Alois Knäbel

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Alois Knäbel (born August 29, 1902 in Stollhofen , † July 25, 1965 in Ludwigshafen ) was a German Waffen SS member, most recently with the rank of Sturmbannführer , and a war criminal .

Life

Alois Knäbel grew up in a German national family. The parents worked as farmers. On March 2, 1919, at the age of 16, he volunteered for Major General Georg Maercker's Freikorps . This consisted mainly of former soldiers from his 214th Division , but also of volunteers like Alois Knäbel. The Freikorps engaged in street fighting against workers 'and soldiers' councils as well as against communist groups during the Spartacus uprising . Knäbel took part in battles in central Germany . When the Freikorps was disbanded, Knäbel signed up for twelve years in the Reichswehr and belonged to an infantry regiment. 1931 was dismissed as a sergeant and found a job in the city administration of Zerbst . In 1933 he began his preparatory service at the AOK .

In 1933 he joined the NSDAP (membership number 1.632.314) and the SS (membership number 141.043). In 1936 he took over the provisional management of an SS-Sturmbannes in Braunschweig. In 1939 he was drafted into the Wehrmacht and was employed as a staff sergeant from 1939 to January 1941 . At the beginning of the attack on the Soviet Union , he was transferred to the Waffen-SS, where he served as a Stabsscharführer . In Kiev he was appointed Untersturmführer . As platoon leader he was in command of the 8th Company of the 8th Regiment of the 1st SS Infantry Brigade. Between 1941 and 1942 he fought in the Minsk and Zwiahel region . In addition to the fighting, he was also involved in so-called “ purges ”, a euphemism for the execution of Jews and other people regarded by the National Socialists as inferior. He took part in mass shootings of Jews in Zwiahel. According to witness statements from accomplices, he was particularly cold-blooded.

He was later used in France, where he was involved in other war crimes. On May 8, 1945, he was taken prisoner by the United States . The Americans transferred him to French jurisdiction on February 27, 1947. On December 8, 1952, he had to answer before a French military court in Lyon for the following offenses:

  • July 21, 1944: Devastation and looting of a farm, murder of three resistance fighters near Saint-Nicolas-des-Biefs
  • August 1944: Deprivation of liberty and torture of three men in Mayet de Montagne
  • August 17-25, 1944: Three brothers whom he suspected to be in the Resistance were arrested and tortured . One of the brothers died of the injuries he had inflicted
  • approx. August 26, 1944: the person responsible for the murder of Paul Castel in Varennes
  • August 26, 1944: Knäbel and his company took part in the murder of five French police officers and one German person who were picked up, tortured and murdered. To cover this up, the Chateau de l'orme-Billy castle , where the prisoners were taken, was blown up
  • Between August 31 and September 4, 1944: 12 men were murdered in Saint Yan , one man was personally murdered, seven looted under his command and six inhabited houses were set on fire

Knäbel was sentenced to death on December 8, 1952 for these crimes, which he vehemently denied . On February 18, 1955, the sentence was commuted to life-long forced labor . The sentence was again reduced to 15 years on June 12, 1956. After further cuts, he was finally released in April 1962 after twelve years of imprisonment.

He returned to Germany and settled in Mutterstadt with his wife and their three children . He worked there as a commercial clerk. On March 12, 1965, the Ludwigshafen District Court issued an arrest warrant for Alois Knäbel. The reason for this were his actions during the Russian campaign. Before the trial could start, however, Alois Knäbel hanged himself in his cell in the court prison in Ludwigshafen.

literature

  • Adalbert Metzinger: Alois Knäbel: From farmer's son to war criminal . In: perpetrators, helpers, free riders. Nazi victims from the south of what is now Baden-Württemberg . Kugelberg Verlag, 2017, ISBN 978-3-945893-08-1 , pp. 161-169 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Adalbert Metzinger: Alois Knäbel: From the farmer's son to a war criminal . In: perpetrators, helpers, free riders. Nazi victims from the south of what is now Baden-Württemberg . Kugelberg Verlag, 2017, ISBN 978-3-945893-08-1 , pp. 161 ff .
  2. ↑ Adalbert Metzinger: Alois Knäbel: From the farmer's son to a war criminal . In: perpetrators, helpers, free riders. Nazi victims from the south of what is now Baden-Württemberg . Kugelberg Verlag, 2017, ISBN 978-3-945893-08-1 , pp. 163 f .
  3. ↑ Did Stalin condone the holocaust? How warped Soviet values ​​may have prevented him stopping Nazi death camps. In: Daily Mail . May 20, 2010, accessed January 27, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Adalbert Metzinger: Alois Knäbel: From the farmer's son to a war criminal . In: perpetrators, helpers, free riders. Nazi victims from the south of what is now Baden-Württemberg . Kugelberg Verlag, 2017, ISBN 978-3-945893-08-1 , pp. 164 ff .
  5. ↑ Adalbert Metzinger: Alois Knäbel: From the farmer's son to a war criminal . In: perpetrators, helpers, free riders. Nazi victims from the south of what is now Baden-Württemberg . Kugelberg Verlag, 2017, ISBN 978-3-945893-08-1 , pp. 166 f .
  6. ↑ Adalbert Metzinger: Alois Knäbel: From the farmer's son to a war criminal . In: perpetrators, helpers, free riders. Nazi victims from the south of what is now Baden-Württemberg . Kugelberg Verlag, 2017, ISBN 978-3-945893-08-1 , pp. 167 f .
personal data
SURNAME Knäbel, Alois
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Waffen SS member and war criminal
DATE OF BIRTH August 29, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Stollhofen
DATE OF DEATH July 25, 1965
Place of death Ludwigshafen