Helmut Rauca (3 November 1908 – 29 October 1983) was a

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

perpetrator instrumental in the murder of more than 10,000 Jews from the

Kaunas Ghetto The Kovno Ghetto was a ghetto established by Nazi Germany to hold the Lithuanian Jews of Kaunas, Kaunas (Kovno) during the Holocaust. At its peak, the ghetto held 29,000 people, most of whom were later sent to Concentration camps, concentratio ...

, Lithuania, during World War II. He was a member 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 impl ...

'' in the rank of '' Hauptscharführer'' (master sergeant). As 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 ...

Jewish Affairs Specialist, Rauca was responsible for the selection of about one-third of the Ghetto inmates including men, women, and children, to be killed during the ''Große Aktion'' known as the Kaunas massacre of October 29, 1941, perpetrated at the remote Ninth Fort on the outskirts of

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

. Feared for his ruthlessness, he was nicknamed "Ruakh" by inmates (a play on his surname -

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

for "demon" or "devil"). After the war, Rauca emigrated to Canada legally in 1950. He had become a Canadian citizen in 1956 under his own name and embarked on a successful business career. At the age of seventy-three, he was charged by the Canadian authorities with aiding and abetting in the murder of 10,500 persons forty-three years earlier, in

Life

Helmut Albert Rauca was born in Trieb, Falkenstein,

Kingdom of Saxony The Kingdom of Saxony () was a German monarchy in Central Europe between 1806 and 1918, the successor of the Electorate of Saxony. It joined the Confederation of the Rhine after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, later joining the German ...

. His father Albert was Austrian and his mother Alma ''

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

'' Wolf was born in Trieb. Rauca apprenticed in a Plauen textile mill and 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 ...

two years before

Hitler's rise to power The rise to power of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919, when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He quickly rose t ...

. He became a professional policeman in 1928 serving with the Order Police (''

Ordnungspolizei The ''Ordnungspolizei'' (''Orpo'', , meaning "Order Police") were the uniformed police force in Nazi Germany from 1936 to 1945. The Orpo was absorbed into the Nazi monopoly of power after regional police jurisdiction was removed in favour of t ...

''); in 1935 transferred to the detective division called Kripo (''

Kriminalpolizei ''Kriminalpolizei'' (, "criminal police") is the standard term for the criminal investigation agency within the police forces of Germany, Austria, and the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland. In Nazi Germany, the Kripo was the criminal polic ...

'') where he joined the SS, card number 290 335. He entered Kaunas on 3 July 1941 during

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

with the SS unit of ''Einsatzgruppe'' "A". Rauca lied to the Canadian officials, that he went to Kovno (Kaunas) half a year later in February or March 1942. After the war, Rauca was interned by the U.S. Army, but was released in 1948. Rauca arrived in Canada on 13 December 1950 at

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John () is a port#seaport, seaport city located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. It is Canada's oldest Municipal corporation, incorporated city, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign ...

, aboard the Canadian ship ''Beaverbrae'' from

Bremerhaven Bremerhaven (; ) is a city on the east bank of the Weser estuary in northern Germany. It forms an exclave of the Bremen (state), city-state of Bremen. The Geeste (river), River Geeste flows through the city before emptying into the Weser. Brem ...

. He did not change his name but switched his given names Helmut Albert to Albert Helmut which was enough to prevent detection for the next thirty years. The German police had been looking for him since 1961. Nevertheless, the German warrant for his arrest was only issued over twenty years later on 27 May 1982, requesting Rauca's extradition from Canada. Rauca was accused of sending 11,584 people to their deaths in the period between 18 August 1941 and 25 December 1943. The warrant listed several war crimes including the 18 August 1941 murder of 534 Jews from the Ghetto, perpetrated at Fort Four of the Kaunas Fortress over the edge of a prepared ditch. Rauca was arrested on 17 June 1982, at the request of the West German government. Over the Crown's objections, he was granted a $150,000 bail, a decision which was upheld on appeal. However, Rauca voluntarily remained in jail, fearing possible reprisals if he left custody. In May 1983, Rauca dropped further appeals against his extradition. He was flown to

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 ...

on 20 May 1983. He died of cancer on 29 October 1983, while awaiting trial in custodial detention.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rauca, Helmut 1908 births 1983 deaths People from Falkenstein, Saxony People from the Kingdom of Saxony Einsatzgruppen personnel Holocaust perpetrators in Lithuania People who lost Canadian citizenship Nazis deported from Canada German emigrants to Canada German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United States Deaths from cancer in Germany People extradited from Canada Prisoners and detainees of Canada People extradited to Germany Prisoners who died in German detention Nazis who died in prison custody