Richard Lebküchner

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Richard Friedrich Ernst Theodor Lebküchner (born March 2, 1902 in Neuenstadt am Kocher ; † August 10, 1981 in Fürstenfeldbruck ) was a German geologist and was employed as a Gestapo officer in Breslau and from April 1942 in Munich , where he was SS-Sturmbannführer and Kriminalrat the Referat II E (economy; foreigners; Führer protection service) of the Gestapo control center, which mainly dealt with the foreign and Eastern workers deployed in Germany in terms of the police.

Origin and studies

Lebküchner grew up in Neuenstadt am Kocher, where his father Friedrich worked as a medical advisor. His mother Helene was born Rasch. After attending the secondary school in Ulm , Lebküchner began studying natural sciences with a focus on geology at the University of Tübingen , which he continued at the Universities of Göttingen and Munich . During his studies in Göttingen he became a member of the 1922 Schwarzenburg Bund - connection Burschenschaft Germania . After receiving his doctorate in Tübingen in November 1928, from June 1 to September 30, 1929, he represented the first assistant and conservator Prof. Dr. Otto Pratje at the Geological-Paleontological Institute of the University of Königsberg and subsequently found a job there.

Influenced by his contact with the ideas of the völkisch student movement, Lebküchner joined the NSDAP on October 1, 1930 ( membership number 341.939) and on December 15, 1930 the SA out of inner conviction.

When his employment at the Geological-Paleontological Institute of the University of Königsberg ended on July 31, 1931 and no new job could be found for Lebküchner, he worked primarily as cell leader and district manager of Königsberg-Stadt for the party. Conflicts with the East Prussian Gauleiter Erich Koch prompted Lebküchner to turn to the General SS (SS No. 4.175), in which he initially worked as a simple SS man and clerk in the office of I. Sturmbann.

At the Gestapo

Since a position as a geologist could not be found even after the National Socialists came to power , he applied to the newly founded Prussian Secret State Police , where he began working for the Elbing State Police on December 2, 1933 as an employee of the criminal police . In the spring of 1935 Lebküchner was appointed head of the border service at the Marienburg border police after completing a seven-month course with the rank of detective inspector . Transferred to the State Police in Breslau , he took over Section II B (churches and sects) from October 1, 1936. From April 1938 he worked at the border police school in Pretzsch as an instructor for border police knowledge. In this school the staff for the task forces of the security police and the SD were set up and trained. Lebküchner himself was neither used in the Wehrmacht nor in service in the Einsatzgruppen during the attack on Poland . He perceived this as a dismissal and the reason that he did not have the military training and, above all, the hardship for the mission, as an offense to his self-esteem. Probably two security police deployments in Poland and Yugoslavia were honored with the War Merit Cross with Swords on January 30, 1942; so for special merits Lebküchner in the rear front area. Due to his SS membership number below 5000, he was the bearer of the skull ring . Incidentally, his SS career went smoothly. On November 9, 1936 he was promoted to SS-Obersturmführer, on November 9, 1940 to SS-Hauptsturmführer and on January 30, 1944 to SS-Sturmbannführer .

Lebküchner remained there after the police school was transferred to the Drögen Security Police School in Fürstenberg / Havel in October 1941 until he was transferred to the Gestapo headquarters in Munich in April 1942.

Head of Section II E of the Munich Gestapo headquarters

In Munich Lebküchner was entrusted with the management of Section II E of the Gestapo control center. This was headed by Oswald Schäfer , who was transferred to Munich at about the same time as Lebküchner , and was housed in the Wittelsbacher Palais at Brienner Strasse 50 (now 20). This section, which is divided into sub-divisions II E (A) - Foreigners, II E (R) Eastern Workers, II E (P) Poles and Protectorate Members, and II E (K) - Prohibited Dealing with Prisoners of War focused on combating disciplinary offenses by foreigners - and Eastern workers and their repressive surveillance to "maintain state security". The spectrum ranged from breaches of employment contracts to work sabotage. In view of six million foreign workers in German industry and agriculture (as of September 1944), the Gestapo, which was completely understaffed for comprehensive control, relied on the principle of deterrence through draconian punishments. Sanctioning measures for Poles and Eastern workers who were at the lowest level of the racist hierarchy established by the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA) were transferred to the police executive by two decrees of October 23 and November 5, 1942, with effect from January 1, 1943. The Gestapo officers were thus given extensive freedom of action, which could be used extensively or restrictively, depending on the nature of the authorized person. Lebküchner was one of the Gestapo officers who largely exploited their skills to the detriment of the accused. According to former Gestapo officials, he was particularly cruel, so that he became known as the "tyrant of the Gestapo Munich" and was nicknamed "Munich Nero". Quote from a prisoner:

“The overall impression I got of Dr. Lebküchner had it was that he was a mean sadistic person in every respect. "

In the eyes of his colleagues, he was considered an ambitious nerd.

Lebküchner's area of ​​responsibility also included the so-called “ special treatment ”, i.e. the execution of Polish or Soviet criminals. The decision on this was made by the RSHA, but the local Gestapo officers had to report the crimes to the RSHA and propose a punishment. After the war, the Munich public prosecutor was able to prove that Lebküchner had suffered 36 cases of “special treatment” during his term of office, of which 53 people were killed. Lebküchner personally directed 13 executions.

On an initiative of Lebküchner, the chastisement of the delinquents, called “short treatment”, went back to being beaten with an ox pizzle . This type of punishment was used for minor offenses against labor discipline, graduated up to 75 lashes, if the accused was urgently needed at his place of work and detention in the police or in a labor education camp was therefore out of the question.

After the war

Lebküchner was arrested by the Americans on May 14, 1945 and interned in various camps until July 13, 1948.

As part of the denazification on July 12, 1948, he was classified as the main culprit in Group I by the Munich Spruchkammer

"Because he treated foreigners in violation of international law and granted the National Socialist tyranny extraordinary support through his work as a criminal inspector and was actively involved in the National Socialist tyranny with the Gestapo."

The sentence of three years in a labor camp was considered to have been served due to his detention. Lebküchner withdrew an appointment from his lawyers.

Another indictment with pre- trial detention in August 1949 "for jointly committed crimes of assisting manslaughter and jointly committed offenses of bodily harm" ended before the jury court Munich I with an acquittal of Lebküchner and his former superior Oswald Schäfer. However, the appeal by the Public Prosecutor's Office at the Munich Higher Regional Court on May 29, 1951 led to Lebküchner being sentenced to two years and six months in prison. The arrest warrant was overturned after the previous prison sentence was taken into account. The public prosecutor's office went on appeal again, whereupon the 1st criminal division of the Federal Court of Justice overturned the judgment on October 14, 1952. The District Court of Munich I acquitted Lebküchner on September 30, 1954, on charges of aiding and abetting manslaughter for lack of evidence.

In April 1952 Lebküchner had found a job as a geologist again, so that after a period of unemployment benefits he could now support his wife and seven children himself. In the following year he applied to the general management of the Maden Tetkik ve Arama Enstitüsü in Ankara for the geological and cartographic mapping of the Turkish national territory. In the summer of 1953 Lebküchner left for Turkey with the permission of the judicial authorities . His family followed him in 1955. The remaining six months' sentence was suspended from November 3, 1955 to December 31, 1958 in accordance with his petition for clemency.

Lebküchner only returned to Germany on May 15, 1970, where he died on August 10, 1981 in Fürstenfeldbruck.

At no time did Lebküchner find himself willing to critically reflect on his Gestapo activities:

“I have never shown brutal or reprehensible behavior. I have never been guilty of a crime against humanity in the treatment of foreign workers. "

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hermann Goebel (ed.): Directory of members of the Schwarzburgbund. 8th edition, Frankfurt am Main 1930, p. 100 No. 1839.
  2. ↑ Andreas Heusler: “Exploitation and Discipline. On the role of the Munich special court and the Munich Stapo control center in the context of the National Socialist foreign worker policy ” ( Memento of February 26, 2002 in the Internet Archive ), in forum historiae iuris , January 15, 1998.
  3. ↑ State Archives in Munich, public prosecutors 17439/1, Fritz Franz statement from October 15, 1947
  4. ↑ State Archives in Munich, public prosecutors 17439/1, Josef Eberl statement from October 26, 1947
  5. ^ Munich State Archives, Spruchkammer file K 1022: Lebküchner, Richard, Spruchkammer's verdict of July 12, 1948
  6. ↑ State Archives Munich, Spruchkammer file K 1022: Lebküchner, Richard, statement by Richard Lebküchner from June 14, 1948
personal data
SURNAME Lebküchner, Richard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lebküchner, Richard Friedrich Ernst Theodor (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German SS leader and criminal inspector
DATE OF BIRTH March 2, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Neuenstadt am Kocher
DATE OF DEATH August 10, 1981
Place of death Fürstenfeldbruck