Johann Pauls (9 February 1908 – 4 July 1946) was a German SS-''

Oberscharführer __NOTOC__ ''Oberscharführer'' (, ) was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that existed between 1932 and 1945. ''Oberscharführer'' was first used as a rank of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) and was created due to an expansion of the enlisted positions ...

'' in

Stutthof concentration camp Stutthof was a Nazi concentration camp established by Nazi Germany in a secluded, marshy, and wooded area near the village of Stutthof (now Sztutowo) 34 km (21 mi) east of the city of Danzig (Gdańsk) in the territory of the German- ...

. He was executed for war crimes.

Career

Pauls was born in Danzig (Gdańsk), the third child of Johann August Pauls and Minna Steingräber. He joined the

NSDAP 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 ...

, along with the SS, in the

Free City of Danzig The Free City of Danzig (german: Freie Stadt Danzig; pl, Wolne Miasto Gdańsk; csb, Wòlny Gard Gduńsk) was a city-state under the protection of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gda ...

on 1 April 1931. From 21 July 1939 to 31 October 1941, he served in the reserve police force. From 1 November 1941 to 11 March 1943, he served in the

Waffen-SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...

infantry and ''SS-

Schütze ''Schütze'' in German means "rifleman" or "shooter", or in older terms originally connoted "archer" before the advent of the rifle. It also occasionally occurs as a surname, or as Schütz, as in the opera ''Der Freischütz''. The word itself is ...

'' reserve. Pauls was transferred to ''SS-Totenkopfsturmbann'' of

Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoner ...

in April 1943. Thereafter, as an SS-''

'', he was commandant of the guards in

until the end of the war in 1945.

After the war

Trial

He was tried in the first Stutthof Trial by the Soviet/Polish Special Criminal Court, which was held in Gdańsk (Danzig) from 25 April 1946 to 31 May 1946. In the company of 12 other guards and kapos, he was convicted of war crimes, along with 10 other accused, and sentenced to death.

Execution

Pauls was executed by short-drop hanging on 4 July 1946 at

Biskupia Górka Biskupia Górka (german: Bischofsberg, sometimes ''Bischofshügel'') is a neighbourhood and hill in Gdańsk, Poland, located in the Śródmieście district. Historically, Biskupia Górka had important strategic meaning, since it is a hill close ...

(Bischofsberg). He was brought to the place of execution along with 10 other prisoners, five men and five women. The convicts were on the backs of 11 trucks, bound hand and foot. Pauls was collared with a noose at the centre of the gallows and pushed out of the truck. On one side of him was Gerda Steinhoff; on his other side, an unknown kapo.

External links

Executed Today – 1946: Eleven from the Stutthof concentration camp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pauls, Johann 1908 births 1946 deaths Stutthof trials executions SS non-commissioned officers Sachsenhausen concentration camp personnel Military personnel from Gdańsk Executed German people Executed people from Pomeranian Voivodeship Filmed executions Waffen-SS personnel Publicly executed people People executed for crimes against humanity