Konstantin Kammerhofer

Konstantin Kammerhofer in the uniform of an SS-Oberführer (approx. 1938)

Konstantin Kammerhofer (born January 23, 1899 in Turnau ; † September 29, 1958 in Oberstdorf ) was regional leader of the Styrian Homeland Security in Austria during the interwar period, SS group leader , lieutenant general of the police and representative of Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler in the Independent during the Nazi era State of Croatia (NDH).

Life

Kammerhofer was the son of a farmer and mill owner. After attending elementary and middle school, he graduated from business school . Kammerhofer registered with the "Styrian volunteer riflemen" in 1915 and from March 1917 took part in the First World War in the Austro-Hungarian Army . He suffered a war wound on the Italian front , and the multiple award-winning Kammerhofer achieved the rank of private. After the end of the war, Kammerhofer was imprisoned in Italy for a year. Kammerhofer was married from 1924 and the marriage resulted in four children. He was a wine merchant by profession.

Kammerhofer was already involved in the national gymnastics movement and in the Styrian Homeland Security , where he was local and district leader and finally from 1930 one of two deputy country leaders. Kammerhofer was involved in the Pfrimer Putsch in Styria in September 1931 , but was acquitted in the subsequent high treason trial. Kammerhofer belonged to the radical German national and anti-Semitic group in the Styrian Homeland Security around August Meyszner and Hanns Albin Rauter , who, like himself, would later make a career in the Nazi state. From 1932 to 1933, Kammerhofer was the successor of Walter Pfrimer, regional leader of the Styrian Homeland Security and as such was instrumental in the formation of a "combat community" with the National Socialists and ultimately in the merger of his organization with the Sturmabteilung (SA) of the NSDAP , which is illegal in Austria . Kammerhofer headed the "Upper Styria" brigade as SA brigade leader from the end of 1933. Former homeland security functionaries of all ranks received corresponding SA ranks and then also played an essential role in the July coup against the Dollfuss government.

After the failed July coup of 1934, he fled Austria via Yugoslavia to the German Empire . Here he worked in Berlin from January to March 1935 at the refugee relief organization and later joined the General SS (membership number 262.960).

After the “Anschluss” of Austria in March 1938, he rejoined the NSDAP in May 1938 ( membership number 6.165.228). In addition, he was a member of the Reichstag from 1938 (11th electoral period) and councilor in Vienna. Kammerhofer was the bearer of the medal in memory of November 9, 1923 , also known as the " Blood Order ". From 1936 at least until 1941 he was SS leader in the cities of Essen, Bochum and Vienna.

Second World War

At the end of January 1941, Kammerhofer's promotion to SS Brigadefuhrer of the General SS took place ; In this function he was in charge of the Flemish SS in Brussels from June 1941 to March 1942 . From 1942 to 1943 he was SS and police leader of the group "Asserbeidschan", which he had founded in Hindenburg himself.

On July 1, 1943, Kammerhofer was promoted to SS group leader and lieutenant general of the police, and from March 1943 to 1945 Kammerhofer acted as "representative of the Reichsführer SS" analogous to a higher SS and police leader in the independent state of Croatia . After Heinrich Himmler intervened personally with Ante Pavelić , Kammerhofer was able to act almost unhindered in Croatia. Among other things, Kammerhofer had the task of building up mixed German-Croatian police units to fight the partisan and cetnica movements , which were subordinate to his high command. Thus Kammerhofer and the SS had a significant part of the state executive in their hands. The increasing influence of the SS in Croatia led to severe tensions chamber Hofer with the Ustasha regime, the Foreign Office and the German ambassador in Zagreb , Siegfried Kasche . In the fight against partisans, Kammerhofer ordered ruthless action. For example, after an attack in which a high-ranking SS and police functionary fell victim, he had all houses in the vicinity of the crime scene burned down and more than 100 people executed.

After the end of the war

Shortly after the war came Kammerhofer on May 11, 1945 near Salzburg in Allied prisoner of war and was in 1947 Nuremberg heard. He was then extradited to Austria and brought to trial in Graz . However, Kammerhofer was able to flee and go into hiding as a construction worker in Hanover . Exact dates are not known.

On September 29, 1958, Kammerhofer was found dead in a boarding house in Oberstdorf. Whether it was suicide, murder or natural death has not yet been clarified. In Kammerhofer's biographies, Hanover, his last known whereabouts, is often incorrectly stated as the place of death.

literature

Tôviyyã Friedman (ed.): Disciplinary case Konstantin Kammerhofer. Haifa: Institute of Documentation in Israel for the Investigation of Nazi War Crimes 2002.
Wolfgang Graf: Austrian SS generals. Himmler's reliable vassals , Hermagoras-Verlag, Klagenfurt / Ljubljana / Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-7086-0578-4 .
Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007. ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8 . (Updated 2nd edition)
Ruth Bettina Birn : The Higher SS and Police Leaders. Himmler's representative in the Reich and in the occupied territories. Droste Verlag, Düsseldorf, 1986. ISBN 3-7700-0710-7 .
Erich Stockhorst: 5000 people. Who was what in the 3rd Reich . Arndt, Kiel 2000, ISBN 3-88741-116-1 (unchanged reprint of the first edition from 1967).

Web links

Literature by and about Konstantin Kammerhofer in the catalog of the German National Library
Konstantin Kammerhofer in the database of members of the Reichstag

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b Wolfgang Graf: Austrian SS Generals. Himmler's reliable vassals , Hermagoras-Verlag, Klagenfurt / Ljubljana / Vienna 2012, p. 80f
^ ^A ^b ^c Maren Seliger: Sham parliamentism in the Führer state. Community representation in Austrofascism and National Socialism. Functions and political profiles Vienna councilors and councilors 1934–1945 in comparison , Lit-Verlag, Vienna / Berlin, ISBN 978-3-643-50233-9 , p. 478 f.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Edmund Glaise von Horstenau, Peter Broucek (Ed.): A General in Twilight: The Memories of Edmund Glaise von Horstenau , Vienna 1983, p. 190.

personal data
SURNAME	Kammerhofer, Konstantin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German politician (NSDAP), MdR, SS group leader and Heinrich Himmler's representative in Croatia
DATE OF BIRTH	January 23, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH	Turnau
DATE OF DEATH	September 29, 1958
Place of death	Oberstdorf

[Graf80f-1] A ^b Wolfgang Graf: Austrian SS Generals. Himmler's reliable vassals , Hermagoras-Verlag, Klagenfurt / Ljubljana / Vienna 2012, p. 80f

[Seliger478f-2] A ^b ^c Maren Seliger: Sham parliamentism in the Führer state. Community representation in Austrofascism and National Socialism. Functions and political profiles Vienna councilors and councilors 1934–1945 in comparison , Lit-Verlag, Vienna / Berlin, ISBN 978-3-643-50233-9 , p. 478 f.

[Hostenau190-3] Edmund Glaise von Horstenau, Peter Broucek (Ed.): A General in Twilight: The Memories of Edmund Glaise von Horstenau , Vienna 1983, p. 190.