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Udo von Woyrsch

German National Socialist German Workers' Party, Higher SS and Police Leader, SS-Obergruppenführer

Udo Gustav Wilhelm Egon von Woyrsch (24 July 1895 – 14 January 1983) was a high-ranking SS official in National Socialist German Workers' Party Germany who participated in implementation of the regime's racial policies during World War II.

Contents

  • 1 First World War
  • 2 National Socialist German Workers' Party career
    • 2.1 Einsatzgruppe
  • 3 Trials and convictions
  • 4 Notes
  • 5 References

First World War

From early 1914 to 9 February 1919, Woyrsch served with the Germany Army as junior officer during World War I. From 10 February 1919 to 23 August 1920, he was *ociated with an organization called the Grenzschutz ("Border Defense"). He was awarded the Iron Cross (First Cl*).

National Socialist German Workers' Party career

According to the historian Richard Grunberger, Woyrsch had been a member in the Freikorps during the 1920s. Early on, Woyrsch joined the NSDAP (Membership number 162,349) and the SS (Member Number 3,689). Himmler charged him with organising the SS in the National Socialist German Workers' Party Gau of Silesia; as such Woyrsch became the first commander of the SS-Oberabschnitt Südost.

In 1933, Woyrsch was elected to the Reichstag. He was the SS and Police Leader in Elbe, and in 1934 Woyrsch participated in the Night of the Long Knives, ordering the execution of his SS rival Emil Sembach. On 30 June 1934, "he took command in Silesia, and on the orders of Göring arrested a number of SA leaders, disarmed all SA headquarters' guards and occupied the Breslau police headquarters. Woyrsch's men executed some of the SA officers as a result of an on-going private feud."

Woyrsch had a close friendship with Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich, and was on Himmler's personal staff. On 1 January 1935 he was promoted to SS Obergruppenführer (then the second-highest rank in the SS).

Einsatzgruppe

In September 1939 Woyrsch commanded Einsatzgruppe VII. Woyrsch was responsible for some of the deadliest m*acres of Jews in Poland in 1939, where in East Upper Silesia he led the group that murdered 500 Jews in Kattowitz, Będzin, and Sosnowiec. The brutality of this Einsatzgruppe in Kattowitz was such that some Wehrmacht officers interceded with the Gestapo to have it withdrawn. However many junior military commanders actively supported Woyrsch's campaign.

Between 20 April 1940 and February 1944, Woyrsch was the Higher SS and Police Leader in military district IV and district leader in Dresden. Woyrsch was removed from office in 1944 for incompetence. According to Richard Grunberger, Woyrsch was part of Himmler's entourage trailing about northern Germany in 1945.

Trials and convictions

Woyrsch was interned by the British from 1945 to 1948. In 1948, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the "Night of the Long Knives" in 1934. However, he was released in 1952. He was tried again in 1957 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Notes

    References

    • Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Adelige Häuser A Band VII, Seite 403, Band 34 der Gesamtreihe, C. A. Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn), 1965, ISSN:0435-2408
    • (in German) Birn, Ruth Bettina:: Die Höheren SS- und Polizeiführer. Himmlers Vertreter im Reich und in den besetzten Gebieten. Droste Verlag, Düsseldorf, 1986, ISBN:3-7700-0710-7
    • Browning, Christopher, and Matthäus, Jürgen. The Origins of the Final Solution - The Evolution of National Socialist German Workers' Party Jewish Policy, September 1939 - March 1942. University of Nebraska Press, 2004, ISBN:0-8032-1327-1
    • (in German) Klee, Ernst: Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN:978-3-596-16048-8 (Aktualisierte 2. Auflage)
    • Richard Grunberger, Hitler's SS (1970), ISBN:978-0-440-03653-1
    • Christopher Ailsby, SS: Role of Infamy (1997), ISBN:978-0-7603-0409-9
    GroupsCrimesRecords
    • The Black Book
    • Commissar Order
    • Einsatzgruppen trial
    • Jäger Report
    • Korherr Report
    • Special Prosecution Book-Poland
    • Einsatzgruppen reports
    M* shootings
    • Bloody Sunday
    • Bronna Góra
    • Bydgoszcz
    • Dynów
    • Erntefest
    • Kielce cemetery
    • Aktion Krakau
    • Palmiry
    • Sonderaktion Krakau
    Pogroms
    • Kielce (1946)
    • Jedwabne
    • Lviv
    • Szczuczyn
    • Tykocin
    • Wąsosz
    Ghettos
    • Będzin
    • Białystok
    • Brest
    • Częstochowa
    • Grodno
    • Kielce
    • Kraków
    • Lwów (Lviv pogroms (1941))
    • Łódź
    • Lubartów
    • Lublin
    • Międzyrzec Podlaski
    • Mizocz
    • Nowy Sącz
    • Pińsk
    • Radom
    • Siedlce
    • Sambor
    • Słonim
    • Sosnowiec
    • Stanisławów
    • Tarnopol
    • Wilno
    • Warsaw
    Other atrocities
    • Action T4
    • Grossaktion Warsaw
    • Human medical experiments
    PersonnelOrganizations
    • Einsatzgruppen (SS)
    • Order Police battalions (Ordnungspolizei)
    • WVHA
    • RKFDV
    • VoMi
    • General Government
    • Hotel Polski
    Collaboration
    • Schutzmannschaft (Belarusian Auxiliary Police, Estonian Auxiliary Police / 36th Estonian Police Battalion, Latvian Auxiliary Police, Arajs Kommando, Lithuanian Auxiliary Police Battalions, Ypatingasis būrys, Ukrainian Auxiliary Police / Schutzmannschaft Battalion 118)
    • Trawniki men
    Do*entationTechnical and logistics
    • Identification in camps
    • Gas chamber
    • Gas van
    • Holocaust train
    • Human medical experimentation
    • Zyklon B
    Memorials
    • Monument to the Ghetto Heroes
    • Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
    • Majdanek State Museum
    • Sobibór Museum
    • International Youth Meeting Center in Oświęcim/Auschwitz
    • March of the Living
    Righteous Among the Nations
    • Polish Righteous Among the Nations (List)
    • Rescue of Jews by Poles during the Holocaust
    • Garden of the Righteous

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