Herbert Lange (29 September 1909 – 20 April 1945) was an '' SS-

Sturmbannführer __NOTOC__ ''Sturmbannführer'' (; ) was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank equivalent to major that was used in several Nazi organizations, such as the SA, SS, and the NSFK. The rank originated from German shock troop units of the First World War ...

'' and the commandant of Chełmno death camp until April 1942; leader of the ''SS Special Detachment Lange'' conducting the murder of Jews from the

Łódź Ghetto The Łódź Ghetto or Litzmannstadt Ghetto (after the Nazi German name for Łódź) was a Nazi ghetto established by the German authorities for Polish Jews and Roma following the Invasion of Poland. It was the second-largest ghetto in all of ...

. He was responsible for numerous

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...

including the murder of mental patients in Poland and in Germany during the ''

Aktion T4 (German, ) was a campaign of mass murder by involuntary euthanasia in Nazi Germany. The term was first used in post- war trials against doctors who had been involved in the killings. The name T4 is an abbreviation of 4, a street address o ...

'' "euthanasia" programme and becoming one of the key originators of the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

Biography

Lange studied law, but failed to obtain a degree and he subsequently joined the NSDAP (Nazi Party) on 1 May 1932. He enlisted in the ''

Sturmabteilung The (; SA; literally "Storm Detachment") was the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Its primary purposes were providing protection for Nazi ralli ...

'' (SA) three months later, and the following year, he joined the ''

Schutzstaffel The ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS; also stylized as ''ᛋᛋ'' with Armanen runes; ; "Protection Squadron") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe ...

'' (SS). He subsequently joined the police force, becoming a deputy commissioner in 1935.

Crimes against humanity

Lange entered Poland with '' Einsatzgruppe'' Naumann ( EG VI) during the

September campaign The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week af ...

. On 9 November 1939, following a Nazi German victory, Lange was promoted to the rank of SS-''

Untersturmführer (, ; short: ''Ustuf'') was a paramilitary rank of the German ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) first created in July 1934. The rank can trace its origins to the older SA rank of ''Sturmführer'' which had existed since the founding of the SA in 1921. ...

'' (2nd lieutenant) in

occupied Poland ' ( Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 Octobe ...

and posted in charge of the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

in occupied

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...

. In the beginning of 1940 he assumed command of an ''SS-Sonderkommando Lange,'' named after him and tasked with the murder of mentally ill in Wartheland area (Wielkopolska) under the direction of notorious Holocaust perpetrators

Ernst Damzog Ernst Damzog (30 October 1882 – 24 July 1945) was a German policeman, who was a member of the SS of Nazi Germany and served in the Gestapo. He was responsible for the mass murder of Poles and Jews committed in the territory of occupied Poland ...

and

Wilhelm Koppe Karl Heinrich Wilhelm Koppe (15 June 1896 – 2 July 1975) was a German Nazi commander ('' Höhere SS und Polizeiführer (HSSPF), SS-Obergruppenführer''). He was responsible for numerous atrocities against Poles and Jews in Reichsgau Wartheland ...

. Lange served with Einsatzgruppe VI during Operation Tannenberg. Already by mid-1940, he and his men were responsible for the murder of about 1,100 patients in Owińska, 2,750 patients at Kościan, 1,558 patients and 300 Poles at Działdowo, and hundreds of Poles at

Fort VII Fort VII, officially ''Konzentrationslager Posen'' (renamed later), was a Nazi German death camp set up in Poznań in German-occupied Poland during World War II, located in one of the 19th-century forts circling the city. According to different ...

where the mobile gas-chamber (Einsatzwagen) was invented. Their earlier hospital victims were usually shot in the back of the neck. The unit, equipped with a gas van, shuttled between hospitals, picking up patients and killing them with carbon monoxide. After his promotion to SS-''

Obersturmführer __NOTOC__ (, ; short: ''Ostuf'') was a Nazi Germany paramilitary rank that was used in several Nazi organisations, such as the SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK. The rank of ''Obersturmführer'' was first created in 1932 as the result of an expa ...

'' (1st lieutenant) on 20 April 1940, his unit was permanently stationed at the

Soldau concentration camp The Soldau concentration camp established by Nazi Germany during World War II was a concentration camp for Polish and Jewish prisoners. It was located in Działdowo (german: Soldau), a town in north-eastern Poland, which after the Nazi-Soviet inva ...

. In one special case,

Wilhelm Rediess Friedrich Wilhelm Rediess (10 October 1900 – 8 May 1945) was the SS and police leader during the German occupation of Norway during the Second World War. He was also the commander of all SS troops stationed in occupied Norway, assuming comman ...

hired ''Kommando Lange'' to kill 1,558 mental patients from

East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label= Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...

for ten

Reichsmarks The (; sign: ℛℳ; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of Germany from 1924 until 20 June 1948 in West Germany, where it was replaced with the , and until 23 June 1948 in East Germany, where it was replaced by the East German mark. The Reichs ...

a head. By December 1941 Lange was a SS-''

Hauptsturmführer __NOTOC__ (, ; short: ''Hstuf'') was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was used in several Nazi organizations such as the SS, NSKK and the NSFK. The rank of ''Hauptsturmführer'' was a mid-level commander and had equivalent seniority to a ...

'' (captain) and was appointed commander of the Chełmno death camp by then SS-''

Standartenführer __NOTOC__ ''Standartenführer'' (short: ''Staf'', , ) was a Nazi Party (NSDAP) paramilitary rank that was used in several NSDAP organizations, such as the SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK. First founded as a title in 1925, in 1928 it became one of ...

, chief of the ''

Sicherheitspolizei The ''Sicherheitspolizei'' ( en, Security Police), often abbreviated as SiPo, was a term used in Germany for security police. In the Nazi era, it referred to the state political and criminal investigation security agencies. It was made up by the ...

'' (SiPo) and ''

Sicherheitsdienst ' (, ''Security Service''), full title ' (Security Service of the '' Reichsführer-SS''), or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Established in 1931, the SD was the first Nazi intelligence organization ...

'' (SD) in Posen (

). He held that position until March 1942. His commando was tasked with the liquidation of 100,000 Jews from the

Warthegau The ''Reichsgau Wartheland'' (initially ''Reichsgau Posen'', also: ''Warthegau'') was a Nazi German ''Reichsgau'' formed from parts of Polish territory annexed in 1939 during World War II. It comprised the region of Greater Poland and adjacent ...

via Ghetto Litzmannstadt. In April 1942 Lange's unit was renamed SS ''Sonderkommando Kulmhof'' and introduced improvements to the killing process at Chełmno. Lange constructed cremation pits to replace mass graves. He was succeeded by

Hans Bothmann Hans Bothmann or Hans Johann Bothmann (November 11, 1911 – April 4, 1946)IPNHans Bothmann''Concentration camps' functionaries - biographical notes and witness' account.'' Institute of National Remembrance 2012. was the last commandant of the C ...

who formed Special Detachment Bothmann in 1942. At a very minimum 152,000 people (Bohn) were killed at the camp, though the West German prosecution, citing Nazi figures during the Chełmno trials of 1962–65, laid charges for at least 180,000 victims. Upon the completion of his task in 1942 Lange was transferred to the '' Reichssicherheitshauptamt'' (Reich Main Security Office) and served under

Arthur Nebe Arthur Nebe (; 13 November 1894 – 21 March 1945) was a German SS functionary who was key in the security and police apparatus of Nazi Germany and from 1941, a major perpetrator of the Holocaust. Nebe rose through the ranks of the Prussia ...

as a Kriminalrat (Criminal Investigator). He was transferred to the Balkans to participate in

Nazi security warfare Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

against alleged partisans. In March 1944 Lange returned to the already inactive death camp at Chełmno, and resumed the gassing operations on the request of

Arthur Greiser Arthur Karl Greiser (22 January 1897 – 21 July 1946) was a Nazi German politician, SS-''Obergruppenführer'', ''Gauleiter'' and ''Reichsstatthalter'' (Reich Governor) of the German-occupied territory of ''Wartheland''. He was one of the perso ...

, for the final ten transports of ghettoised Jews. In 1944, Lange aided in catching the conspirators who attempted to assassinate Hitler as part of the

20 July Plot On 20 July 1944, Claus von Stauffenberg and other conspirators attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of Nazi Germany, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia, now Kętrzyn, in present-day Poland. The ...

, leading to his promotion to SS-''Sturmbannführer''. One of the conspirators he interrogated was Peter Bielenberg. In her book ''The Past Is Myself'', Peter Bielenberg's wife

Christabel Bielenberg Christabel Mary Bielenberg (''née'' Burton, 18 June 1909 – 2 November 2003) was a British writer who was married to a German lawyer, Peter Bielenberg. She described her experiences living in Germany during the Second World War in two books: ' ...

describes her own interrogation by Lange. Lange was killed in action at

Bernau bei Berlin Bernau bei Berlin (English ''Bernau by Berlin'', commonly named Bernau) is a German town in the Barnim district. The town is located about northeast of Berlin. History Archaeological excavations of Mesolithic-era sites indicate that this area ha ...

during the

Battle of Berlin The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II. After the Vistula– ...

on 20 April 1945.

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lange, Herbert 1909 births 1945 deaths People from Vorpommern-Greifswald People from the Province of Pomerania Chełmno extermination camp personnel Soldau concentration camp personnel Holocaust perpetrators in Poland Holocaust perpetrators in Germany Sturmabteilung personnel SS-Sturmbannführer Einsatzgruppen personnel Nazi concentration camp commandants German military personnel killed in World War II Reich Security Main Office personnel