Georg Loerner
Georg Nikolaus Lörner (born February 17, 1899 in Munich ; † April 21, 1959 in Rastatt ) was a German SS group leader and lieutenant general of the Waffen SS who was indicted during the Nuremberg trials and convicted as a war criminal.
First years, training and job
Lörner, son of a master locksmith, attended elementary and high school . After that, Lörner worked for a bank from August 1916 to early June 1917 in order to orientate himself professionally. He was then trained as a recruit on a heavy machine gun with the 1st Infantry Regiment "König" of the Bavarian Army during the First World War , and from the beginning of June 1918 he was employed as a machine-gun leader with the 19 Reserve Infantry Regiment on the western front. After a serious injury to the knee, several hospital stays followed from the end of July 1918 to the end of August 1919 . He then retired from military service as a war disabled with the rank of corporal and officer candidate .
He then studied at the commercial college in Munich, where he graduated as a businessman in July 1921. Lörner then worked for Commerz- und Privatbank AG in Munich until the end of December 1922. He then became managing director of his brother Hans Lörner's iron construction company, until this company had to cease operations in February 1930 for economic reasons. This was followed by a phase of unemployment until July 1932. In the meantime, hospital and rehabilitation stays followed due to the serious war injury.
Political activity, time of National Socialism and SS leader
Lörner was a member of the Bavarian People's Party from 1928 to 1931 before becoming a member of the NSDAP ( membership number 676.772) in November 1931 . From July 1932 Lörner was a member of the SS (SS no.37.719). In the SS, Lörner rose to SS-Gruppenführer and Lieutenant General of the Waffen-SS in November 1943. After the seizure of power by the Nazis , he was in May 1935 at the SS administration office in Munich operates. There he was responsible for clothing and equipment issues. In the Main Office for Household and Buildings, Lörner was head of Office I (Household) from April 1939 and temporarily deputy to Oswald Pohl . After the outbreak of the Second World War , Lörner was from July 1941, together with Pohl, managing director of the Deutsche Wirtschaftsbetriebe (DWB).
From February 1942 Lörner was head of Office Group B - Troop Economy in the SS Economic Administration Main Office (WVHA). In mid-September 1943 he was again Oswald Pohl's representative as head of the WVHA. Lörner was a co-founder of Ostindustrie GmbH (Osti) in Lublin , which was founded in March 1943 to steal Jewish property and exploit Jewish workers before they were ultimately killed. At the end of January 1945, Lörner was transferred to the Army Administration Office for another four months.
post war period
After his arrest, Lörner was arrested and charged with 17 other accused in the trial against the SS Economic and Administrative Office before an American military court. His defense attorney was Carl Haensel . In this trial, also called the Pohl trial because of the indictment against the head of the SS Economic and Administrative Main Office Oswald Pohl , Lörner was found guilty of war crimes , crimes against humanity and membership in criminal organizations . Because of his organizational involvement in concentration camp crimes , Lörner was sentenced to death on November 3, 1947 . The sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in August 1948 and reduced to 15 years in 1951. Lörner was imprisoned in the Landsberg War Crimes Prison, from which he was released early on March 31, 1954.
literature
- Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich . Who was what before and after 1945 . 2nd Edition. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8 .
- Walter Naasner (ed.): SS economy and SS administration. The SS Economic Administration Main Office and the economic enterprises under its supervision. Droste Verlag, Düsseldorf 1998, publications of the Federal Archives: 45a, ISBN 3-7700-1603-3 .
- Records of the United States Nuremberg War Crimes Trials. Vol. V. United States Government Printing Office , District of Columbia 1950. (Volume 5 of the " Green Series ").
- Jan Erik Schulte : Forced Labor and Extermination: The Economic Empire of the SS. Oswald Pohl and the SS Economic Administration Main Office 1933-1945. Paderborn 2001, ISBN 3-506-78245-2 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Walter Naasner (Ed.): SS-Wirtschaft und SS-Verwaltung , Düsseldorf 1998, p. 344f.
- ^ A b Jan Erik Schulte: Forced Labor and Destruction: The Economic Empire of the SS. Oswald Pohl and the SS Economic Administration Main Office 1933-1945. Paderborn 2001, p. 471.
- ^ A b Ernst Klee: Das Personenlexikon zum Third Reich , Frankfurt am Main 2007, p. 377.
- ↑ Johannes Tuchel : Case 4: The trial against Oswald Pohl and other members of the SS Economic and Administrative Main Office . In: Gerd R. Ueberschär (Hrsg.): National Socialism in front of a court. The allied trials of war criminals and soldiers 1943–1952 (= Fischer pocket books. The time of National Socialism 13589). Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1999, ISBN 3-596-13589-3 , pp. 110ff.
- ^ Records of the United States Nuremberg War Crimes Trials , Vol. V. District of Columbia 1950, p. 199.
- ^ Records of the United States Nuremberg War Crimes Trials , Vol. V. District of Columbia 1950, p. 1010
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Loerner, Georg |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Lörner, Georg Nikolaus (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German SS group leader and lieutenant general of the Waffen SS |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 17, 1899 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Munich |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 21, 1959 |
| Place of death | Rastatt |