Eugen Steimle (8 December 1909 – 6 October 1987) was a German SS commander in the ''

Sicherheitsdienst ' (, "Security Service"), full title ' ("Security Service of the ''Reichsführer-SS''"), or SD, was the intelligence agency of the Schutzstaffel, SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Established in 1931, the SD was the first Nazi intelligence ...

'' (SD) during the

Nazi era Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

. He commanded ''Sonderkommando'' 7a and ''Einsatzkommando'' 4a of the ''

Einsatzgruppen (, ; 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 imp ...

'', both of which were responsible for mass killings in the Soviet Union. Steimle was found guilty in 1947 in the

Einsatzgruppen Trial ''The United States of America vs. Otto Ohlendorf, et al.'', commonly known as the trial, was the ninth of the twelve " subsequent Nuremberg trials" for war crimes and crimes against humanity after the end of World War II between 1947 and 1948 ...

and sentenced to death in 1948. His sentence was commuted to 20 years in prison.

SS career

Steimle was the son of a

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

and came from a strict pietistic family and studied history, German and French at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...

and

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

. In May 1935, he passed his teaching exams. He joined the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

in 1932 and the

National Socialist German Students' League The National Socialist German Students' Union ( German: ''Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund'', abbreviated NSDStB) was founded in 1926 as a division of the Nazi Party with the mission of integrating University-level education and ...

(NSDStB), where he devoted himself to teaching ''

Volksdeutsche In Nazi Germany, Nazi German terminology, () were "people whose language and culture had Germans, German origins but who did not hold German citizenship." The term is the nominalised plural of ''wikt:volksdeutsch, volksdeutsch'', with denoting ...

'' students of the

Sudetenland The Sudetenland ( , ; Czech and ) is a German name for the northern, southern, and western areas of former Czechoslovakia which were inhabited primarily by Sudeten Germans. These German speakers had predominated in the border districts of Bohe ...

. He joined the SS (no. 272,575) as well in 1932, and then joined the SD in 1935 at the instigation of NSDStB chief Gustav Adolf Scheel. In September 1936, Steimle directed the SD office in Stuttgart. First, he headed the SD subsection Württemberg, and from 1939 until 1943, the SD-Leitabschnitt Stuttgart. From 7 September to 10 December 1941, he succeeded Walter Blume as the commanding officer of ''Sonderkommando'' 7a in ''Einsatzgruppe'' B, which was led by Arthur Nebe. Under Steimle's command, his unit murdered 500 Jews within two months. From August 1942 to January 1943, he replaced Erwin Weinmann as leader of ''Einsatzkommando'' 4a in ''Einsatzgruppe'' C, which was led by

Otto Rasch Emil Otto Rasch (7 December 1891 – 1 November 1948) was a high-ranking German Nazi official and Holocaust perpetrator, who commanded '' Einsatzgruppe C'' in northern and central Ukraine until October 1941. After World War II, Rasch was indicte ...

.Christian Ingrao op. cit. p. 367 After returning to Germany, he became head of Group VI B (German-Italian sphere of influence in Europe, Africa and the Middle East) in the

RSHA The Reich Security Main Office ( , RSHA) was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as ''Chef der Deutschen Polizei'' (Chief of German Police) and , the head of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS). The organization's stat ...

. In 1944, he was promoted to ''SS-

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 ...

''.

Trial and conviction

Steimle was arrested by the Allies in 1945. He was found guilty in 1947 in the

and sentenced to death in 1948. His sentence was commuted to 20 years in prison based upon recommendations of the " Peck Panel". He was released from

Landsberg Prison Landsberg Prison is a prison in the town of Landsberg am Lech in the southwest of the German state of Bavaria, about west-southwest of Munich and south of Augsburg. It is best known as the prison where Adolf Hitler was held in 1924, after the ...

in June 1954 and then taught German and history in

Wilhelmsdorf, Baden-Württemberg Wilhelmsdorf is a town in the district of Ravensburg (district), Ravensburg in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. The place was founded in 1824 by Pietists, who wanted to emigrate overseas, but were granted by King William I of Württemberg a place ...

. He retired in 1975.Ernst Klee: ''Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich'', Frankfurt am Main 2007, p. 599 Eugen Steimle died on 6 October 1987.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steimle, Eugen 1909 births 1987 deaths People from Calw (district) SS-Standartenführer Reich Security Main Office personnel 20th-century German educators University of Tübingen alumni Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Einsatzgruppen personnel Holocaust perpetrators in Russia German prisoners sentenced to death People sentenced to death by the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals Language teachers German schoolteachers