Walter Sohst

Walter Sohst (born February 23, 1898 in Kissitten, East Prussia , † November 14, 1964 in Kiel ) was a German police officer and SS leader .

Live and act

Sohst was born as the third of five children of the manorial landlord Hugo Sohst (1867-1928) and his wife Emma, née Blunk (* 1874). He received his school education at the Volksgymnasium in Bartenstein and later at the Kreishöfischen Gymnasium in Königsberg , which he left at the outbreak of the First World War with the upper secondary qualification . He later caught up with the primary school.

Sohst first took part in the World War with an aviation division and later with the infantry troops. He experienced missions at the front, among others, before Verdun and during the spring offensive of 1918. During the war he was awarded the Iron Cross of both classes and the Mecklenburg places of merit. After the war, from which he returned as a lieutenant , he was a member of the Osterroht Freikorps until September 1919 . During the Weimar Republic , Sohst earned his living as a locksmith, designer and owner of a driving school. He later worked in film technology.

On March 23, 1932 Sohst became a member of the NSDAP (membership no. 1,090,541) and on September 1, 1932 a member of the SS (SS no. 36,087), in which he had achieved the rank of SS-Untersturmführer by 1933 . On November 1, 1932, Sohst was appointed the Berlin liaison between Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler , who at that time was mainly active in Munich , and Berlin SS leader Kurt Daluege . When the Secret State Police (Gestapo) was founded shortly after the National Socialists came to power in the spring of 1933 , they were assigned an SS auxiliary police force in Berlin as a support force. In his capacity as head of the SS auxiliary police, Himmler was able to place Sohst in this authority as his personal liaison to the Secret State Police Office (Gestapa). In this function, Sohst received the title of liaison officer for the Special Commissioner for SS Auxiliary Police.

Since the Secret State Police was still headed in 1933 by Rudolf Diels , a follower of Hermann Göring , with whom Himmler was in the power struggle for control of the Gestapo at the time, Sohst was assigned the task of a smuggled mole in the Secret State Police Office at that time People like Walter Patschowsky and Josef Pospischil should systematically shake Diels' position as head of office from within in order to clear the way for Himmler's SS to take over the Gestapo. For example, Sohst made copies of Gestapo documents that Diels did not intend to pass on to the security service of the SS (SD) and forwarded them to them. The efforts of Sohst and the other SS agents were ultimately crowned with success: In April 1934, Diels was replaced as head of the Gestapo by Himmler's follower Reinhard Heydrich .

In Heydrich's Gestapo - or in the SD main office , which was housed in the same building complex - Sohst subsequently took over the command of a special roll command, called "Heydrich's body murderer", with the locating and murder of personal enemies and former accomplices of the Gestapo chief was entrusted. The renegade Gestapo employee Hansjürgen Koehler described Sohst in his book Inside the Gestapo , published in London in 1940 :

“As a tall, slim and well-dressed man he is the type of the Prussian officer. With his oval face, light eyes and eyes, his short-cropped blond hair and narrow lips, he is a North German as he stands in the book. He's also a cynic and a grim buffoon. This notorious member of the SS security service has been warned several times for his cruelty and licentiousness, and has even been temporarily suspended twice. During the war he was awarded numerous medals, which he also earned. After the war, however, he was unable to find a place for himself in the changed world. So he remained a killer and torturer. It seems quite strange that such a man devotes himself to a completely uncharacteristic hobby: He tinkers around in his workshop, where he tries to invent electrical and radio equipment. Even among his comrades in the SS he is hated and feared. "

From January 30, 1935 to September 27, 1939, Sohst, who reached the climax of his SS career with his appointment as SS-Standartenführer on January 30, 1939, was head of the main technical office in the SD main office. During the Second World War he held a management position at the Skoda works in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia , which at that time had been converted to the production of ammunition and instruments for the aviation industry.

At the end of the war, Sohst was captured by Czechoslovakia in May 1945 : he was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. In the following ten years he was held in prisons in Mürau and Troppau . During this time he worked from prison as a designer for Czech industry and as an operator of the X-ray machine in the infirmary of the prison where he was housed. He is also said to have offered the Czechs inventions such as a camera that could take long-range shots even in the dark, and an anti-tank device.

In 1955 Sohst's prison sentence was reduced to ten years, so that he was allowed to return to Germany in July 1955. He settled in the village of Kleinwaabs (then Klein Waabs) in Waabs in July 1955 . Then he went to Eckernförde. He died in Kiel in 1964.

Promotions

March 5, 1933: SS-Sturmführer
September 1, 1933: SS-Obersturmführer
September 9, 1934: SS-Hauptsturmführer
April 20, 1935: SS-Sturmbannführer
April 20, 1937: SS-Obersturmbannführer
January 30, 1939: SS Standartenführer

literature

Don Bible: The Identity Cards of Heydrich's SD Henchman. In: The Armourer. No. 83 (September / October 2007), pp. 50-52.
George C. Browder : Foundations of the Nazie Police State. 2004.
Peter Longerich : Heinrich Himmler. Biography. 2008.

Individual evidence

↑ Koehler: Inside the Gestapo , 1936, p. 36. In the original the passage reads: “A tall slim and well-dressed man he is a typical Prussian officer. A northern German he has an oval face eyes and eyebrows of a light color, fair close-cropped hair parted on the side, narrow lips. He is a cynic and a grim jester. A nortious member of the SDRFSS, he has been warned several tiems on account of his cruetly and unnecessary excesses; twice he was even suspended temporarily. Sohst fought through the war and has a great man <decorations, well earned; but after the war he could not find his place in the changed world and remained a kiler and torturerer. It is rather strange that such a man should ave one overwhelming hobby; pottering in a workshop, trying to invent electronic and radio devices. He is hated and feared even among his ss comrades. "

personal data
SURNAME	Sohst, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German police officer and SS leader
DATE OF BIRTH	February 23, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH	Kissitten, East Prussia
DATE OF DEATH	November 14, 1964
Place of death	Kiel

[1] Koehler: Inside the Gestapo , 1936, p. 36. In the original the passage reads: “A tall slim and well-dressed man he is a typical Prussian officer. A northern German he has an oval face eyes and eyebrows of a light color, fair close-cropped hair parted on the side, narrow lips. He is a cynic and a grim jester. A nortious member of the SDRFSS, he has been warned several tiems on account of his cruetly and unnecessary excesses; twice he was even suspended temporarily. Sohst fought through the war and has a great man <decorations, well earned; but after the war he could not find his place in the changed world and remained a kiler and torturerer. It is rather strange that such a man should ave one overwhelming hobby; pottering in a workshop, trying to invent electronic and radio devices. He is hated and feared even among his ss comrades. "