Friedrich-Wilhelm Kruger

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Friedrich-Wilhelm Kruger

Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger , also Wilhelm Krüger (* May 8, 1894 in Strasbourg ; † May 10, 1945 in Gundertshausen , Eggelsberg , Upper Austria ), was a German functionary of the NSDAP , SS-Obergruppenführer, General of the Waffen-SS (1944) and Police General (1941).

Life

Friedrich-Wilhelm was the son of the later Prussian colonel and commander of the infantry regiment "Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia" (2nd Magdeburg) No. 27 Alfred Krüger († August 6, 1914 near Liège) and his wife Helene, née Glünder ( † 1930). His older brother was the later SS-Obergruppenführer and general of the Waffen-SS Walter Krüger .

Krüger left the humanistic high school in Rastatt before graduating from high school and attended the cadet houses in Karlsruhe and Groß-Lichterfelde from 1909 to 1913 . On March 22, 1914, he joined the infantry regiment "von Lützow" (1st Rheinisches) No. 25 of the Prussian Army as a lieutenant . In this regiment, Krüger served as platoon and company commander in the MG company as well as an orderly officer and regimental adjutant during the First World War and was wounded three times. He ended the war as first lieutenant .

In 1919 he belonged to the Iron Flotilla - a regular association of the Provisional Reichsmarine - and in 1920 to the Freikorps Lützow . After retiring from military service in May 1920, he worked in the book trade and with a publishing house until 1923, from 1924 to 1928 as a member of the board of the Berliner Müllabfuhr AG and finally in 1929 as a self-employed businessman. Krüger was married to Elisabeth Rasehorn (born November 15, 1896 in Bad Lausick) since September 16, 1922. The marriage resulted in two sons.

Krüger became a member of the NSDAP in November 1929 ( membership number 171.199). After first joining the SS in February 1931 (SS No. 6.123), he switched to the SA in April 1931 . Through the protection of his personal friend Kurt Daluege , he was elected to the Reichstag in 1932 as a member of the SA group leader in the personal staff of SA chief Ernst Röhm and in 1932 as a member of the NSDAP for constituency 5 Frankfurt an der Oder , to which he belonged until 1945. He took over the training system of the SA and was therefore promoted to SA-Obergruppenführer in June 1933 . After the " Röhm Putsch " he switched back to the SS, where he was allowed to keep his rank as Obergruppenführer in the SS.

Hans Frank at a police parade in Krakow in 1939, Krüger (with steel helmet) behind him
Notice of February 22, 1942 signed by Krüger

Because of his ambition and his loyalty to the party he was appointed by Heinrich Himmler on October 4 (or 14), 1939, to the higher SS and Police Leader (HSSPF Ost) in the General Government. This made him the most powerful man in occupied Poland, where he was responsible for numerous war crimes - including the extermination camps , the forced labor camps , the use of the police and the SS in the evictions of the ghettos , the suppression of the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto , the implementation the “ Aktion Erntefest ”, the fight against partisans in the Generalgouvernement, the terror against the Polish population, mass shootings, the destruction of the Polish ruling classes (including AB-Aktion ) and the expulsion of over 100,000 Polish farmers from the area in the Zamość operation . From May 1942 he also acted as State Secretary for Security in the Government General.

Competence disputes with Governor General Hans Frank led to his dismissal on November 9, 1943, his successor in office was Wilhelm Koppe . In June 1944 he took over command of the 6th SS Mountain Division "North" and from August 1944 to February 1945 was the commanding general of the 5th SS Volunteer Mountain Corps . In February 1945 he was Himmler's representative for the German "Southeast Front", in April and May 1945 commander of a combat group of the Ordnungspolizei at Army Group South , which from May 1, 1945 was called Army Group Ostmark .

Kruger committed on May 10, 1945 in American captivity in Gundertshausen, Upper Austria, suicide .

Awards, Nazi awards

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Friedrich Wilhelm Krüger  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ruth Bettina Birn : The higher SS and police leaders. Himmler's representative in the Reich and in the occupied territories. Düsseldorf 1986, p. 340.
  2. ^ Josef Wulf : The Third Reich and its executors - The liquidation of 500,000 Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto , Berlin 1961, p. 226 f.
  3. ↑ Willi Dreßen , Volker Riess: Exploitation and Destruction. Health policy in the General Government. In: Norbert Frei (Ed.) Medicine and Health Policy in the Nazi Era. R. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 1991 (= writings of the quarterly books for contemporary history. Special issue), ISBN 3-486-64534-X , pp. 157–171, here: p. 158.
  4. ^ Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Frankfurt am Main 2007, p. 343.
  5. ^ Klaus D. Patzwall : The Golden Party Badge and its honorary awards 1934-1944 . Patzwall, Norderstedt 2004, ISBN 3-931533-50-6 . P. 76.
  6. ↑ Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 1939-1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 478.
personal data
SURNAME Kruger, Friedrich-Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kruger, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German SS-Obergruppenführer and General of the Waffen-SS and the Police, German politician (NSDAP), MdR
DATE OF BIRTH May 8, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Strasbourg
DATE OF DEATH May 10, 1945
Place of death Gundertshausen, Eggelsberg, Upper Austria