Wilhelm Göcke (12 February 1898, Schwelm, German Empire – 20 October 1944,

Fontana Liri Fontana Liri is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Frosinone in the Italian region Lazio, located about southeast of Rome and about east of Frosinone. Fontana Liri is in the Latin Valley. Fontana Liri borders the following municipal ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

) was an ''SS- Standartenführer'', ''SS-

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 ...

der Reserve der

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 ...

'' and a commandant of

Warsaw concentration camp The Warsaw concentration camp (; see other names) was a German concentration camp in occupied Poland during World War II, formed on the base of the now-nonexistent Gęsiówka prison, in what is today the Warsaw neighbourhood of Muranów. I ...

and the

Kovno Ghetto The Kovno Ghetto was a ghetto established by Nazi Germany to hold the Lithuanian Jews of Kaunas during the Holocaust. At its peak, the Ghetto held 29,000 people, most of whom were later sent to concentration and extermination camps, or were sho ...

Life

After the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Göcke left his school education and volunteered for the military as a 16-year-old. Although he was considered a promising student, the outbreak of the war effectively marked the end of his education. He obtained the rank of ''

Leutnant () is the lowest Junior officer rank in the armed forces the German-speaking of Germany (Bundeswehr), Austrian Armed Forces, and military of Switzerland. History The German noun (with the meaning "" (in English "deputy") from Middle High Ge ...

'' and after the war ended, he was part of the nationalist Lützow ''

Freikorps (, "Free Corps" or "Volunteer Corps") were irregular German and other European military volunteer units, or paramilitary, that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. They effectively fought as mercenary or private armies, rega ...

'' in 1919. Göcke 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 ...

(Nazi Party member number 335,455). In 1931, Göcke joined the SS (member number 21,529). As of April 1933, he was part of the ''SS-Standarten''. From June 1942, Wilhelm Göcke was leader of the Narvik ''Arbeitslager'' (work camp) in Norway, and from July 1942, a warehouse manager in

Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp Mauthausen was a Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with nearly 100 further subcamps located throughout Austria and southern Germa ...

. As of July 1943, he served as commandant of

, and from September 1943, as commandant of the

in Lithuania. Göcke served in this capacity until June 1944. As a camp commandant he received a base salary of 740

Marks Marks may refer to: Business * Mark's, a Canadian retail chain * Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain * Collective trade marks, trademarks owned by an organisation for the benefit of its members * Marks & Co, the inspiration for the novel ...

.Tom Segev, ''Soldiers of Evil'', Berkley Books, 1991, p. 49 Göcke then served under Higher SS and Police Leader

Odilo Globocnik Odilo Lothar Ludwig Globocnik (21 April 1904 – 31 May 1945) was an Austrian Nazi and a perpetrator of the Holocaust. He was an official of the Nazi Party and later a high-ranking leader of the SS. Globocnik had a leading role in Operation Re ...

in the

Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral The Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral (german: Operationszone Adriatisches Küstenland, OZAK; or colloquially: ''Operationszone Adria''; it, Zona d'operazioni del Litorale adriatico; hr, Operativna zona Jadransko primorje; sl, Operacijs ...

, where the SS were conducting anti-partisan activity. Göcke was killed in October 1944. According to witnesses, Göcke was involved in the shooting of

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

Bibliography

Tom Segev Tom Segev ( he, תום שגב; born March 1, 1945) is an Israeli historian, author and journalist. He is associated with Israel's New Historians, a group challenging many of the country's traditional narratives. Biography Segev was born in Jeru ...

: ''Soldiers of Evil: The Commandants of the Nazi Concentration Camps'' (1988, ) *

Ernst Klee Ernst Klee (15 March 1942, Frankfurt – 18 May 2013, Frankfurt) was a German journalist and author. As a writer on Germany's history, he was best known for his exposure and documentation of medical crimes in Nazi Germany, much of which was concer ...

: ''Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich: Wer war was vor und nach 1945.'' Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2005, .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gocke, Wilhelm 1898 births 1944 deaths People from Schwelm German Army personnel of World War I SS-Standartenführer Waffen-SS personnel Warsaw concentration camp personnel Kovno Ghetto Nazi concentration camp commandants Mauthausen concentration camp personnel 20th-century Freikorps personnel German military personnel killed in World War II Military personnel from North Rhine-Westphalia Holocaust perpetrators in Lithuania Holocaust perpetrators in Poland