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

Sturmbannführer and the commandant of Chełmno extermination camp
until April 1942; leader of the SS
Special

Special Detachment Lange conducting
the extermination of Jews from the Łódź Ghetto. He was responsible
for numerous crimes against humanity including the murder of mental
patients in Poland and in Germany during the
Action T4

Action T4 forced
euthanasia programme.
Contents
1 Biography
2 Crimes against humanity
3 Notes
4 References
Biography[edit]
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 SA
three months later, and the following year, he joined the SS. He
subsequently joined the police force, becoming a deputy commissioner
in 1935.
Crimes against humanity[edit]
Lange entered Poland with
Einsatzgruppe

Einsatzgruppe Naumann (EG VI) during the
September campaign. On 9 November 1939, following a Nazi German
victory, Lange was promoted to the rank of SS-
Untersturmführer

Untersturmführer (2nd
lieutenant) in occupied Poland and posted in charge of the
Gestapo

Gestapo in
occupied Poznań.[1] In the beginning of 1940 he assumed command of an
SS-Sonderkommando Lange named after him and tasked with the
extermination of mentally ill in
Wartheland
.svg/250px-Flag_of_the_German_Reich_(1935–1945).svg.png)
Wartheland area (Wielkopolska) under
the direction of notorious
Holocaust

Holocaust perpetrators
Ernst Damzog

Ernst Damzog and
Wilhelm Koppe.[2] Lange served with
Einsatzgruppe

Einsatzgruppe VI during Operation
Tannenberg.[3] 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 where the mobile gas-chamber (Einsatzwagen) was
invented. Their earlier hospital victims were usually shot in the back
of the neck.[4] The unit, equipped with a gas van, shuttled between
hospitals, picking up patients and killing them with carbon
monoxide.[5]
After his promotion to SS-
Obersturmführer

Obersturmführer (1st lieutenant) on 20
April 1940, his unit was permanently stationed at the Soldau
concentration camp. In one special case,
Wilhelm Rediess
.jpg/440px-Akershus_slott,_Vidkun_Quisling_og_Josef_Terboven_m.fl._(8618020753).jpg)
Wilhelm Rediess hired
Kommando Lange to kill 1,558 mental patients from
East Prussia

East Prussia for ten
Reichsmark a head.[6] By December 1941 Lange was a
SS-
Hauptsturmführer

Hauptsturmführer (captain) and was appointed commander of the
Chełmno extermination camp

Chełmno extermination camp by then SS-
Standartenführer

Standartenführer Ernst Damzog,
chief of the
Sicherheitspolizei

Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo) and
Sicherheitsdienst

Sicherheitsdienst (SD) in
Posen (Poznań). [7] He held that position until March 1942.[8] His
commando was tasked with the liquidation of 100,000 Jews from the
Warthegau
.svg/250px-Flag_of_the_German_Reich_(1935–1945).svg.png)
Warthegau via Ghetto Litzmannstadt. In April 1942 Lange's unit was
renamed SS Sonderkommando Kulmhof and introduced improvements to the
extermination process at Chełmno. Lange constructed cremation pits to
replace mass graves.[9] He was succeeded by
Hans Bothmann
.jpg/440px-Hans_Bothmann_(1911_-_1946).jpg)
Hans Bothmann who formed
Special

Special Detachment Bothmann in 1942. At a very minimum 152,000 people
(Bohn) were killed at the camp,[10] though the West German
prosecution, citing Nazi figures during the
Chełmno trials

Chełmno trials of
1962–65, laid charges for at least 180,000 victims.[11]
Upon the completion of his task in 1942 Lange was transferred to the
Reichssicherheitshauptamt

Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Reich Main Security Office) and served
under
Arthur Nebe

Arthur Nebe as a Kriminalrat (Criminal Investigator). He went to
the Balkans on an anti-partisan mission.[12] In March 1944 Lange
returned to the already inactive death camp at Chełmno, and resumed
the gassing operations on the request of Greiser, for the final ten
transports of ghettoised Jews.[12] In 1944 Lange aided in catching the
conspirators of the attempt on Hitler's life (the 20 July Plot),
leading to his promotion to SS-Sturmbannführer.
Lange was killed in action during the Battle of
Berlin

Berlin on 20 April
1945.[13]
Notes[edit]
^ a b Friedlander, Henry (1997). The Origins of Nazi Genocide: From
Euthanasia to the Final Solution. UNC Press. p. 138.
ISBN 978-0807846759.
^ Friedlander 1997, pp. 138-139.
^ Artur Hojan, Cameron Munro (2015). "Nazi Euthanasia Programme in
Occupied Poland

Occupied Poland 1939-1945". Overview of the liquidation of the
mentally ill during actions on the Polish territory (1939-1945). The
Tiergartenstrasse 4 Association, international centre for the
documentation, study and interpretation of Nazi crimes. Nazi
Euthanasia in European Perspective conference, Berlin, Kleisthaus,
Feb. 28-30, 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2015. CS1 maint: Uses authors
parameter (link)
^
Holocaust

Holocaust Research Project.org (2007). "Lange, Herbert;
SS-Hauptsturmführer". Chelmno Death Camp Dramatis Personae. Holocaust
Education & Archive Research Team. Retrieved 2013-05-13.
^ Friedlander 1997, p. 139.
^ Friedlander 1997, pp. 139-140. Rediess denied payment and left
for Norway; legalese correspondence between Lange's superiors and
Rediess continued for a whole year.
^ Epstein, Catherine (2010). Model Nazi -
Arthur Greiser
.jpg/440px-Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-E05455,_Arthur_Greiser_(2).jpg)
Arthur Greiser and the
Occupation of Western Poland. New York: Oxford University Press.
p. 145. ISBN 978-0199646531.
^ Epstein 2010, p. 188.
^ Montague 2012, pp. 189-190.
^ USHMM (May 11, 2012). "Chelmno".
Holocaust

Holocaust Encyclopedia. United
States
Holocaust

Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC.
OTRS
.png/480px-OTRS_5_Wikimedia_(en).png)
OTRS ticket no.
2007071910012533 confirmed.
^ JTA (January 22, 1963). "Jewish Survivors of Chelmno Camp Testify at
Trial of Guards". JTA Archive. Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Archived
from the original on February 20, 2014.
^ a b Montague 2012, p. 190.
^ Epstein 2010, p. 338.
References[edit]
Friedlander, Henry (1997) [1995]. The Origins of Nazi Genocide: From
Euthanasia to the Final Solution. Univ of North Carolina Press.
ISBN 978-0807846759.
Montague, Patrick (2012). Chelmno and the Holocaust: The History of
Hitler's First Death Camp. I.B.Tauris. pp. 188–190.
ISBN 1848857225.
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