Helmut Rauca
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Helmut Rauca (3 November 1908 – 29 October 1983) was a
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; ...
perpetrator instrumental in the murder of more than 10,000 Jews from the
Kaunas Ghetto The Kovno Ghetto was a ghetto established by Nazi Germany to hold the Lithuanian Jews of Kaunas during the Holocaust. At its peak, the Ghetto held 29,000 people, most of whom were later sent to concentration and extermination camps, or were sh ...
, Lithuania, during World War II. He was a member of ''
Einsatzgruppe A (, ; also ' task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the im ...
'' in the rank of ''
Hauptscharführer __NOTOC__ ''Hauptscharführer'' ( ) was a Nazi paramilitary rank which was used by the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) between the years of 1934 and 1945. The rank was the highest enlisted rank of the SS, with the exception of the special Waffen-SS ran ...
'' (master sergeant). As 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 ...
Jewish Affairs Specialist, Rauca was responsible for the selection of about one-third of the Ghetto inmates including men, women, and children, to be killed during the ''Große Aktion'' known as the
Kaunas massacre of October 29, 1941 The Kaunas massacre of October 29, 1941, also known as the Great Action, was the largest mass murder of Lithuanian Jews.
, perpetrated at the remote
Ninth Fort The Ninth Fort ( lt, Devintas Fortas) is a stronghold in the northern part of Šilainiai elderate, Kaunas, Lithuania. It is a part of the Kaunas Fortress, which was constructed in the late 19th century. During the occupation of Kaunas and th ...
on the outskirts of Kaunas. After the war, Rauca emigrated to Canada legally in 1950. He had become a Canadian citizen in 1956 under his own name and embarked on a successful business career. At the age of seventy-three, he was charged by the Canadian authorities with aiding and abetting in the murder of 10,500 persons forty-three years earlier, in Kaunas.


Life

Helmut Albert Rauca was born in Trieb, Falkenstein,
Kingdom of Saxony The Kingdom of Saxony (german: Königreich Sachsen), lasting from 1806 to 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic Germany. The kingdom was formed from the Electorate of Saxo ...
. His father Albert was
Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...
and his mother Alma '' née'' Wolf was born in Trieb. Rauca apprenticed in a Plauen textile mill and joined 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 ...
two years before
Hitler's rise to power Adolf Hitler's rise to power began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919 when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He rose to a place of prominence in the early years of the party. Be ...
. He became a professional policeman in 1928 serving with the Order Police (''
Ordnungspolizei The ''Ordnungspolizei'' (), abbreviated ''Orpo'', meaning "Order Police", were the uniformed police force in Nazi Germany from 1936 to 1945. The Orpo organisation was absorbed into the Nazi monopoly on power after regional police jurisdiction w ...
''); in 1935 transferred to the detective division called Kripo (''
Kriminalpolizei ''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 ...
'') where he joined the SS, card number 290 335. He entered Kaunas on 3 July 1941 during
Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...
with the SS unit of ''Einsatzgruppe'' "A". Rauca lied to the Canadian officials, that he went to Kovno (Kaunas) half a year later in February or March 1942. After the war, Rauca was interned by the U.S. Army, but released in 1948. Rauca arrived in Canada on 13 December 1950 at
Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of K ...
, aboard the Canadian ship ''Beaverbrae'' from
Bremerhaven Bremerhaven (, , Low German: ''Bremerhoben'') is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms a semi-enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the Riv ...
. He did not change his name but switched his given names Helmut Albert to Albert Helmut which was enough to prevent detection for the next thirty years. The German police had been looking for him since 1961. Nevertheless, the German warrant for his arrest was only issued over twenty years later on 27 May 1982, requesting Rauca's extradition from Canada. Rauca was accused of sending 11,584 people to their deaths in the period between 18 August 1941 and 25 December 1943. The warrant listed several war crimes including the 18 August 1941 murder of 534 Jews from the Ghetto, perpetrated at Fort Four of the
Kaunas Fortress Kaunas Fortress ( lt, Kauno tvirtovė, russian: Кοвенская крепость, german: Festung Kowno) is the remains of a fortress complex in Kaunas, Lithuania. It was constructed and renovated between 1882 and 1915 to protect the Russian ...
over the edge of a prepared ditch. Rauca was arrested on 17 June 1982, at the request of the West German government. Over the Crown's objections, he was granted a $150,000 bail, a decision which was upheld on appeal. However, Rauca voluntarily remained in jail, fearing possible reprisals if he left custody. In May 1983, Rauca dropped further appeals against his extradition. He was flown to
Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
on 20 May 1983. He died of cancer on 29 October 1983, while awaiting trial in custodial detention.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rauca, Helmut 1908 births 1983 deaths People from Falkenstein, Saxony People from the Kingdom of Saxony Nazi Party members SS personnel Einsatzgruppen personnel Holocaust perpetrators in Lithuania German emigrants to Canada German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United States Deaths from cancer in Germany Loss of Canadian citizenship by prior Nazi affiliation People extradited from Canada Prisoners and detainees of Canada People extradited to Germany Prisoners who died in German detention Nazis who died in prison custody