Joachim Hamann (18 May 1913 in

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...

– 13 July 1945 in Heikendorf) was an officer of the ''Einsatzkommando 3'', a killing unit of '' Einsatzgruppe A'', responsible for tens of thousands of Jewish deaths in

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

. Hamann organized and commanded '' Rollkommando Hamann'', a small mobile killing unit composed of 8–10 Germans and several dozen local Lithuanian collaborators. Hamann was of Baltic German parentage. Trained as a chemist, he had difficulties finding a job due to the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. He joined the SA in August 1931, 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 December 1932, and the SS in July 1938. He served in the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German '' Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the '' Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabt ...

during the

invasion of Poland 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 af ...

and

Battle of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second Wor ...

as a paratrooper ('' Fallschirmjäger''). He returned to Berlin where he joined the SS and completed training courses. In March 1941, he was promoted to SS-'' Obersturmführer'' (first lieutenant). After the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, Hamann organized and commanded '' Rollkommando Hamann'' which killed at least 39,000 Jews in various locations across Lithuania and 9,102 people, almost all of whom were Jews, from the Daugavpils Ghetto. Hamann's superior,

Karl Jäger Karl Jäger (; 20 September 1888 – 22 June 1959) was a German mid-ranking official in the '' SS'' of Nazi Germany and ''Einsatzkommando'' leader who perpetrated acts of genocide during the Holocaust. Early life and career Jäger was born in Sch ...

, documented these killings in the

Jäger Report The so-called Jäger Report, also Jaeger Report (full title: ''Complete tabulation of executions carried out in the Einsatzkommando 3 zone up to December 1, 1941'') was written on 1 December 1941 by Karl Jäger, commander of ''Einsatzkommando'' ...

. Nevertheless, Martin C. Dean estimates the death toll of ''Rollkommando'' Hamann as an estimated 60,000 Jews in Lithuania alone.. Hamann left Lithuania in October 1941 and continued his SS career. In 1942, Hamann participated in Operation Zeppelin, a scheme to recruit Soviet POWs for espionage behind Russian lines. From 1943 he worked at Amt IV of RSHA (

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 ...

). He was involved in apprehending and executing suspected members of the 20 July plot to assassinate Hitler. He was appointed aide to

Ernst Kaltenbrunner Ernst Kaltenbrunner (4 October 190316 October 1946) was a high-ranking Austrian SS official during the Nazi era and a major perpetrator of the Holocaust. After the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in 1942, and a brief period under Heinrich Hi ...

, director of the

Reich Security Main Office The Reich Security Main Office (german: Reichssicherheitshauptamt or RSHA) was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as ''Chef der Deutschen Polizei'' (Chief of German Police) and '' Reichsführer-SS'', the head of the Naz ...

. After the war, Hamann committed suicide.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamann, Joachim 1913 births Einsatzgruppen personnel Holocaust perpetrators in Lithuania SS-Sturmbannführer Nazis who committed suicide in Germany Military personnel from Kiel Reich Security Main Office personnel Sturmabteilung personnel German military personnel who committed suicide 1945 suicides