
Counter-insurgency
A counter-insurgency or counterinsurgency involves actions taken by the recognized government of a nation to contain or quell an insurgency taken up against it...
tactics. He ordered the entire ghetto to be burned down systematically and blown up building by building, and all of Warsaw's Jews to be killed or deported to extermination camps. After the uprising was suppressed, he prepared a detailed record of the operation, a 75-page report, bound in black leather and included copies of all communiqués sent to SS Police Leader East Friedrich-Wilhelm Kruger and photographs. Originally titled "The Jewish Quarter of Warsaw is no more!", it is commonly referred to as "The Stroop Report" and would later be used as evidence at the Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
. Stroop then formally assumed the position of SS and Police Leader
SS and Police Leader
SS and Police Leader was a title for senior Nazi officials that commanded large units of the SS, of Gestapo and of the regular German police during and prior to World War II.Three levels of subordination were established for bearers of this title:...
of Warsaw. Kruger presented an Iron Cross 1st Class
Iron Cross
The Iron Cross is a cross symbol typically in black with a white or silver outline that originated after 1219 when the Kingdom of Jerusalem granted the Teutonic Order the right to combine the Teutonic Black Cross placed above a silver Cross of Jerusalem....
to him on 18 June 1943 for the Warsaw Ghetto "action" at a gala reception in Warsaw’s Lazienki Park
Lazienki Park
Łazienki Park is the largest park in Warsaw, Poland, occupying 76 hectares of the city center. The park-and-palace complex lies in Warsaw's Downtown , on Ujazdów Avenue on the "Royal Route" linking the Royal Castle with Wilanów palace to the south...
.
Stroop was subsequently named the Higher SS and Police Leader in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
on September 8, 1943. The local civilian administration found his methods and behaviour unacceptable and withdrew cooperation, forbidding the local Order Police from having anything to do with him, which made his position untenable. Consequently, he was removed and on November 9 he was appointed Commander of SS-Oberabschnitt Rhein-Westmark (an SS administrative district named for the Rhine and Gau Westmark
Gau Westmark
The Gau Westmark was an administrative division of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. Previous to that, since 1926, it was the regional subdivision of the Nazi Party.-History:...
) in Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
, serving until the close of the war.
Trials and execution
United States armed forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
in the town of Rottau in Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
. Wearing the uniform of an infantry officer, he bore false discharge papers made out to a Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
Captain of Reserve Josef Straub. He kept to this story for nearly two months, before admitting to being Jürgen Stroop on July 2.
He was then put on trial by the U.S. Military Tribunal at Dachau
Dachau
Dachau is a town in Upper Bavaria, in the southern part of Germany. It is a major district town—a Große Kreisstadt—of the administrative region of Upper Bavaria, about 20 km north-west of Munich. It is now a popular residential area for people working in Munich with roughly 40,000 inhabitants...
(Dachau Trials) for the summary execution
Summary execution
A summary execution is a variety of execution in which a person is killed on the spot without trial or after a show trial. Summary executions have been practiced by the police, military, and paramilitary organizations and are associated with guerrilla warfare, counter-insurgency, terrorism, and...
s of Allied airmen (Fliegermorde), shot down over Germany in his field of command. On March 21, 1947, he was sentenced to death by the tribunal. However, that sentence was not carried out; instead, he was extradited for trial in the People's Republic of Poland
People's Republic of Poland
The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
.
While awaiting trial in Warsaw's Mokotów Prison
Mokotów Prison
Mokotów Prison is a prison in Warsaw's borough of Mokotów, Poland, located at Rakowiecka 37 street. It was built by the Russians in the final years of the foreign Partitions of Poland...
, Stroop was placed in the same cell with Kazimierz Moczarski
Kazimierz Moczarski
Kazimierz Damazy Moczarski was a Polish writer and journalist, officer of the Polish Home Army...
, an anti-communist political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
who had been jailed by the Poland's Ministry of Public Security
Ministry of Public Security of Poland
The Ministry of Public Security of Poland was a Polish communist secret police, intelligence and counter-espionage service operating from 1945 to 1954 under Jakub Berman of the Politburo...
. In conversation with Moczarski, Stroop gleefully recalled the destruction of Warsaw's Great Synagogue,
On July 23, 1951, after a trial lasting three days, a Polish court sentenced Stroop and Franz Konrad
Franz Konrad (SS officer)
Franz Konrad was an Austrian SS Hauptsturmführer and as an administrative officer responsible for the Werteerfassung or "valued acquisitions" in the Warsaw Ghetto...
to death by hanging
Death by hanging
Death by hanging may refer to:* Hanging* Death by Hanging, a 1968 film by Nagisa Oshima...
. Stroop was hanged on March 6, 1952, outside the Mokotow prison in Warsaw.
Legacy
After his release in 1956, Moczarski wrote a book about his time with Stroop, titled Rozmowy z katem (Conversations with an Executioner). Portions of the book appeared in newspapers and magazines in parts while Moczarski was still alive. The entire manuscript was not published in its complete form until after Moczarski's death, posthumously published in 1977. Another edition was released in 1981. Conversations with an Executioner has since been translated into several languages.In popular culture
- In the 1976 film The Eagle Has LandedThe Eagle Has Landed (film)The Eagle Has Landed is a 1976 film version of the novel The Eagle Has Landed by Jack Higgins. It was directed by John Sturges and starred Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland and Robert Duvall...
, Jürgen Stroop is portrayed by the German actor Joachim HansenJoachim Hansen (actor)Joachim Hansen was a German actor. He was best known for film roles in the 1960s and 1970s where he was often cast in roles portraying Nazi officers and World War II German officials....
(the character is simply referred to as "Herr Gruppenführer" and not by Stroop's actual name, although in the source novelThe Eagle Has LandedThe Eagle Has Landed is a book by Jack Higgins set during World War II. It first published in 1975. It was made into a film of the same name in 1976 starring Michael Caine...
by Jack HigginsJack HigginsJack Higgins is the principal pseudonym of UK novelist Harry Patterson. Patterson is the author of more than 60 novels. As Higgins, most have been thrillers of various types and, since his breakthrough novel The Eagle Has Landed in 1975, nearly all have been bestsellers...
, Stroop's name is used).
- In the 2001 film UprisingUprising (film)Uprising is a 2001 war/drama television movie about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The film was directed by Jon Avnet and written by Avnet and Paul Brickman...
, Stroop is depicted by the American actor Jon VoightJon VoightJonathan Vincent "Jon" Voight is an American actor. He has received an Academy Award, out of four nominations, and three Golden Globe Awards, out of nine nominations. Voight is the father of actress Angelina Jolie....
.
- In the 2006 Polish television film Rozmowy z katem (Conversations with an Executioner), based on Kazimierz MoczarskiKazimierz MoczarskiKazimierz Damazy Moczarski was a Polish writer and journalist, officer of the Polish Home Army...
's memoir, Stroop is played by the actor Piotr FronczewskiPiotr FronczewskiPiotr Fronczewski , is a Polish actor and singer.As a fictional character Franek Kimono he issued a disco LP in 1983 which was meant to be a musical joke but turned out to be a great success. Fronczewski started his acting career playing in the theater. He also performed in cabarets...
.
Quote
- "We lost the war for one reason only! The plotting of internationalist factions. The Communists, Socialists, Jews, Reactionaries, Anglo-Saxons, Freemasons, and Catholic elements tore our nation apart. What's more, the Reich could never have been defeated without the help of traitors like CanarisWilhelm CanarisWilhelm Franz Canaris was a German admiral, head of the Abwehr, the German military intelligence service, from 1935 to 1944 and member of the German Resistance.- Early life and World War I :...
, Goerdeler, Stauffenberg, ThalmannErnst ThälmannErnst Thälmann was the leader of the Communist Party of Germany during much of the Weimar Republic. He was arrested by the Gestapo in 1933 and held in solitary confinement for eleven years, before being shot in Buchenwald on Adolf Hitler's orders in 1944...
, Schumacher, Niemöller, KlugeGünther von KlugeGünther Adolf Ferdinand “Hans” von Kluge was a German military leader. He was born in Posen into a Prussian military family. Kluge rose to the rank of Field Marshal in the Wehrmacht. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords...
, PaulusFriedrich PaulusFriedrich Wilhelm Ernst Paulus was an officer in the German military from 1910 to 1945. He attained the rank of Generalfeldmarschall during World War II, and is best known for having commanded the Sixth Army's assault on Stalingrad during Operation Blue in 1942...
, Pieck, and scum like that Norwegian Willy BrandtWilly BrandtWilly Brandt, born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm , was a German politician, Mayor of West Berlin 1957–1966, Chancellor of West Germany 1969–1974, and leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany 1964–1987....
. History proves that we were too liberal, Herr Moczarski. We should have muzzled those scoundrels more tightly."
- "How could they consider harming their Fuehrer? Adolf HitlerAdolf HitlerAdolf 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...
was placed on earth by a higher power, perhaps WotanOdinOdin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....
himself, to fulfill a sacred mission. The July conspiracy was an example of the moral decay that proved to be out undoing. It would have been impossible to defeat Germany without German participation, Herr Moczarski. If it hadn't been for negligence disguised as tolerance, we could have held off the whole world. Instead, we allowed degenerate forces to pollute our healthy masses. A few weaklings poisoned by enemy agents and infected with subversive ideologies were all it took to undermine us. The minute we suffered military defeats, the cancerous elements in our society swung into action, organizing MafiasGerman ResistanceThe German resistance was the opposition by individuals and groups in Germany to Adolf Hitler or the National Socialist regime between 1933 and 1945. Some of these engaged in active plans to remove Adolf Hitler from power and overthrow his regime...
and creating 'patriotic discussion groups.' In the end, they destroyed our nation."
External links
- Jurgen Stroop Table of Contents (Jewish Virtual LibraryJewish Virtual LibraryJewish Virtual Library is an online encyclopedia published by the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise . Established in 1993, it is a comprehensive website covering Israel, the Jewish people, and Jewish culture.-History:...
)