Kurt Gross

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Kurt Groß (born June 5, 1912 in Harrachsdorf , † December 28, 1977 in Munich ) was an Austrian lawyer , National Socialist politician , member of the General SS , officer of the Waffen SS and management consultant .

Life

The son of a family from Moravia and Styria graduated from the secondary school in Graz in 1930 . After studying law for eight semesters at the University of Vienna , Groß was promoted to Dr. jur. PhD . As early as May 4, 1932, Groß joined the Austrian NSDAP and SA (NSDAP No. 1083586) and was accordingly regarded as the party's old fighter ; on January 1, 1933, he was accepted into the SS (SS-No. 309794). According to his own statements, Groß headed the SS storm in the Oberpullendorf district in Burgenland from May 1, 1936 to October 1, 1936 and was also active in the political leadership of the NSDAP , which had been banned in Austria since 1933 . According to his own information, Groß was appointed to the illegal NSDAP Gau leadership of Burgenland on October 1, 1936 and was Gauamtsleiter or Gau managing director of the party, at the same time on the staff of the Gau SS leader of Burgenland. After the annexation of Austria , Gauleiter Tobias Portschy Groß, who played a key role as political leader when the National Socialists came to power in Burgenland, immediately appointed him a member of the Burgenland Parliament in Eisenstadt on March 15, 1938 . After the dissolution of Burgenland in October 1938 was great at first as Regional Inspector and Gauredner active in Gau Styria and Lower Danube and came finally to the 1939 SS Oberabschnitt "Danube" by Vienna ; Head of the staff and full-time district inspector of the NSDAP, district of Vienna. On April 20, 1944 he was promoted to SS-Sturmbannführer of the General SS.

In February 1940, Groß also volunteered for the Waffen SS and came to Munich for training in the "Germany" SS replacement battalion . As SS-Unterscharführer (May 9, 1940) he took part in the 3rd War Leader Course at the SS Junker School in Braunschweig , which he left early at his own request after being used at the front, and returned to the training department in Munich. On August 6, 1940, Groß switched to the II./SS regiment “Der Führer” in the occupied Netherlands (battalion location Steenwijk ) and after a platoon leader course on November 9, 1940, he became SS-Untersturmführer d. R. promoted.

In the II SS Infantry Regiment 11 of the SS Division “Das Reich”, Groß took part in the attack on the Soviet Union as an SS officer from June 22, 1941 , was wounded several times and then came to SS replacement units in Prague and Stralsund ; awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd and 1st class. From July 6, 1942 to February 5, 1943, he was an officer at special disposal (Stabsabteilung, Dept. VI) and corps replenishment leader in the SS Panzer General Command , before joining the Waffen SS Unterführerschule in Radolfzell ( USR) . From April 28, 1943 , Groß was in the rank of SS-Obersturmführer ( SS-Obersturmführer) as head of Staff Department VI ("ideological education") and was thus responsible for the Nazi ideological training of the Unterführer candidates. This was followed by promotions to SS-Hauptsturmführer in 1943 and SS-Sturmbannführer in 1945. Promoted to company commander at the USR, Groß became commander of the newly established USR “Regiment Radolfzell” at the end of 1944, which was involved in heavy fighting over the Alsace bridgehead (December 1944 - January 1945 ) was used against American forces. After his return to Radolfzell, Groß became deputy commander of the USR and remained so until its dissolution on May 3, 1945. Under the impression of general deposition movements by the German units, Groß also withdrew with remnants of the USR towards Vorarlberg and was taken over by the French military authorities eventually arrested and later handed over to the US Military Tribunal.

On July 20, 1944, Groß ordered the killing of two American pilots who had been captured in Öhningen and Wangen and who had jumped off with their parachutes after the air raid on Friedrichshafen . Because of his responsibility for these murders, Groß was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1947 in a Dachau succession and aviator trial.

Already on May 15, 1955, the prematurely released on April 30, 1954 from the Landsberg War Crimes Prison, joined Kienbaum-Unternehmensberatungs-GmbH , Gummersbach, as founding managing director under Gerhard Kienbaum , and worked there in a managerial position until his retirement in 1977 Personnel consulting and management trainees in industry.

literature

  • Pia Bayer, Evelyn Tiefenbach (Red.): The way to the connection. Burgenland fate 1928–1938. (Accompanying volume to the exhibition) (= Scientific works from Burgenland. Vol. 125). Landesmuseum Burgenland, Eisenstadt 2008, ISBN 978-3-85405-168-8 , p. 55 f. and p. 99 f., ( digital version (PDF; 2.75 MB) )
  • Hans-Christian Harten: Himmler's teacher. The ideological training in the SS 1933–1945. Schöningh, Paderborn 2014, ISBN 978-3-506-76644-1 (on Kurt Groß as Head of Department VI in the SS General Command p. 207 and at the USR (Radolfzell) p. 324).
  • Gerhard Kienbaum : In the beginning there was advice. Autobiography. Ullstein, Berlin et al. 1995, ISBN 3-550-06901-4 , p. 239.
  • Gerald Schlag: Burgenland. History, culture and economy in biographies. XX. Century. Rötzer, Eisenstadt 1991, ISBN 3-85374-210-6 , p. 103.
  • Elmar Wiedeking: The end. A search for traces in Hegau, on Lake Constance, in Vorarlberg. Wiedeking, Sipplingen 2013, ISBN 978-3-00-040239-5 , pp. 145 ff.
  • Markus Wolter: Radolfzell in National Socialism. The Heinrich Koeppen barracks as the location of the Waffen SS. In: Writings of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings. Vol. 129, 2011, ISSN  0342-2070 , pp. 247–286, (on Kurt Groß at the USR here the chapter: Die Waffen-SS-Unterführererschule Radolfzell (USR). Pp. 265 ff.).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Pia Bayer, Evelyn Tiefenbach (Red.): The way to the connection. Burgenland fate 1928–1938. 2008, p. 55 f .; see. * Order the new state parliament. In: Pullendorfer Bote. Supplement to the Oberwarther Sunday newspaper. Vol. 59, No. 13, April 3, 1938, p. 1 .
  2. ↑ See SS Personnel File (SSOA), Federal Archives Berlin.
  3. ↑ See Case No 12-43 (US vs. Kurt Gross et al) (September 26 - October 8, 1947) on Jewish Virtual Library.org
  4. ↑ See trials against SS members in Radolfzell, Dachau Flieger Trial, Dr. Kurt Gross ; Wiki page on the Nazi history of Radolfzell; Documentation on Dr. Kurt Gross et al.
  5. ↑ See ibid.
personal data
SURNAME Great Kurt
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian politician (NSDAP), member of the state parliament
DATE OF BIRTH June 5, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Harrachsdorf
DATE OF DEATH December 28, 1977
Place of death Munich