Rudolf Neugebauer (21 December 1912 1 February 1945) was a German 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 ...

during the

Nazi era Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

. He served as the head of the

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, 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 F ...

(Secret State Police) in

German-occupied Lithuania The military occupation of Lithuania by Nazi Germany lasted from the German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, to the end of the Battle of Memel on January 28, 1945. At first the Germans were welcomed as liberators from the repress ...

and personally killed Jacob Gens.

Biography

Neugebauer became an SA (''Sturmabteilung'') of the original

paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...

wing of the

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor, the German Workers ...

in 1931 (party number 1086615). In 1938, he joined the SS (SS number: 266047) and worked for the SDHA (''Sicherheitsdiensthauptamt''), the headquarters of the intelligence agency of the SS and NSDAP. As the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

annexed Austria, he worked for the

Kripo ''Kriminalpolizei'' (, "criminal police") is the standard term for the criminal investigation agency within the police forces of Germany, Austria, and the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland. In Nazi Germany, the Kripo was the criminal polic ...

(KriminalPolizei) and the Staatspolizei (state police) in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

from 1938 to 1940. He was promoted to ''Kriminalkommissar'' of the Prussian zone in 1941. From February 1942 to October 1943, Neugebauer was

Obersturmführer __NOTOC__ (, ; short: ''Ostuf'') was a Nazi Germany paramilitary ranks, Nazi Germany paramilitary rank that was used in several Nazi organisations, such as the Sturmabteilung, SA, Schutzstaffel, SS, National Socialist Motor Corps, NSKK and the ...

and headed the Vilnius Gestapo as the

Vilna Ghetto The Vilna Ghetto was a World War II Jewish ghetto established and operated by Nazi Germany in the city of Vilnius in the modern country of Lithuania, at the time part of the Nazi-administered . During the approximately two years of its existen ...

was in a "quiet" phase. He was a member the

Einsatzkommando During World War II, the Nazi German ' were a sub-group of the ' (mobile killing squads) – up to 3,000 men total – usually composed of 500–1,000 functionaries of the SS and Gestapo, whose mission was to exterminate Jews, Polish intellect ...

3 who took part in the

Ponary massacre The Ponary massacre (), or the Paneriai massacre (), was the mass murder of up to 100,000 people, mostly Jews, Poles, and Russians, by German '' SD'' and '' SS'' and the Lithuanian '' Ypatingasis būrys'' killing squads, during World War II a ...

. He imposed the concept of "collective responsibility" where relatives of someone who escaped were executed. As such he ordered the murders of 32 relatives after the escape of several young

Jewish partisans Jewish partisans were fighters in irregular military groups participating in the Jewish resistance under Nazi rule, Jewish resistance movement against Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, its collaborators during W ...

on 24 July 1943. At the end of July 1943, Neugebauer set up economic restrictions on the Jewish activities (e.g. no more night work, exclusion from trading from 4 August 1943). On 3 September, one testimony describes Neugebauer sparing the life of an HKP 52 worker. On 4 September 1943, he murdered Jacob Gens, the leader of the

Judenrat A ''Judenrat'' (, ) was an administrative body, established in any zone of German-occupied Europe during World War II, purporting to represent its Jewish community in dealings with the Nazi authorities. The Germans required Jews to form ''J ...

(ghetto government), after he reported himself. Gens was accused by the Gestapo of providing money to the FPO (United Partisan Organization). He ordered Bruno Kittel to liquidate the Vilna Ghetto on 22–23 September 1943 and was then transferred to the

Kovno Ghetto The Kovno Ghetto was a ghetto established by Nazi Germany to hold the Lithuanian Jews of Kaunas (Kovno) during the Holocaust. At its peak, the ghetto held 29,000 people, most of whom were later sent to concentration and extermination camps, o ...

. At the end of 1944, he was seconded to Budapest by the

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...

Gestapo as the

Budapest Ghetto The Budapest Ghetto was a Nazi ghetto set up in Budapest, Hungary, where Jews were forced to relocate by a decree of the Government of National Unity led by the fascist Arrow Cross Party during the final stages of World War II. The ghetto existed ...

was being created and the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

was closing in since the beginning of the offensive on the town on 19 October 1944. He is considered as missing in action. His death is registered at the communal cemetery of

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

with "12.1945 in Budapest". He was awarded the

War Merit Cross The War Merit Cross () was a state decoration of Nazi Germany during World War II. By the end of the conflict it was issued in four degrees and had an equivalent civil award. A " de-Nazified" version of the War Merit Cross was reissued in 1957 ...

First Class with swords (''Kriegsverdienstkreuz 1.Klasse mit Schwertern'') for exceptional service "not in direct connection with combat".

References

Bibliography

* Dieckmann 2011, Bd. 1, S. 496ff.; Bd. 2, p. 1269ff. * Gräfe, Karl-Heinz: Vom Donnerkreuz zum Hakenkreuz, Berlin 2010, p. 476 * Eckert, Christina: Die Mordstätte Paneriai (Ponary) bei Vilnius, in: Bartusevičius u.a. (Hg.): Holocaust in Litauen, Köln 2003, p. 132–142 {{DEFAULTSORT:Neugebauer, Rudolf 1912 births 1945 deaths SS-Hauptsturmführer Holocaust perpetrators in Lithuania Einsatzgruppen personnel killed in World War II Vilna Ghetto Gestapo personnel Waffen-SS personnel killed in action

Biography

See also

References

Bibliography