Manfred Pechau

Manfred Pechau (born December 23, 1909 in Halle (Saale) ; † March 18, 1950 ) was a doctor of German studies who, as SS-Sturmbannführer in the Nazi German Reich, was head of the "Political Catholicism" department in the Rosenberg office . He worked in Section IB 3 (basic and advanced training, special training) of the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA) and was the leader of Einsatzkommandos 1b and 2 as well as Otto Skorzeny employee in the Office Group VI S of the RSHA.

Life

Origin and studies

Pechau received his education and schooling in the Francke Institutes in Halle. From 1929 he studied German in Greifswald , Leipzig and Innsbruck ; in Greifswald, finally, history , philosophy and physical exercise.

He joined the SA on November 15, 1931 and the NSDAP on May 1, 1932 . He was a member of the National Socialist German Student Union in Greifswald from 1930.

After training as an editor at the Greifswald party headquarters of the NSDAP, he worked as a journalist, as a founder of National Socialist groups and as a political agitator. In 1933 he became editor of the university newspaper and in 1934 leader of the Greifswald student body as well as the Gaustudentenführer of Pomerania .

Pechau was involved as an organizer of the book burning in Greifswald in 1933 . For the SA he worked as a press officer.

In 1935 Pechau received his doctorate in Greifswald. phil. with a dissertation on “ National Socialism and the German Language”. His doctoral supervisor was the Germanist Wolfgang Stammler . In his doctoral thesis, Pechau expresses himself in drastic terms on the subject of "Jews and Race":

"Mixing with this race [meaning the Jews] is scourged by National Socialism as 'traitorous' and 'blood poisoning', the result of which is the emergence of 'pseudo-Hebrew mestizos '. In the event of a further mixture of the European peoples with the 'Hebrew rabble', a decline of these peoples to low-breed mongrels ... would mark the end of the glorious history of the Nordic peoples. "

As a full-time employee in the educational office of the NSDAP, he stood out particularly as a denunciator of Jewish writers such as Heinrich Heine , Franz Werfel , Arnold Zweig , Jakob Wassermann and others.

Pechau passed the 1st state examination in German studies , history and physical exercise in 1936 . The 2nd state examination followed in October 1937. At the same time he applied for his habilitation on June 24, 1937 . He worked for the National Socialist Teachers' Association and in October 1937 became head of the “Science” office in the Reichsstudentenführung in Berlin . Even before this time he was a volunteer at the security service of the SS (SD) and informed the Ministry of Science about internal disputes at the University of Greifswald.

Office Rosenberg

In April 1938 Pechau moved to the office of the "Commissioner of the Führer for the Supervision of the Entire Spiritual and Philosophical Training and Education" ( Rosenberg Office ), where he headed the "Political Catholicism" department until November 1939.

Reich Security Main Office

From May 1940 Pechau became a full-time training officer for the inspector of the security police and the SD (IdS) after completing his school clerkship. Finally he came to Section IB 3 (basic and advanced training, special training) of the Reich Security Main Office , where he worked for its head Martin Sandberger . At the same time he was apparently also working as a teacher at the driving school of the security police in Berlin-Charlottenburg .

Soviet Union

In January 1941, Pechau volunteered for service in a replacement news department in Nuremberg . For the Einsatzgruppen of the Security Police and the SD planned for the planned war against the Soviet Union , however, he was recruited for their leadership personnel and, like all the Einsatzgruppen personnel, was prepared for his work in Pretzsch an der Elbe in spring 1941 . From July 22 to August 16, 1942, Pechau operated according to the war diary of the Ia of the 281st Security Division as the leader of an SD special command in the area of Field Command 247 of the 281st Security Division and was involved in operations against partisans. Promoted to SS-Sturmbannführer on September 1, 1942, Pechau was only deployed in October 1942 as head of the Einsatzkommando (EK) 1b, succeeding Hermann Hubig in the Einsatzgruppe A. When the main department north of the Zeppelin company was relocated to Riga, Pechau was given the task of setting up a camouflaged school called Taubenschlag , where he organized the formation of partisan groups. He then took over EK 2 from Rudolf Lange . In addition, he was assigned to the Zeppelin company as a trainer.

Presumably, Pechau was also involved in the company "Swamp Fever" , at least in the final phase . This was an operation ordered by Heinrich Himmler on August 7, 1942 to clear the swamps around Loknja south of Leningrad from partisans by units of the Einsatzgruppen of the Security Police and the SD, the Wehrmacht , Waffen-SS , police and local protection teams in the Period from August 21 to September 21, 1942. Characteristic of this and comparable actions, which were preferably referred to with the names of German cities, were the strikingly high numbers of Jews killed. These undertakings were therefore more to be seen as the mass killing of Jews than as a successful fight against the partisans or the gangs, as they were called after a special order from Himmler on July 31, 1942. This is exemplified by the final report of November 6, 1942 on the company "Malagasy", according to which the actual goal with the lowest "success rate" is listed:

"...

389 armed bandits shot dead in combat
1,247 suspects tried and shot
8,350 Jews executed. "

Back in the Reich or after the war

After his eastern deployment, Pechau was transferred to the Office Group VI S (sabotage) of the RSHA in 1944. The group leader was SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny .

Pechau committed suicide on March 18, 1950.

Fonts

National Socialism and German Language . Diss. Greifswald 1935.

Web links

Literature by and about Manfred Pechau in the catalog of the German National Library
Gerd Simon: “ NS language from the inside. The linguist Manfred Pechau and the mass murder in the swamps near Loknja "(PDF, 128 kB)

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b Hans-Christian Harten: The ideological training of the police in National Socialism . Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, 2018, ISBN 978-3-657-78836-1 , p. 94 ( google.de [accessed on January 12, 2020]).
^ Quotation from Ernst Klee : Das Personenlexikon zum Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945 . Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Second updated edition, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8 , p. 452.
↑ Hans-Christian Harten: The ideological training of the police in National Socialism . Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, 2018, ISBN 978-3-657-78836-1 , p. 114 ( google.de [accessed January 12, 2020]).
↑ ^a ^b Gerry van Tonder: SS Einsatzgruppen: Nazi Death Squads, 1939–1945 . Pen and Sword, 2018, ISBN 978-1-5267-2912-5 , pp. 31 ( google.de [accessed on January 12, 2020]).
↑ ^a ^b ^c Hans-Christian Harten: The ideological training of the police in National Socialism . Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, 2018, ISBN 978-3-657-78836-1 , p. 149 ( google.de [accessed on January 12, 2020]).
↑ Hans-Christian Harten: The ideological training of the police in National Socialism . Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, 2018, ISBN 978-3-657-78836-1 , p. 138 ( google.de [accessed January 12, 2020]).

personal data
SURNAME	Pechau, Manfred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German SS-Sturmbannführer
DATE OF BIRTH	December 23, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH	Halle (Saale)
DATE OF DEATH	March 18, 1950

[:0-1] A ^b Hans-Christian Harten: The ideological training of the police in National Socialism . Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, 2018, ISBN 978-3-657-78836-1 , p. 94 ( google.de [accessed on January 12, 2020]).

[2] Quotation from Ernst Klee : Das Personenlexikon zum Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945 . Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Second updated edition, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8 , p. 452.

[3] Hans-Christian Harten: The ideological training of the police in National Socialism . Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, 2018, ISBN 978-3-657-78836-1 , p. 114 ( google.de [accessed January 12, 2020]).

[:1-4] Gerry van Tonder: SS Einsatzgruppen: Nazi Death Squads, 1939–1945 . Pen and Sword, 2018, ISBN 978-1-5267-2912-5 , pp. 31 ( google.de [accessed on January 12, 2020]).

[:2-5] Hans-Christian Harten: The ideological training of the police in National Socialism . Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, 2018, ISBN 978-3-657-78836-1 , p. 149 ( google.de [accessed on January 12, 2020]).

[6] Hans-Christian Harten: The ideological training of the police in National Socialism . Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, 2018, ISBN 978-3-657-78836-1 , p. 138 ( google.de [accessed January 12, 2020]).