Gustav Adolf Nosske (29 December 1902 – 9 August 1986) was a German lawyer and SS-'' Obersturmbannführer''. In 1941–42, he commanded ''Einsatzkommando 12'' within Einsatzgruppe D, under the command of Otto Ohlendorf. Tried in the Einsatzgruppen Trial in 1948, Nosske was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was released early in December 1951.

Career

Gustav Aldolf Nosske was born on 29 December in Halle. After studying law, he became a lawyer in Halle and

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

. Nosske 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 ...

and the SS in 1933. He became the head of the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, 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 F ...

in 1935 and then in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

from September 1936 to June 1941. As a SS-'' Obersturmbannführer'' in rank, he was appointed chief of ''Einsatzkommando 12'' before the invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. In the areas of Donetsk and Novocherkassk, his unit committed many atrocities against the civilian population. In mid-August 1941 Otto Ohlendorf ordered Nosske to transport 11,000 Jews from Mohyliv-Podilskyi to Yampil in order to make them cross the

Dniester The Dniester ( ) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and then through Moldova (from which it more or less separates the breakaway territory of Transnistria), finally discharging into the Black Sea on Uk ...

river and place them in the Romanian zone. During this walk, hundreds of Jews were murdered. Between 16 and 28 February 1942, ''Einsatzkommando 12'' killed 721 Jews, 271 communists, 74 partisans and 421 Roma. In April 1942 Nosske joined the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

concerning the Occupied Eastern Territories. In 1943, he was appointed head of the "Foreigners and Enemies of the State" division of the

. He worked as a liaison officer between the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories and the RSHA. From August 1943 to September 1944 he was head of the state police in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

. During the later Einsatzgruppen Trial held in 1948, Nosske said that in 1944, he had been ordered to collect all German Jews of Düsseldorf married to non-Jews for extermination, but that he had refused to carry this out. The order was ultimately not enforced. The court accepted this as mitigation, but pointed out that this meant Nosske did not have to kill anyone.

Trial and conviction

Nosske was arrested by the Allies and brought to trial at the Einsatzgruppen Trial in 1948 at

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

. He was the only accused who did not seek clemency from General Lucius D. Clay in the American sector of occupation. On 10 April 1948, Nosske was sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...

for war crimes. He was released early, on 15 December 1951. Details of his later life are largely unknown, other than a court appearance on 26 March 1965, where he testified as a witness at the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials, with Düsseldorf as declared place of residence and legal advisor as profession. He died in Düsseldorf on 9 August 1986.Death register of the Standesamt Düsseldorf, Nr. 5148/1986.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nosske, Gustav Adolf 1902 births 1986 deaths People from Halle (Saale) Lawyers in the Nazi Party SS-Obersturmbannführer Gestapo personnel German prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment German police officers convicted of crimes against humanity Einsatzgruppen personnel Holocaust perpetrators in Russia Holocaust perpetrators in Ukraine Military personnel from Düsseldorf People sentenced to life imprisonment by the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals Jurists from North Rhine-Westphalia Waffen-SS personnel