Karl Heinrich Wilhelm Koppe (15 June 1896 – 2 July 1975) was a German Nazi commander ('' Höhere SS und Polizeiführer (HSSPF), SS-Obergruppenführer''). He was responsible for numerous atrocities against Poles and Jews in Reichsgau Wartheland and the

General Government The General Government (german: Generalgouvernement, pl, Generalne Gubernatorstwo, uk, Генеральна губернія), also referred to as the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (german: Generalgouvernement für die be ...

during the German occupation of Poland in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Biography

Koppe was born in

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the ...

near Hanover. He fought in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. During the interwar period, he pursued a career in

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct exc ...

and

wholesale Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. I ...

. 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 ...

in 1930, then the Storm Detachment (

Sturmabteilung The (; SA; literally "Storm Detachment") was the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Its primary purposes were providing protection for Nazi ralli ...

, SA) in 1931, and 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 ...

(SS) in 1932. Prior to World War II, he was a regional SS and SD commander first in

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state di ...

, then 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 ...

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

and

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

. The German invasion of Poland took place in September 1939, and in October Koppe became the SS and Police Leader in '' Reichsgau Wartheland'' under the command of ''Gauleiter'' Arthur Greiser. However, because of the confusing power struggle – with Hitler dividing and ruling via his constantly changing favourites – Koppe had the same power and responsibilities as Greiser. He had a good working relationship with Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler. He had a daughter, Ursula, who married an aristocrat Arnold Freiherr von Rotberg, a lieutenant colonel in the German armed forces and descendant of Bavarian war minister Eduard Anton Freiherr von Rotberg.

SS ranks

* Truppführer: 2 January 1932 (renamed to Oberscharführer) * Sturmhauptführer: 1 September 1932 (renamed to Hauptsturmführer.) * Sturmbannführer: 30 January 1933 *

Standartenführer __NOTOC__ ''Standartenführer'' (short: ''Staf'', , ) was a Nazi Party (NSDAP) paramilitary rank that was used in several NSDAP organizations, such as the SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK. First founded as a title in 1925, in 1928 it became one of ...

: 20 April 1933 * Oberführer: 20 April 1934 * Brigadeführer: 23 August 1934 *

Gruppenführer __NOTOC__ ''Gruppenführer'' (, ) was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party (NSDAP), first created in 1925 as a senior rank of the SA. Since then, the term ''Gruppenführer'' is also used for leaders of groups/teams of the police, fire d ...

: 13 September 1936 *

und Generalleutnant der Polizei: 20 April 1941 * Obergruppenführer und General der Polizei: 30 January 1942 * General der Waffen-SS: 1 July 1944

Occupied Poland

The newly appointed police commander was an active participant in the implementation of Nazi racial ideals, and in November 1939 he declared that he would make

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...

(Posen) 'free from Jews' ('' judenrein''), after which he ordered numerous executions and deportations of

Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in ...

and

Polish Jews The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the l ...

. He participated in the Nazi's euthanasia program as the overall commander of ' Special Detachment (Sonderkommando) Lange', an SS squad which gassed 1,558 patients from mental asylums at the Soldau concentration camp in the nearby Gau of

East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label= Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...

during May and June 1940. On 30 January 1942 he was promoted to SS-Obergruppenführer, and in October 1943 he replaced

Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger (8 May 1894 – 10 May 1945) was a German war criminal and paramilitary commander acting as a high-ranking member of the SA and the SS. Between 1939 and 1943 he was the Higher SS and Police Leader in the General Govern ...

as Höhere SS und Polizeiführer in the

with headquarters in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula, Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland un ...

. He also held the position of state secretary on the issues of security (''Staatssekretär für das Sicherheitswesen'') in the General Government, and was involved in the operations of Chelmno extermination camp and Warsaw concentration camp as well as operations against the Polish resistance. He organized the execution of more than 30,000 Polish patients suffering from

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...

, and ordered that all male relatives of identified resistance fighters should be executed, and the rest of their family sent to

Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as con ...

. The Polish Secret State ordered his death. An attempted assassination resulted in his being wounded by the

Kedyw ''Kedyw'' (, partial acronym of ''Kierownictwo Dywersji'' ("Directorate of Diversion") was a Polish World War II Home Army unit that conducted active and passive sabotage, propaganda and armed operations against Nazi German forces and collaborat ...

unit – Battatlion Parasol in "Operation Koppe" ("Akcja Koppe") part of " Operation Heads" on 11 July 1944 in

. With the Eastern Front approaching Poland, Koppe ordered all prisoners to be executed rather than freed by the Soviets. In 1945 Koppe went underground and assumed an alias (Lohmann, his wife's surname) and became a director of a chocolate factory in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

, Germany. In 1960 he was arrested but released on bail on 19 April 1962. His trial opened in 1964 in Bonn. He was accused of being an accessory to the

mass murder Mass murder is the act of murdering a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time and in close geographic proximity. The United States Congress defines mass killings as the killings of three or more pe ...

of 145,000 people. The trial was adjourned due to Koppe's purported ill health and in 1966 the Bonn court decided not to prosecute and Koppe was released for medical reasons. The German government refused a Polish request for

extradition Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdi ...

. Koppe died in 1975, aged 79, in

Notes

References

* Arendt, Hannah (1992). '' Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil''. Penguin Classics.
Google Books link
* Datner, Szymon, ''Wilhelm Koppe - nieukarany zbrodniarz hitlerowski''. Warszawa-Poznań, 1963 * de Mildt, Dick; de Mildt, Dirk Welmoed (1996). ''In the Name of the People: Perpetrators of Genocide...]''. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
Google Books link
* Stanisław Kania, Kania, Stanisław, ''Zbrodnie hitlerowskie w Polsce''. Główna Komisja Badania Zbrodni Hitlerowskich w Polsce, Warszawa, 1983 * Kershaw, Ian (2000). ''Hitler 1936-1945: Nemesis''. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Google Books link
* Madajczyk, Czesław, ''Polityka III Rzeszy w okupowanej Polsce''. Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, Warszawa, 1970

External links