Max Ernst Gustav Friedrich Wielen (born 3 March 1883) was the

Kripo ''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 ...

and

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 ...

police chief at Breslau. He held the rank of ''

Obergruppenführer ' (, "senior group leader") was a paramilitary rank in Nazi Germany that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) and adopted by the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) one year later. Until April 1942, it was the highest commissio ...

''. After the war, he was sentenced to life imprisonment by a British military court for his complicity in the murders. However, Wielen's sentence was later reduced to 15 years, and he was released 24 October 1952, after having served about 7.5 years in custody. Wielen was directly implicated in the

Stalag Luft III murders The Stalag Luft III murders were war crimes perpetrated by members of the Gestapo following the " Great Escape" of Allied prisoners of war from the German Air Force prison camp known as Stalag Luft III on March 25, 1944. Of the 76 successful escap ...

, in which members of the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

who were involved in the " Great Escape" were killed. Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Vol. 9 seventy-ninth day: Tuesday, 12 March 1946: Morning Session
Avalon Project, Yale University, Retrieved 1 March 2010

References

1883 births Year of death missing Nazis convicted of war crimes German police officers German prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment {{Germany-mil-bio-stub Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by the British military