Friedrich Wilhelm Rediess (; 10 October 1900 – 8 May 1945) was a German Nazi official who served as the

SS and police leader The title of SS and Police Leader (') designated a senior Nazi Party official who commanded various components of the SS and the German uniformed police (''Ordnungspolizei''), before and during World War II in the German Reich proper and in the o ...

during the

German occupation of Norway The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until th ...

in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He was also the commander of all SS troops stationed in occupied

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and assumed command from 22 June 1940 to his death by suicide.

Early life and career

Rediess was born in Heinsberg,

Rhine Province The Rhine Province (), also known as Rhenish Prussia () or synonymous with the Rhineland (), was the westernmost Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822 to 1946. ...

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

, the son of a court employee. After school, Rediess became an electrician. In June 1918, he enlisted in the German Army during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and served as an infantryman until the armistice in November 1918. He then worked as an electrician until he lost his job in the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. In May 1925, Rediess joined the SA and in December was approved for membership in 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 ...

. He led a

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 ...

SA company in 1927 and was transferred to the SS with his unit in 1930. Promotion swiftly followed for Rediess, who achieved the rank of ''

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 ...

'' (major general) in 1935. At one point, he served as the division commander of '' SS-Oberabschnitt Südost''. Rediess also served as a deputy in the '' Reichstag'' from 1933 until his death in May 1945. In November 1933, he was elected from electoral constituency 22 ( Düsseldorf-East) and, from 1936 on, he was elected as a representative of electoral constituency 1 (

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

Second World War

At the onset of the

, Rediess was responsible for implementing German racial laws in

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

. He oversaw the

deportation Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people by a state from its sovereign territory. The actual definition changes depending on the place and context, and it also changes over time. A person who has been deported or is under sen ...

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

from

and was then given the task of eradicating 1,558 Jewish deportees who were deemed mentally ill. Rediess borrowed " gas vans" and personnel from other SS units and offered a bounty of ten

Reichsmark The (; sign: ℛ︁ℳ︁; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of Germany from 1924 until the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945, and in the American, British and French occupied zones of Germany, until 20 June 1948. The Reichsmark was then replace ...

for each Jew killed. It took 19 days to accomplish those killings, and Rediess reneged on the payment. After the German invasion of Norway, Rediess was transferred there to work with ''

Reichskommissar (, rendered as "Commissioner of the Empire", "Reich Commissioner" or "Imperial Commissioner"), in German history, was an official governatorial title used for various public offices during the period of the German Empire and Nazi Germany. Ger ...

Josef Terboven Josef Antonius Heinrich Terboven (23 May 1898 – 8 May 1945) was a German Nazi Party official and politician who was the long-serving ''Gauleiter'' of Gau Essen and the '' Reichskommissar'' for Norway during the German occupation. Terboven wa ...

. In March 1941, citing reports of large numbers of Norwegian women being impregnated by German soldiers, Rediess implemented the German

Lebensborn ''Lebensborn e.V.'' (literally: "Fount of Life") was a secret, SS-initiated, state-registered association in Nazi Germany with the stated goal of increasing the number of children born who met the Nazi standards of "racially pure" and "heal ...

program in Norway. The program encouraged the production of "racially pure"

Aryan ''Aryan'' (), or ''Arya'' (borrowed from Sanskrit ''ārya''), Oxford English Dictionary Online 2024, s.v. ''Aryan'' (adj. & n.); ''Arya'' (n.)''.'' is a term originating from the ethno-cultural self-designation of the Indo-Iranians. It stood ...

children, who were usually sired by SS troops. Ultimately, 8,000 children were born under the auspices of the program, which made Norway second only to Germany in registered ''Aryan'' births during the war.

Death

Rediess committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

by a self-inflicted gunshot wound upon the collapse of the

Third Reich 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 ...

in Norway on 8 May 1945. His remains were destroyed on the same day that Terboven killed himself by detonating fifty kilograms of

dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern German ...

in a bunker on the Skaugum compound.

Awards and decorations

Among his many decorations was the Honour Cross of the World War without Swords, the Danzig Cross, 1st Class, the

Nazi Party Long Service Award The Nazi Party Long Service Award (''Die Dienstauszeichnung der NSDAP''), a/k/a the NSDAP Long Service Award, was a political award in the form of a badge of the Nazi Party. History The award was given in three grades of ten years, fifteen y ...

in Bronze (10 years) and Silver (15 years), the SS Long Service Award (10 years), the SS-Ehrendegen, the DRL/Reich Sports Badge (''Deutsches Reichssportabzeichen'') in Silver on 13 August 1937, the Rider's Badge, the SA Sports Badge in Gold, the

SS-Ehrenring The ''SS-Ehrenring'' (German language, German for "SS honour ring"), unofficially called ''Totenkopfring'' ("Totenkopf, Death's Head ring" or "skull ring"), was an award of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS). The ring was not a Orders, decorations, and me ...

, the

War Merit Cross The War Merit Cross () was a state decoration of Nazi Germany during World War II. By the end of the conflict it was issued in four degrees and had an equivalent civil award. A " de-Nazified" version of the War Merit Cross was reissued in 1957 ...

(1939), 2nd and 1st Class with Swords (1st Class on 30 January 1942) and the

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire (1871–1918), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). The design, a black cross pattée with a white or silver outline, was derived from the in ...

(1939), 2nd Class on 11 November 1943.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rediess, Wilhelm 1900 births 1945 suicides 1945 deaths German Army personnel of World War I German military personnel who died by suicide Holocaust perpetrators in Germany Members of the Reichstag 1933–1936 Members of the Reichstag 1936–1938 Members of the Reichstag 1938–1945 Nazi eugenics Nazi Party politicians Nazis who died by suicide Norway in World War II People from the Kingdom of Prussia People from the Rhine Province Prussian Army personnel Recipients of the Iron Cross (1939), 2nd class Recipients of the War Merit Cross SS and police leaders SS-Obergruppenführer Sturmabteilung personnel Suicides by firearm Suicides by firearm in Norway Suicides in Norway

Early life and career

Second World War

Death

Awards and decorations

See also

References