Execution of Friedrich Jeckeln -Brutal NAZI SS General whose Execution turned into Theater of Horror
Execution of Friedrich Jeckeln -Brutal NAZI SS General whose Execution turned into Theater of Horror
Execution of Friedrich Jeckeln -Brutal Nazi SS General whose Execution turned into Theater of Horror. The 1st of September 1939. Nazi Germany invades Poland, and the German Army is followed by the Einsatzgruppen which are Nazi mobile death squads sent to Poland to kill the civilians, mostly the Polish intelligentsia such as teachers, priests, physicians, and other prominent members of Polish society. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, these paramilitary death squads working with units of the German armed forces and local collaborators, will conduct mass shooting operations targeting mostly Jews, Romani, Soviet officials, and other people with disabilities. From 1941 to 1945, while operating behind the front line in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe, the Einsatzgruppen will murder around 2 million innocent men, women and children accounting for one third of all Jewish Holocaust victims. One of the main perpetrators of these atrocities is Friedrich Jeckeln.
Friedrich August Jeckeln was born on the 2nd of February 1895 in Hornberg, then part of the German Empire. Upon the outbreak of World War I on the 28th of July 1914, Jeckeln served on the western front first as an artillery officer and then as a pilot trainee but in 1916 he was badly wounded. Following Germany’s defeat, he was discharged from the army and worked on a farm in the Free City of Danzig. He married Charlotte Hirsch, a daughter of the farm’s owner and had 3 children together but he filed for divorce in 1927 because of Charlotte father’s alleged Jewish background. By this time Friedrich Jeckeln was a fanatical antisemite and anti-communist. In 1929 he joined the Nazi party and one year later he joined the SS.
The SS – Schutzstaffel or Protection Squads - was originally established in April 1925 to protect Adolf Hitler and other Nazi leaders and speakers and provide security for political meetings. SS members were subject to strict military discipline and swore an oath of complete loyalty to Hitler and those appointed by him. In January 1929 Heinrich Himmler became the head of the SS and the organization greatly expanded in size and strength. By the time Hitler came into power in 1933, Himmler had made the SS the dominant organization within the Reich. From the beginning of the Nazi regime, Hitler entrusted the SS first and foremost with the removal and eventual murder of political and so-called racial enemies of the regime. The SS became a virtual state within a state in Nazi Germany and was staffed by men who perceived themselves as the “racial elite” of the Nazi future. From 1939, the SS assumed responsibility for “solving” the so-called Jewish Question which then culminated in 1941, when the leadership planned, coordinated and directed the so-called Final Solution. This “solution” was the genocide of European Jews during World War II.; also known as the Holocaust. SS officers were directly responsible for the management of concentration camps, where millions of Jews were murdered by poison gas.
Jeckeln, from 1933 a member of the Reichstag - the German parliament, was known to be ruthless, brutal, self-indulgent and hard. He relentlessly pursued political opponents, especially communists, social democrats and the unions, and was primarily responsible for the murders of eleven communists and labor organizers in German Rieseberg on 4th of July 1933. These murders were carried out by SS members with extraordinary brutality.
The Second World War began on the 1st of September, 1939 when Germany invaded Poland. Nazi Germany possessed overwhelming military superiority over Poland. Germany launched the unprovoked attack at dawn on the 1st of September with an advance force consisting of more than 2,000 tanks supported by nearly 900 bombers and over 400 fighter planes. In all, Germany deployed 60 divisions and nearly 1.5 million men in the invasion. The assault on Poland demonstrated Germany’s ability to combine air power and armor in a new kind of mobile warfare. The world adopted a new term to describe Germany’s successful war tactic: Blitzkrieg, or “lightning war.”
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Content
0.66 -> The 1st of September 1939. Nazi Germany invades
Poland, and the German Army is followed by the
8.46 -> Einsatzgruppen which are Nazi mobile death
squads sent to Poland to kill the civilians,
13.44 -> mostly the Polish intelligentsia such
as teachers, priests, physicians,
18.18 -> and other prominent members of Polish society.
After the German invasion of the Soviet Union
23.34 -> in June 1941, these paramilitary death squads
working with units of the German armed forces and
29.64 -> local collaborators, will conduct mass shooting
operations targeting mostly Jews, Romani, Soviet
35.94 -> officials, and other people with disabilities.
From 1941 to 1945, while operating behind the
43.08 -> front line in Nazi-occupied Eastern
Europe, the Einsatzgruppen will murder
46.86 -> around 2 million innocent men, women and children
accounting for one third of all Jewish Holocaust
52.8 -> victims. One of the main perpetrators of
these atrocities is Friedrich Jeckeln.
58.08 -> Friedrich August Jeckeln was born on the 2nd of
February 1895 in Hornberg, then part of the German
65.64 -> Empire. Upon the outbreak of World War I on the
28th of July 1914, Jeckeln served on the western
72.54 -> front first as an artillery officer and then as
a pilot trainee but in 1916 he was badly wounded.
78.66 -> Following Germany’s defeat, he was discharged
from the army and worked on a farm in the Free
83.76 -> City of Danzig. He married Charlotte Hirsch, a
daughter of the farm’s owner and had 3 children
89.22 -> together but he filed for divorce in 1927 because
of Charlotte father’s alleged Jewish background.
95.1 -> By this time Friedrich Jeckeln
was a fanatical antisemite and
99 -> anti-communist. In 1929 he joined the Nazi
party and one year later he joined the SS.
105.6 -> The SS – Schutzstaffel or Protection Squads - was
originally established in April 1925 to protect
112.44 -> Adolf Hitler and other Nazi leaders and speakers
and provide security for political meetings.
117.84 -> SS members were subject to strict military
discipline and swore an oath of complete
122.28 -> loyalty to Hitler and those appointed by him.
In January 1929 Heinrich Himmler became the
128.16 -> head of the SS and the organization greatly
expanded in size and strength. By the time
133.56 -> Hitler came into power in 1933, Himmler had
made the SS the dominant organization within
139.62 -> the Reich. From the beginning of the Nazi
regime, Hitler entrusted the SS first and
144.72 -> foremost with the removal and eventual
murder of political and so-called racial
148.62 -> enemies of the regime. The SS became a virtual
state within a state in Nazi Germany and was
154.5 -> staffed by men who perceived themselves
as the “racial elite” of the Nazi future.
158.52 -> From 1939, the SS assumed responsibility for
“solving” the so-called Jewish Question which
165.36 -> then culminated in 1941, when the leadership
planned, coordinated and directed the so-called
171.12 -> Final Solution. This “solution” was the genocide
of European Jews during World War II.; also
177.84 -> known as the Holocaust. SS officers were
directly responsible for the management
182.22 -> of concentration camps, where millions
of Jews were murdered by poison gas.
187.2 -> Jeckeln, from 1933 a member of the Reichstag -
the German parliament, was known to be ruthless,
193.2 -> brutal, self-indulgent and hard. He
relentlessly pursued political opponents,
198.78 -> especially communists, social democrats and the
unions, and was primarily responsible for the
204.06 -> murders of eleven communists and labor organizers
in German Rieseberg on 4th of July 1933.
210.18 -> These murders were carried out by SS
members with extraordinary brutality.
214.92 -> The Second World War began on the 1st of
September, 1939 when Germany invaded Poland.
221.46 -> Nazi Germany possessed overwhelming military
superiority over Poland. Germany launched the
227.52 -> unprovoked attack at dawn on the 1st of September
with an advance force consisting of more than
232.92 -> 2,000 tanks supported by nearly 900 bombers and
over 400 fighter planes. In all, Germany deployed
239.58 -> 60 divisions and nearly 1.5 million men in the
invasion. The assault on Poland demonstrated
245.4 -> Germany’s ability to combine air power and armor
in a new kind of mobile warfare. The world adopted
251.4 -> a new term to describe Germany’s successful
war tactic: Blitzkrieg, or “lightning war.”
256.98 -> Poland found itself fighting a two front war
when the Soviet Union invaded from the east on
262.14 -> the 17th of September, sealing Poland’s fate. The
Polish government fled the country that same day.
268.32 -> The last operational Polish unit surrendered on
the 6th of October. After Poland’s defeat in early
274.38 -> October 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union
divided the country in accordance with a secret
279.78 -> protocol to the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact.
After the outbreak of war, Jeckeln was called up
285.78 -> to active duty in the Waffen-SS and served as an
officer in the SS panzer division. The Panzer tank
291.78 -> divisions were vital to the German army's early
success. In the strategies of the Blitzkrieg,
296.82 -> the Wehrmacht combined the mobility of light tanks
with airborne assault to quickly progress through
301.8 -> weak enemy lines, which enabled the German
army to take over Poland and later France.
306.24 -> These tanks were used to break through enemy
lines, isolating regiments from the main force
311.46 -> so that the infantry behind the tanks could
quickly kill or capture the enemy troops.
315.48 -> On June 22, 1941, Hitler ordered the invasion
of the Soviet Union, which was code-named
322.2 -> Operation Barbarossa, deliberately breaking
the nonaggression pact that the two countries
326.52 -> had signed two years before. The primary goal of
Operation Barbarossa was to conquer the Soviet
332.16 -> Union, eliminate Soviet military capabilities,
and acquire Lebensraum meaning living space for
337.74 -> the German population. From the Nazis’ point
of view Operation Barbarossa was supposed to
342.84 -> be fought as a racial war against the Jewish and
Slavic races. German military officers believed
348.72 -> they were not just officers but also leaders
in a racial struggle against Jewish Bolshevism.
353.46 -> German soldiers were advised by their generals
to smash Russia into rubble and this should have
358.92 -> been carried out with unprecedented harshness.
Right after Germany attacked the Soviet Union,
363.9 -> Jeckeln’s front line service was terminated, and
he was transferred by Heinrich Himmler to serve
369.36 -> as Higher SS and Police Leader of Southern
Russia. In this role Jeckeln assumed control
374.82 -> of all SS-Einsatzgruppen mass killings
and security operations in his district.
379.92 -> Shortly after Nazi Germany's ally Hungary
declared war on the Soviet Union on June 27, 1941,
386.7 -> it was decided that the Jews living in Hungary
who could not document their Hungarian citizenship
391.32 -> would be deported. Many Jewish communities,
especially in the Transcarpathian Ukraine,
396.78 -> then under Hungarian control, were deported in
their entirety. The Hungarians loaded Jews into
402.72 -> freight cars and took them to Korosmezo,
near the prewar Hungarian-Polish border,
407.16 -> where they were transferred across the former
Soviet border and handed over to the Germans.
412.02 -> By August 10, 1941, approximately 14,000 Jews had
been deported from Hungary to German-controlled
419.16 -> territory. The Hungarian authorities transferred
another 4,000 Jews later in the month. These Jews
425.4 -> were then taken to a hastily prepared ghetto in
Kamenets-Podolsk, a city in the western Ukraine,
430.56 -> already occupied by Germany. At first the
Nazis did not know what to do with all the
435.54 -> Jews because the ghetto was lacking basic
sanitary services and a solution needed to
439.8 -> be found quickly. The solution came in the form
of Higher SS and Police Leader Friedrich Jeckeln,
445.8 -> who arrived in Kamenets-Podolsk on August 26,
1941, to personally conduct the coming Action.
452.46 -> The systematic killing of Hungarian Jewish
deportees along with local Jews began on
458.52 -> August 27, one day after his arrival.
In late August, a Hungarian transport
463.2 -> unit passed through Kamenets-Podolsk and a truck
driver named Gyula Spitz saw what was happening.
469.08 -> Spitz acted quickly: Positioning his camera so
that it was half-hidden behind the steering wheel,
474.54 -> he snapped a handful of photographs of the
refugees on their final march. The Jews were
480 -> taken in groups to the outskirts of the city and
executed. The victims were forced to undress,
485.28 -> and then were systematically shot, their
bodies falling into the pits. Over the
490.56 -> course of just two days, the Germans and
their proxies killed some 23,600 Jews,
495.96 -> which happened to be the first mass killing
of the Holocaust to reach five digits. For
500.4 -> Friedrich Jeckeln, however, the massacre at
Kamianets-Podilskyi was just the beginning.
504.6 -> On the 19th of September 1941, German
forces entered the city of Kyiv,
510.18 -> the capital of Ukraine. Along with a large
part of German-occupied Ukraine, the city
515.22 -> was incorporated into the Reichskommissariat
Ukraine which had been established on the 1st
519.66 -> of September with Erich Koch as administrator.
Before the German invasion, some 160,000
525.78 -> Jews resided in Kyiv which was approximately
20 percent of the total population of the
530.1 -> capital. Following the start of Operation
Barbarossa in June 1941, approximately 100,000
536.22 -> Jews fled the city or were already serving in the
Soviet military. By the time the Germans occupied
541.68 -> Kyiv, there were about 60,000 Jews remaining in
the city. Those who remained were mostly women,
547.38 -> children, the elderly, those who were ill or those
who had been unable or unwilling to flee earlier.
553.44 -> Between 20 and 28 September, explosives planted
by the Soviet secret police - the NKVD - caused
560.46 -> extensive damage in the city. These explosions not
only destroyed the German headquarters and areas
565.92 -> around the main street of the city center but
also killed many German soldiers and officials.
570.18 -> The Germans used the sabotage as a pretext
to murder those Jews who remained in Kyiv.
576 -> On the 28th of September, the Jews were ordered
to assemble the next morning for resettlement.
580.98 -> Although only a participation of approximately
5-6,000 Jews had been expected at first,
585.9 -> more than 30,000 Jews arrived who, until
the very moment of their execution,
590.34 -> still believed that they would be resettled,
thanks to extremely clever organization.
595.26 -> They were made to march to a ravine called
Babi Yar or Babyn Yar which at the time,
600.18 -> was located just outside the city. According
to the testimony of a truck driver named Hofer,
605.7 -> victims were ordered to undress and were beaten
if they resisted: '’I watched what happened when
610.26 -> the Jews—men, women and children—arrived.
Auxiliary police led them past several
615.6 -> different places where one after the other they
had to give up their luggage, then their coats,
619.86 -> shoes and underwear. They also had to leave
their valuables in a designated place. There
625.74 -> was a special pile for each article of
clothing. It all happened very quickly
629.76 -> and anyone who hesitated was kicked or pushed by
the police to keep them moving. Once undressed,
635.52 -> they were led to the ravine which was about 150
meters long and 30 meters wide and a good 15
640.92 -> meters deep. When they reached the bottom of the
ravine they were seized by members of the SS and
646.8 -> made to lie down on top of Jews who had already
been shot. The corpses were literally in layers.
652.62 -> A police marksman came along and shot each Jew
in the neck with a submachine gun. I saw these
658.98 -> marksmen stand on layers of corpses and shoot
one after the other. The marksman would walk
664.32 -> across the bodies of the executed Jews to the next
Jew, who had meanwhile laid down, and shoot him’’.
669.54 -> In the evening, the Germans undermined the wall of
the ravine and buried the people under the thick
674.64 -> layers of earth. The money, valuables, underwear,
and clothing of the murdered were turned over
680.16 -> to the local ethnic Germans and to the Nazi
administration of the city. Wounded victims
684.96 -> were buried alive in the ravine along with the
rest of the bodies. According to reports sent
689.82 -> to the SS headquarters in Berlin, 33,771 Jews
were massacred during this two-day period and
696.96 -> it was one of the largest mass killings
at a single location during World War II.
700.86 -> At least 29 survivors are known. One of them is
Dina Pronicheva, who was one of those ordered to
707.16 -> march to the ravine, to be forced to undress and
then to be shot. In one of her written postwar
712.8 -> testimonies Pronicheva described what she saw at
Babi Yar: “Each time I saw a new group of men,
718.32 -> women, elderly people, and children being forced
to take off their clothes, all of them were being
723.84 -> taken to an open pit where submachine-gunners
shot them. Then another group was brought…. With
729.84 -> my own eyes I saw this horror. Although I was
not standing close to the pit, terrible cries
735.3 -> of panic-stricken people and quiet children’s
voices calling “Mother, mother…” reached me”.
742.02 -> Jumping before being shot
and falling on other bodies,
745.26 -> Pronicheva survived by playing
dead in a pile of corpses.
748.98 -> However, the killings at Babi Yar continued.
Over the next few months, thousands more were
754.98 -> murdered there, including Jews, Gypsies, and
Soviet prisoners of war. Those who attempted
760.74 -> to hide were turned over to the Germans by
the Ukrainians. In all, some 100,000 people,
765.84 -> Jews and non-Jews, were killed at Babi Yar.
Friedrich Jecklen, who organized the massacre,
771.36 -> was the first one to brag to Heinrich Himmler
about the results of the 'successful' operation.
775.56 -> On November 5, 1941, Jeckeln's crew of about 50
killers and supporting personnel arrived in Riga,
782.94 -> the capital of German-occupied Latvia. Himmler
wanted to eliminate the Latvian Jews in Riga
788.1 -> so that Jews from Germany and Austria could
be deported to a ghetto located southeast
792.72 -> of the city and housed in their place.
Himmler told Jeckeln to kill the entire
797.28 -> Riga ghetto and Jecklen himself chose the
Rumbula forest, located about 15 kilometers
802.26 -> southeast of Riga, where the massacre was
about to happen. On November 30, 1941, around
809.34 -> 25,000 Jews were roused by the Security Police
out of their houses in the ghetto and then
813.78 -> organized into columns of 1000 people.
The killing would be done according to
818.58 -> the ''Jeckeln system'' or sardine packing, as
Jecklen proudly called it. The killing method
824.1 -> had already been applied during the previous
massacres in Ukraine. It basically meant that
828.84 -> the Jewish population was assembled, marched
several kilometers to the killing fields,
832.8 -> stripped of their clothing and valuables and
forced to lie down on the floor of the trench
837.3 -> to be shot. It's estimated that between 25,000
to 27,000 Jews were killed during the Rumbula
843.48 -> massacre. Only a small number of individuals
managed to escape or hide, with most perishing
848.76 -> in the forest. It was reported that even some of
the experienced Einsatzgruppen killers claimed to
854.58 -> have been horrified by its cruelty. In order
to address the concerns of the horrified SS
859.38 -> soldiers future mass murders of Jews were carried
out in gas chambers rather than by shooting.
865.2 -> The Soviet victory at Stalingrad, on February 2,
1943, was a major turning point in the war. It was
872.28 -> the first decisive defeat for the German army and
signaled the beginning of the end of Nazi Germany.
877.68 -> 2 years later in April 1945, during the battle
of Berlin, the Red Army launched a massive
883.32 -> assault on the German capital, resulting in
the capture of the city by Soviet troops.
888.78 -> The fall of Berlin and the subsequent suicide of
Adolf Hitler were symbolic events that indicated
894.3 -> the imminent collapse of Nazi Germany and
meant justice would be served to many Nazi
899.28 -> criminals . Friedrich Jeckeln, who was the General
of the Waffen-SS and Police from July 1944,
905.28 -> was one of them. He was captured by Soviet
troops near Halbe in Germany, on 28 April 1945.
912.54 -> Between 26 January - 3 February 1946,
along with other Nazis who served in the
918.66 -> Riga military district, Jeckeln was tried
before a Soviet military tribunal in Riga.
923.52 -> During the investigation, he was calm,
answering questions from the investigators
928.08 -> and agreed to bear full responsibility for his
activities resulting in deaths of over 100,000
933.72 -> Jews and others designated by
the Nazis as "undesirables."
937.62 -> During his concluding speech, Jeckeln,
940.56 -> who looked dull and impartial
in the dock, said the following:
943.44 -> “I have to take full responsibility for what
happened in the borders of Ostland, within SS,
948.66 -> SD and the Gestapo. This greatly increases my
guilt. My fate is in the hands of the High Court,
955.26 -> and so I ask only to pay attention to
mitigating circumstances. I will accept
961.02 -> a sentence in full repentance which I
will consider as worthy punishment.”
965.94 -> On the 3 February 1946, one
day after his 51st birthday,
970.5 -> the tribunal found Friedrich Jeckeln guilty
and sentenced him to death by hanging.
975.54 -> His execution was held publicly on the same day
and became a theater of horror. More than 4000
981.96 -> people, gathered in the Riga Victory
Square to witness the execution of the
985.8 -> man who was personally responsible for
ordering and organising the deaths of
990.18 -> over 100,000 innocent men, women and children.
There were no tears shed for Friedrich Jeckeln.
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