Rudolf Batz (10 November 1903 – 8 February 1961) was a German SS functionary during the Nazi era. From 1 July to 4 November 1941 he was the leader of Einsatzkommando 2 and as such was responsible for the mass murder of Jews and others in the Baltic states. Arrested in 1961, Batz committed suicide while in custody awaiting trial.

Biography

Batz was born in

Bad Langensalza Bad Langensalza (; until 1956: Langensalza) is a spa town of 17,500 inhabitants in the Unstrut-Hainich district, Thuringia, central Germany. Geography Location Bad Langensalza is located in the Thuringian Basin, the fertile lowlands alon ...

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...

. After a course of studies in

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...

at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

, he 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 ...

on 1 May 1933. On 10 December 1935 he joined the ''

Schutzstaffel The ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS; also stylized as ''ᛋᛋ'' with Armanen runes; ; "Protection Squadron") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe duri ...

'' (SS). By 1942 he was promoted to the rank of ''

Obersturmbannführer __NOTOC__ ''Obersturmbannführer'' (Senior Assault-unit Leader; ; short: ''Ostubaf'') was a paramilitary rank in the German Nazi Party (NSDAP) which was used by the SA ('' Sturmabteilung'') and the SS (''Schutzstaffel''). The rank of ''Oberstu ...

''. At the beginning of the German invasion of the Soviet Union he was the leader of a unit of about 40 men, ''Einsatzkommando 2'' 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 ...

, and was responsible for overseeing the mass murder of the Jews of the Baltic states. In 1943, Batz became commander of '' Sicherheitspolizei'' (SiPo; Security Police) in Cracow and shortly after that became the head of 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 ...

Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

. After the war, Batz lived unrecognized for a long time in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. He was arrested in 1961. Batz hanged himself in custody while awaiting trial.

References

Sources

* Krausnick, Helmut and Wilhelm, Hans-Heinrich: ''Die Truppe des Weltanschauungskrieges'': Stuttgart: DVA, 1981

External links

*
Biography and photograph at olokaustos.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Batz, Rudolf 1903 births 1961 suicides People from Bad Langensalza Holocaust perpetrators in Latvia Holocaust perpetrators in Lithuania Holocaust perpetrators in Estonia Holocaust perpetrators in Poland Einsatzgruppen personnel SS-Standartenführer Nazis who committed suicide in prison custody Gestapo personnel Nazis who committed suicide in Germany Suicides by hanging in Germany Lawyers in the Nazi Party University of Göttingen alumni Police of Nazi Germany