Helmut Herbert Christian Heinrich Knochen (March 14, 1910 – April 4, 2003) was the senior commander of the Sicherheitspolizei (Security Police) 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 ...

in Paris during the

Nazi 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 ...

occupation of

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 ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. He was sentenced to death first by a British military court in 1947, and then by a Parisian military tribunal in 1954. After his sentences were commuted and reduced a few times, he was pardoned by President de Gaulle and released in 1962.

Early life

He was born in

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebu ...

, Germany. Before joining the

Nazi 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 ...

in 1932, he worked as a

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

and editor.

Nazi career

In 1936, he joined the SS and became involved in the SD administration. In 1940, he was appointed the senior commander of security in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. In 1942, the jurisdiction under his control stretched from northern

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. He was promoted to the rank of Standartenführer in the same year. Knochen was involved in the deportation of

French Jews The history of the Jews in France deals with Jews and Jewish communities in France since at least the Early Middle Ages. France was a centre of Jewish learning in the Middle Ages, but persecution increased over time, including multiple expulsi ...

to concentration camps and was responsible for the execution of thousands of

Frenchmen The French people (french: Français) are an ethnic group and nation primarily located in Western Europe that share a common Culture of France, French culture, History of France, history, and French language, language, identified with the cou ...

. He was responsible for the arrest and torture of SOE agents. During the plot to assassinate Hitler of July 20, 1944, together with the top security man in Paris, SS-Gruppenführer Carl Oberg, he was arrested by Army troops under the command of Paris military governor, General Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel. He was released after the coup collapsed. Following the liberation of Paris, Knochen was transferred to the

1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler The 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler or SS Division Leibstandarte, abbreviated as LSSAH, (german: 1. SS-Panzerdivision "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler") began as Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard unit, responsible for guarding ...

and he was degraded to the rank of SS-Grenadier.

Post-war trials, sentences, and reprieve

In March 1947, a British Military Court sentenced Knochen, alongside

Hans Kieffer Hans Josef Kieffer (4 December 1900 – 26 June 1947) was a Sturmbannführer (Major) and the head in Paris of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), the intelligence agency of the SS during the German occupation of France during the Second World War. Kieffer' ...

, to death for the murder of a number of British parachute troops on or around 9 August 1944. However, on 16 September 1948, the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and further commuted in February 1950 to 21 years imprisonment. He was extradited to France in 1954 and sentenced to death. The sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. After he obtained a presidential pardon in 1958, Knochen was released on November 28, 1962, by President Charles de Gaulle, simultaneously with his former chief Carl Oberg. Back in Germany, he retired to

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the Rhine, the border with Fra ...

and died a free man in 2003.

In popular culture

* The Eye of Vichy, a French documentary film directed by Claude Chabrol where Knochen himself appeared *

Les Bienveillantes ''The Kindly Ones'' (french: Les Bienveillantes) is a 2006 historical fiction novel written in French by American-born author Jonathan Littell. The book is narrated by its fictional protagonist Maximilien Aue, a former SS officer of French and G ...

, a 2006 historical fiction novel written in French by

Jonathan Littell Jonathan Littell (born October 10, 1967) is a writer living in Barcelona. He grew up in France and the United States and is a citizen of both countries. After acquiring his bachelor's degree he worked for a humanitarian organisation for nine year ...

, where Helmut Knochen is featured meeting the main character Maximilian Aue. * Field Gray, a 2010 fiction novel by

Philip Kerr Philip Ballantyne Kerr (22 February 1956 – 23 March 2018) was a British author, best known for his Bernie Gunther series of historical detective thrillers. Early life Kerr was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, where his father was an enginee ...

where Knochen featured.

Notes

References

* * * Brunner, Bernhard, ''Der Frankreich-Komplex. Die nationalsozialistischen Verbrechen in Frankreich und die Justiz der Bundesrepublik Deutschland''. Wallstein, Göttingen 2004, * Klee, Ernst, ''Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945''. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Zweite aktualisierte Auflage, Frankfurt am Main 2005, S. 320. * Moisel, Claudia, ''La France et les criminels de guerre allemands. Politique et pratique de la poursuite pénale après la deuxième guerre mondiale'', Éd. Norbert, 2004, . * * Magazine ''Historia'', N° 337, décembre 1974 par Philippe Aziz. * Magazine ''Historia'', Hors Série N° 20, 1971, ''Les SS. 1 - L'ordre noir''. * Magazine ''Historia'', Hors Série N° 26, 1972, par

Serge Klarsfeld Serge Klarsfeld (born 17 September 1935) is a Romanian-born French activist and Nazi hunter known for documenting the Holocaust in order to establish the record and to enable the prosecution of war criminals. Since the 1960s, he has made notab ...

. * Magazine ''Historia'', Hors Série N° 27, 1972, ''La Gestapo en France. 2''. * ''L'oeil de Vichy'', (''The Eyes of Vichy''), documentary film directed by Claude Chabrol, * Delarue, Jacques, ''SS et Gestapo s'imposent à la Wehrmacht'', in ''Le Journal de la France de l'occupation à la libération, les années 40'', Historia-Tallandier, n° 47, p. 1289-1290.

External links

Jewish Virtual Library
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Knochen, Helmut 1910 births 2003 deaths SS-Standartenführer Military personnel from Magdeburg Holocaust perpetrators in France Nazi Party officials People from the Province of Saxony People of Vichy France People extradited to France Prisoners sentenced to death by the British military Prisoners sentenced to death by France Recipients of French presidential pardons German prisoners sentenced to death People extradited from the United Kingdom Reich Security Main Office personnel Waffen-SS personnel