Richard Korherr
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Dr. Richard Korherr (30 October 1903 – 24 November 1989) was a professional
statistician A statistician is a person who works with Theory, theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private sector, private and public sectors. It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, a ...
in
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
, and chief inspector of the statistical bureau of the SS during World War II. Korherr eventually held the rank of SS-Sturmbannführer. Korherr received his doctorate in 1926 and worked for the 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 served as chairman of the Bavarian anti-separatist ''Reich und Heimat'' Committee in 1930–1933, and became member of the Catholic
Bavarian People's Party The Bavarian People's Party (German: ; BVP) was a principally Catholic christian democratic political party in Bavaria during the Weimar Republic. After the collapse of the German Empire in 1918, it split away from the federal Centre Party and ...
. On 1 January 1934 his department was taken over by the Bavarian Statistical Office, and he was transferred there. In 1935–1940 Korherr was Director of the Statistical Office of the city of
Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...
. ''(also in)'' Following the
invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...
at the onset of World War II, on 9 December 1940 Himmler brought Korherr to
Reichsführer-SS (, ) was a special title and rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945 for the commander of the (SS). ''Reichsführer-SS'' was a title from 1925 to 1933, and from 1934 to 1945 it was the highest Uniforms and insignia of the Schut ...
office, to study the progress of resettlement for him. Korherr's incredible problems with the SS began only when the German advance on the Russian front had been halted, resulting in the most damning statistic often attributed to him.


Korherr Report

During World War II Korherr was commissioned by
Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful p ...
to calculate the number of Jews in Europe subject to "special treatment" (''
Sonderbehandlung (, "special treatment") is any sort of preferential treatment. However, the word ''Sonderbehandlung'' was used as a euphemism for mass murder by Nazi functionaries and the SS, who commonly used the abbreviation ''S.B.'' in documentation. It f ...
'', an SS
code name A code name, codename, call sign, or cryptonym is a code word or name used, sometimes clandestinely, to refer to another name, word, project, or person. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage. They may also be used in ...
for
mass murder Mass murder is the violent crime of murder, killing a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time and in close geographic proximity. A mass murder typically occurs in a single location where one or more ...
) from 1937 to December 1942. Korherr completed his
Korherr Report The Korherr Report is a 16-page document on the progress of the Holocaust in German-controlled Europe. It was delivered to Heinrich Himmler on March 23, 1943, by the chief inspector of the statistical bureau of the '' SS'' and professional statis ...
in January 1943 and handed it over to SS- Obersturmbannfuhrer Dr.
Rudolf Brandt Rudolf Hermann Brandt (2 June 1909 – 2 June 1948) was a German Schutzstaffel, SS officer from 1933–45 and a civil servant. A lawyer by profession, Brandt was the Personal Administrative Officer to ''Reichsführer-SS'' (''Persönlicher Referen ...
on the 23 March of that year. It was a 16-page document on the progress of
the 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 ...
as reflected in the dwindling numbers of Jews in Germany and
German-occupied Europe German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly military occupation, militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the governmen ...
. It included a seven-page supplement about the deportations in the first three months of 1943. The report was released under the title ''Die Endlösung der Judenfrage'' (). Korherr calculated that the number had fallen by 4 million, of whom 1,274,166 victims were delivered to camps for 'special treatment'. The exacting number of 1,274,166 Jews appeared in the
Telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...
sent by SS-Sturmbannführer
Hermann Höfle Hermann Julius Höfle, also Hans (or) Hermann Hoefle (; 19 June 1911 – 21 August 1962), was an Austrian-born SS commander and Holocaust perpetrator during the Nazi era. He was deputy to Odilo Globočnik in the '' Aktion Reinhard'' program, ...
on 11 January 1943 suggesting that both of them used data collected by the German Transport Authority. Himmler returned the document to its author and demanded a more innocuous word in place of the ''
Sonderbehandlung (, "special treatment") is any sort of preferential treatment. However, the word ''Sonderbehandlung'' was used as a euphemism for mass murder by Nazi functionaries and the SS, who commonly used the abbreviation ''S.B.'' in documentation. It f ...
'' to divert and obscure the crimes. Korherr replaced the phrase with ''Durchgeschleust'' suggesting that the quoted numbers of Jews had "passed through" the so-called ''Durchgangslager'' (transit camps). A summary of his report was delivered to Adolf Hitler by Brandt. In 1945–1946 he was under so-called '
automatic arrest Automatic may refer to: Music Bands * Automatic (Australian band), Australian rock band * Automatic (American band), American rock band * The Automatic, a Welsh alternative rock band Albums * ''Automatic'' (Jack Bruce album), a 1983 ele ...
' as state functionary, however he did not face the
Nuremberg Trials #REDIRECT Nuremberg trials {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from move ...
, because his Report was not revealed and he later claimed he never heard about the extermination before 1945.
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 conce ...
, ''Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich'', Frankfurt 2005, , p. 331.
Later Korherr worked at the Federal Ministry of Finance in
West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
. He also lectured at the
University of Erlangen-Nuremberg A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...
in 1959–1962. Korherr died in the city of
Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( ; from Low German , local dialect: ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...
,
Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...
, on 24 November 1989 at the age of 86.


Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Korherr, Richard 1903 births 1989 deaths Holocaust historical documents SS-Sturmbannführer German prisoners of war in World War II