Kurt Riedel

Kurt Arthur Josef Riedel (born August 17, 1903 in Schweidnitz / Lower Silesia; † missing since January 29, 1945 in the Posen area , declared dead on May 10, 1965) was a German police officer and SS leader .

Life and work

Youth and education

Kurt Riedel was born as the son of Justice Inspector Artur Bernhard Josef Riedel (born March 16, 1873 in Ober Tworsimirke (since 1921 Lindental ), Militsch district , † May 27, 1928 in Bad Altheide / Glatz district , Lower Silesia) and his wife Flora Maria Agnes Riedel (née Mücke; born June 4, 1878 in Schweidnitz, † May 7, 1965 in Unterhaching , Munich district). He had two sisters, his twin sister Erna Brockelt (born Riedel; † January 22, 1986) and Hildegard Margarete Viktoria Riedel (born August 26, 1915 in Cosel / Upper Silesia, † January 22, 1997 in Darmstadt).

Kurt Riedel as a student, approx. 1925/26

Kurt Riedel was married to Leonie Margarete Gertrud Ilse Riedel (née Brehmer; * May 15, 1906 in Cosel, † August 18, 1965 in Paderborn ). The marriage resulted in two sons.

From 1908 to 1910 Riedel attended elementary school in Strehlen / Lower Silesia. At Easter 1910 he entered the boys' middle school in Brieg / Lower Silesia. When his father was transferred to Cosel, he became a student at the local state high school. At Easter 1923 he passed the school leaving examination. Riedel then studied law and political science for nine semesters at the Silesian Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Breslau, where in the spring of 1929 he completed a thesis on assumption of debt and a contract in favor of third parties to become a Dr. jur. PhD . He dedicated his dissertation to "the memory of his father".

Unlike most Gestapo officers of his generation, he had in his youth no military association or volunteer corps belongs.

Because Riedel did not pass the 2nd state examination and therefore possibly entered the police service instead of pursuing a legal career, the Israeli historian Shlomo Aronson characterized him in 1971 as a “failed lawyer” who “found accommodation” with the police. In retrospect, Riedel stated in his résumé of November 8, 1938 that he had to finish his studies as a result of the untimely death of his father. He had also received the "summons to the detective inspector's career" while he was still busy with his doctoral thesis.

After joining the police on June 1, 1929, Riedel completed training as a detective inspector candidate for the higher criminal police service at the police headquarters in Breslau . In November 1931 he passed the examination to become a detective at the Berlin-Charlottenburg Police Institute. Subsequently, he worked at the police headquarters in Berlin and Kiel .

Career in the Gestapo

At the end of 1933, Riedel was appointed to the Secret State Police Office (Gestapa) in Berlin. The appointment was probably made through the mediation of Günther Patschowsky , then head of Department III (treason and counter-espionage) of the Gestapa, whom Riedel presumably knew from his time in Breslau. Since apart from Patschowsky and Riedel with Ernst Damzog and Dr. Walter Kubitzky, there were noticeably many detectives from Breslau in leading positions in the Gestapa, research literature also mentions a Silesian group in the Gestapo headquarters, which in addition to the Munich group with Heinrich Müller , Reinhard Flesch , Josef Meisinger and Franz Josef Huber , is considered to be the most important individual group of functionaries in connection with the takeover of the Gestapo by Reinhard Heydrich (appointed head of the Gestapa) and Heinrich Himmler (assumption of the function of inspector) in April 1934.

Heinrich Orb (alias of the German secret service officer Heinrich Pfeifer ), Riedel was in the summer of 1934 "until 1936 and probably later" in the Eastern subdivision (Poland, Russia, Hungary and all Balkan states, as well as the Far East; head of department: Dr. Kubitzki) Main Department III of the Gestapa employed as a clerk for the states of Poland , Czechoslovakia , Hungary and the Balkans . "Detective Inspector Dr. Riedel "was" a still young, relatively correct civil servant and member of the NSDAP before 1933, but not an SD member ".

In fact, Riedel is named in the business distribution plan of the Secret State Police Office of January 22, 1934 as head of Commissariat 4 "Poles, Polish Deserters, Danzig" (Room 232) within Department IV "Treason and Espionage" and - after the departments have been reorganized from May 1934 - His activity as head of Department III 1 A "Poland, Danzig" (room 232) within sub-department III 1 "Treason and Counter-Espionage East" of Main Department III "Abwehrpolizei" (also called Abwehramt ) at least probably at the end of 1934, however Riedel's activity in the Gestapa beyond 1935 appears to be excluded.

Even his claim that Riedel was a member of the NSDAP before 1933 cannot be substantiated; in fact, all available archive materials speak against it. According to the index card he received, he did not join the party until May 1, 1937 ( membership number 4,546,037; application for membership of June 8, 1937).

The former Gestapo employee Hansjürgen Koehler (possibly another pseudonym of Heinrich Pfeifer ) described Riedel in 1940 in exile in Britain in his description of the structure of Main Department III of the Gestapa in 1934 as a “young, very correct man, tall and slim, with a loose posture and drooping shoulders; a smooth, expressionless face; light hair parted in the middle and eyes of a light color ”. Riedel is about 30 years old.

Kurt Riedel with his family in Opole, August 31, 1939

According to various entries in his personnel records, Riedel was between 181 cm and 183 cm tall.

In 1935, Riedel was transferred to the police station in Kassel for a year , where, according to an unprovable testimony of a contemporary witness, he headed Section III (counter-espionage).

From October 1936 he worked as the local Gestapo chief at the Stapostelle in Opole , where he was promoted to the criminal inspector in November 1937.

From October 26 to December 23, 1937, Riedel did his two-month military service (see reintroduction of compulsory military service on March 16, 1935 ). R. and sergeant candidates finished with the I./Flak Regiment 20 (according to mot.) In Breslau.

Riedel was accepted into the SS on September 11, 1938 (SS no.310.125). In accordance with the principle of equalization of rank , he received the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer with simultaneous appointment as SS-Führer in the SD-Hauptamt .

Second World War

During the Second World War , Riedel worked for the Stapo offices in Kattowitz (from April 1940) and Stettin (from July 1941). According to the directory of the Berlin Document Center, he was "Deputy Chief" for the period from August 1940 to July 1941 State police station (from April 1, 1941 state police station ) is said to have been Katowice.

In this capacity, on October 31, 1940, he signed a circular from the state police headquarters in Katowice regarding the deployment of Jews in Upper Silesia, requesting information on the deployment of these workers:

"The Reichsführer SS and Chief d. German police in the RMdI. has deployed the SS-Oberführer and Police President Schmelt to record and control the foreign labor deployment in Upper Silesia . According to the relevant decree, the special representative of the Reichsführer SS for foreign work in Upper Silesia, office in Sosnowitz , Rathausstr. 6, the entire exploitation of the Jewish labor has been transferred. All departments and authorities are required to assist with the planned implementation of the task of the special commissioner with all available means.

In order to have an accelerated overview of the deployment of the Jewish workforce so far, I request that every commercial enterprise, e.g. At present some or more male or female Jews are employed by the hour, by the day or permanently, immediately. by 10 November 1940 at the latest to department J of the special representative of the Reichsführer SS for foreign national labor, a list must be prepared in triplicate, stating:
a) name and exact location of the company,
b) name, exact address of the operating company or trustee or provisional administrator,
c) total number of all employees and workers (sum of ethnic Germans , Polish and Jewish workers),
d) of which Jews,
e) previous wages of Jews, for workers based on hourly wages, for salaried employees according to monthly salary.
f) Was the wages paid to the Jews directly or to whom was it paid?
g) Have wage tax and other statutory deductions been paid for the Jewish workers and
h) have they been paid to which tax fund?
i) For what reasons has the responsible employment office not applied for the assignment of ethnic Germans or, if necessary, Polish workers?

The commercial enterprises must be informed that the necessary reports must be submitted completely, truthfully and on time.

signed Dr. Riedel "

Kurt Riedel with his family, 1941

During the attack on Poland he is said to have been deployed in Czestochowa . What is certain is that on April 20, 1941 - at that time a criminal officer at the SD service at the state police headquarters in Katowice - he was awarded the War Merit Cross, Second Class with Swords.

On May 19, 1941, he announced his resignation from the Roman Catholic Church.

Probably with effect from February 1, 1942, Riedel was appointed criminal director on January 27, 1942. At this time he was already part of the state police headquarters in Szczecin. Riedel's promotion to SS-Sturmbannführer took place on August 26, 1942, with effect from September 1, 1942.

Criminal proceedings against Riedel for alleged violation of the Consumption Regulation Penal Ordinance were discontinued by the SS and Police Court XXIV Stettin on March 14, 1944 . He had previously been charged with having purchased textile goods in Katowice in 1941 without giving points or having obtained them through his wife. Riedel denied having been guilty and assured that he had always submitted the required points. According to the results of the investigation, his information could not be refuted. Apart from that, the recruitment procedure would have according to § 21 Paragraph 1 of the Consumption Regulation Penal Ordinance must take place, since the alleged act would have presented itself only as a violation within the meaning of § 2 paragraph 1 number 1 of the Consumption Regulation Penal Ordinance.

On July 1, 1944, he was seconded to Einsatzgruppe G (first in Romania, later in Hungary) under the leadership of SS-Standartenführer Josef Kreuzer . This was SS-Obergruppenführer and Police General Richard Hildebrandt , subordinate to the Acting Higher SS and Police Leader (HSSPF) Black Sea, but was no longer used.

With effect from November 5, 1944, Riedel was lifted his delegation to the Commander of the Security Police and the SD (BdS) Budapest (formerly Einsatzgruppe G at the HSSPF Black Sea ) to the BdS Krakow for use as Head IV (Gestapo) with the Commander of the Security Police and of the SD (KdS) delegated to Warsaw . His predecessor in this post was SS-Sturmbannführer Walter Stamm (born November 25, 1904 in Braunschweig; SS no. 290.041), who had been employed there since 1941. An SS-Hauptsturmführer named Gotlieb Hohmann (born January 7, 1907 in Remscheid) had held the post for a period of six weeks.

Unexplained fate after 1945

According to later statements by an eyewitness, Riedel is said to have belonged “until the collapse” to the KdS office in Warsaw, where he was employed as head IV. Riedel was stationed in Sochaczew until January 16, 1945 , from where he fought back to Posen when the Red Army broke in , together with other members of his service. In Posen these were then enclosed by the Red Army. After about five weeks, Riedel was said to have been taken prisoner of war by the Soviets on February 22, 1945 "with a remnant of the officials who remained from the agency." He was then in a prisoner assembly camp in Poznan, in which there were a total of about 12,000 prisoners. At this point, Riedel was "physically quite bad, but not bedridden sick". When questioned about his origin, he is said to have referred to the fact that he was most recently a judicial inspector in Stettin. Since he knew the conditions in Szczecin well, he believed that he could also make this claim "reasonably safe". Around the end of March 1945, when around 3,000 prisoners were being transported to Asian Russia, Riedel, along with five or six other members of his department, was still in the camp in Posen.

According to a different statement by another eyewitness, who claims to have only met those named in Posen, there were two people named Riedel among the members of the security police in Posen. With one of them he was subsequently imprisoned, whereas the other fell while attempting to break through. A Dr. Riedel , a member of the security police with the rank of Sturmbannführer, who would have had the rank of criminal inspector or comparable, was present in the last days of the defense of the core works of Posen, the Posen Fortress . On the night of February 23, 1945, attempts were made to get out of “this narrow ring”, but only a few succeeded. Among them, Dr. Riedel have found. After the Poznan fortress was handed over to the Red Army by the commandant on February 23, 1945 at 6:00 a.m., the other police officers were taken into Soviet custody two hours later. "Some time later", when the latter were already in the prison camp, some of those who had succeeded in breaking out on the night of February 23, 1945, rejoined the group. The eyewitness wants to hear from a member of the security police, "the one with Dr. Riedel had been together for a long time ”, learned that Riedel had been killed during the fighting this small division had with the Russians. The eyewitness himself claims to have been transported from Posen to the Soviet Union on one of the last transports at the beginning of October 1945.

Riedel's last sign of life, a field post letter from Posen stating his new field post number 123 321 DV and the comment that he had been assigned to the commander of the security police, is dated January 29, 1945. He has been missing since then.

Kurt Riedel was declared dead on May 10, 1965 by a decision of the Paderborn District Court .

Federal German preliminary investigation

According to available documents from the Ludwigsburg branch of the Federal Archives, Dr. Kurt Riedel, however, was later brought to the Central Office of the State Judicial Administrations to Solve National Socialist Crimes as a co-accused in two federal German investigations.

A case based on the results of the investigation of the Polish main commission for the prosecution of Nazi crimes in Poland was directed against unknown members of the police tribunal in Katowice for the execution of 35 Poles sentenced to death in Katowice on January 18, 1940 after the shortest trial for illegal possession of weapons .

After the documents were sent for evaluation to the central office of the regional justice administration in Ludwigsburg on June 16, 1981, the case was transferred to the Verden regional court for investigation and decision by decision of the Federal Court of Justice of March 11, 1983 . The local public prosecutor's office there finally stopped the investigation because all identified at least eleven people (including Dr. Kurt Riedel) who might have taken part in the court hearing at the time or because of their rank, have now died, lost or no longer able to be questioned were.

Another investigation was directed against unknown members of the Gestapo Opole or unknown members of the subordinate Gestapo branch offices in Neisse and Tillowitz for murder or aiding and abetting murder. They were charged with having shot an imprisoned Polish slave laborer on March 2, 1945 in Neisse, accused of having had an illegal relationship with a Polish widow and stealing vodka and food from a military depot.

This procedure was also preceded by investigations by the Polish Main Commission in Warsaw, the results of which were sent by letter of 10 August 1998 to the Central Office of the State Justice Administration in Ludwigsburg. With the decision of the Federal Court of Justice of June 14, 2000, the matter was transferred to the Bielefeld Regional Court for investigation and decision.

The head of the central office in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia for the processing of National Socialist mass crimes at the Dortmund public prosecutor's office finally put the investigation in accordance with Section 170, Paragraph 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, since six of the approximately 130 identified former members of the Opole Gestapo, of whom it was not known in detail who had also worked in the subordinate branch offices in Neisse and Tillowitz, stated in their interrogations, not being able to remember a shooting while she was working for the Gestapo in Opole or not having been on duty in Opole at the specified time of the crime. All other people - including Dr. Kurt Riedel - had died, had been declared dead or had been missing since the end of the war, so that due to the lack of concrete charges by witnesses and in view of the lack of other evidence, evidence of the crime could not be provided.

However, since Riedel had not been employed as the local Gestapo chief at the Stapo post in Opole since April 1940 at the latest and his known whereabouts towards the end of the war did not match the scene of the crime or he presumed the fortress of Posen before the encirclement and capture by the Red Army in February 1945 has not been able to leave, Riedel's involvement in the latter case appears to be excluded.

Fonts

• Assumption of debt and contract in favor of third parties - Dissertation for obtaining a doctorate from the Faculty of Law and Political Science of the Silesian Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Breslau , Breslau 1929

literature

• Shlomo Aronson: Reinhard Heydrich and the early history of the Gestapo and SD , 1971.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Birth and baptism certificate, year 1873, No. 12, copy from the Freyhan Catholic Parish Office from July 27, 1939
2. ↑ SR Dr. Bauch - General Practitioner - Medical Certificate of Death, Bad Altheide, May 27, 1928
3. ^ Main birth register of the registry office in Schweidnitz, birth certificate no.329 from June 6, 1878, extract from August 11, 1902, copy from November 4, 1936
4. ^ Register office Unterhaching - death certificate No. 9/1965 from May 7, 1965
5. ↑ Baptismal register of the parish church of Cosel / Upper Silesia, copy of the baptismal certificate from March 10, 1936
6. ↑ Kurt Riedel: assumption of debt and contract in favor of third parties - dissertation for obtaining a doctorate from the Faculty of Law and Political Science of the Silesian Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Breslau , Breslau 1929, p. 57
7. ↑ Kurt Riedel: assumption of debt and contract in favor of third parties - dissertation for obtaining a doctorate from the Faculty of Law and Political Science of the Silesian Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Breslau , Breslau 1929, p. 3
8. ^ Heinrich Orb: 13 Years of Power Rush , 1945, p. 147.
9. ↑ BArch Berlin - R 58/840, Bl. 24 ff .; Johannes Tuchel, Reinold Schattenfroh: Headquarters of Terror. Prinz-Albrecht-Str. 8. The Gestapo headquarters. Berlin 1987, p. 84.
10. ↑ In the business distribution plan of October 25, 1934, the names of the employees in Main Department III are consistently not mentioned - probably for reasons of confidentiality - so that any information on this can only be based on research results by Aronson, Tuchel and others. In the next business distribution plan of October 1, 1935, most of the names already identified for the business distribution plan of October 25, 1934 are confirmed in the plan itself, but this does not apply to Kurt Riedel.
11. ↑ Business distribution plan of the Secret State Police Office of October 1, 1935 ff.
12. ^ Hansjürgen Koehler: Inside the Gestapo. Hitler's Shadow over the World , 1940, p. 40. In the original: “Dr. Riedel is tall and slim, bears himself a little loosely, with bent shoulders; he has a smooth, expressionless face; fair hair parted in the middle and eyes of light color. "
13. ↑ Circular No. 9 (Confidential! Very urgent!) Of the Secret State Police, State Police Headquarters Kattowitz (II B - 4126-40), dated October 31, 1940 (typewritten copy of the Jewish interest group in Będzin );
    AŹIH, 212/6, p. 149. Copy: USHMM, RG 15.060M, reel 1. Reprint in: Directory of places of detention under the Reichsführer-SS (1933–1945). Concentration camps and their external commands as well as other places of detention under the Reichsführer-SS in Germany and German-occupied areas , Arolsen 1979, p. LVII;
    Bibliographic information from the German National Library - persecution and murder of Jews 1933–1945 , Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag GmbH Munich, 2011.
14. ↑ orders of the chief of the Security Police and SD, no. 14/42, p 94
15. ↑ Manuel Becker, Christoph Studt (ed.) : The handling of the Third Reich with the enemies of the regime: XXII. Königswinterer Conference (February 2009). LIT Verlag Münster, 2010, p. 95.
16. ↑ Hans Mommsen : Auschwitz, July 17, 1942 - The Road to the European "Final Solution to the Jewish Question". Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 2002, ISBN 3-423-30605-X , p. 117.
17. ↑ Collective field post number for the alarm units deployed in the Posen Fortress area
18. ↑ Ref .: 5 II 42/64
19. ↑ BArch - B 162/40306; StA Verden - Ref .: 29 Js 9620/83
20. ↑ Ref .: 2 ARs 152/00
21. ↑ BArch - B 162/43441; StA Dortmund - Ref .: 45 UJs 2/00