Ernst Lerch (19 November 1914 – 1997) was said to be one of the most important men of Operation Reinhard (german: Aktion Reinhard), responsible for "Jewish affairs" and the mass murder of the

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

in the General Government (''Generalgouvernement''). However he was never convicted of war crimes.

Life and early career

Lerch was born on 19 November 1914 in

Klagenfurt Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...

. He briefly studied at the Hochschule für Welthandel in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. From 1931 to 1934 Lerch learned the hotel trade by working as a waiter in various hotels in Switzerland,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

. On 1 December 1932, Lerch joined the

National Socialist German Workers Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

(''Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'', NSDAP) (Party Number 1,327,396). On 1 March 1934, he became a member of the "Protective Squadron" (German: ''

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 duri ...

'', SS) (SS Number 309,700). From 1934 until the incorporation of Austria into Germany (''

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...

'') in 1938, Lerch was employed in his father's Café Lerch. The

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non ...

, located in

, became a meeting place for Nazis such as

Odilo Globočnik Odilo Lothar Ludwig Globocnik (21 April 1904 – 31 May 1945) was an Austrian Nazi and a perpetrator of the Holocaust. He was an official of the Nazi Party and later a high-ranking leader of the SS. Globocnik had a leading role in Operation Re ...

and Ernst Kaltenbrunner, who frequented the café. While still in Austria, Lerch was promoted to an SS-Second Lieutenant (''

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. ...

'') on 9 September 1936. By 1937, he was promoted to an SS-First Lieutenant (''

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 ...

''). In 1938, Lerch moved to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. In Berlin he became an SS-Captain (''

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 ...

'') in the Reich Security Directorate on 12 March 1938. At his wedding to a "Secret State Police" (''

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 ...

'') employee, Oswald Pohl and Globočnik acted as witnesses.

Activities in Poland

In December 1938, Lerch joined the German Army. According to his

testimony In law and in religion, testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter. Etymology The words "testimony" and "testify" both derive from the Latin word ''testis'', referring to the notion of a disinterested third-party witness. ...

, he was involved in the 1939

Polish 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 afte ...

as a signals

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non- ...

. From February 1940 until September 1941, Lerch was employed at the "Reich Security Main Office" (''Reichssicherheitshauptamt'', RSHA) in Berlin. Then he was appointed as ''Rasse-und Siedlungsführer'' in Cracow. Bundesarchiv Bild 146-2007-0188, Odilo Globocnik

Bundesarchiv Bild 146-2007-0188, Odilo Globocnik

From 1941-43, Lerch served in Lublin as chief of Globočnik's personal office and '' Stabsführer der Allgemeine SS'', responsible for the radio link between the ''Aktion Reinhard'' headquarters and Berlin. On 21 July 1942, he was promoted to ''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 ...

''. At the trial of Hermann Worthoff (former Gestapo chief in Lublin) after the war, it was mentioned that Lerch had overseen the murder of thousands of Jews from the Majdan Tatarski

ghetto A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...

in Lublin at the nearby Krepiec Forest. When Operation Reinhard (''Aktion Reinhard'') was finished, Lerch was ordered to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in September 1943. He went with most of the SS-men of Globočnik's staff. In

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...

, Lerch continued to serve as chief of Globočnik's personal staff in the OZAK (''Operationszone Adriatisches Küstenland''). He was still Globočnik's right hand but had also military-related tasks. Lerch was very much involved in anti- partisan operations. For a few weeks, Lerch was provisional police commander in

Fiume Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...

After the war

After the German surrender in Italy (1 May 1945), Lerch fled to Carinthia in southern Austria, a region he knew well. There, at an alpine pasture (Möslacher Alm) near the Weissensee Lake, he was captured by a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

commando Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin">40_Commando.html" ;"title="Royal Marines from 40 Commando">Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin area of Afghanistan are pictured A commando is a combatant, or operativ ...

on 31 May 1945. Lerch was captured with his comrades Globočnik, Hermann Höfle and Georg Michalsen. Being imprisoned in Wolfsberg detention centre, Lerch was interrogated by the British. He insisted on having spent just a short time in Lublin, and had nothing to do either with Globočnik or the mass killings of Jews in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. Lerch escaped from prison and lived in hiding from 1947 to 1950. He was captured again in 1950. In 1960, Lerch was sentenced to two years of imprisonment by a

de-Nazification Denazification (german: link=yes, Entnazifizierung) was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was carried out by remov ...

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

(''8JS 1145/60 StA Wiesbaden''). In 1971, he was accused again of being involved in

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; ...

. The trial was held in Klagenfurt. His case was finally dropped on 11 May 1976 because the lack of

witness In law, a witness is someone who has knowledge about a matter, whether they have sensed it or are testifying on another witnesses' behalf. In law a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, e ...

es (''LG Klagenfurt: 25VR 3123/71'').

References

* Ernst Klee: ''Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich: Wer war was vor und nach 1945.'' Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2007;

External links

Biography and photograph of Ernst Lerch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lerch, Ernst 1914 births 1997 deaths German police chiefs Holocaust perpetrators in Poland SS-Sturmbannführer Austrian Nazis Operation Reinhard Lublin Ghetto Reich Security Main Office personnel German escapees Escapees from British military detention