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German Persecutions of Civilians - WWII
Hand written letter/note from SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Hermann Höfle andreads :On the 16.02.1944 Höfle writes to the SS-Personalhauptamt that his wife hasjust given birth to a girl on 06.02.1944.Hermann Julius Höfle (19 June 1911 – 21 August 1962) was an Austrian-bornSS commander and Holocaust perpetrator during the Nazi era. He was deputy toOdilo Globočnik in the Aktion Reinhard program, serving as his maindeportation and extermination expert. Arrested in 1961 in connection withthese crimes, Höfle committed suicide in prison before he could be tried.Born in Salzburg, Austria, Höfle joined the NSDAP on 1 August 1933, withparty number 307,469. He joined the SS at the same time. Before the war, heworked as an auto mechanic.[1]After the conquest of Poland, Höfle served in Nowy Sącz, in Southern Poland.In November 1940 he served as an overseer of a Jewish labour camp southeastof Lublin. Up to December 1941 Höfle was in Mogilev, Russia. He was involvedin deportations to the camps of Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka. He lived andworked from the Aktion Reinhard headquarters with the Julius SchreckBarracks, Ostland Strasse, in Lublin.Höfle was "Coordinator" of Operation Reinhard and chief of staff to OdiloGlobočnik, serving as his main deportation and extermination expert.Alongside Christian Wirth, Höfle had chief authority of Operation Reinhardbeside Globočnik. At the beginning of the operation, he held the rank ofHauptsturmführer (captain). SS members, including those from Action T4 whowere assigned to the operation, reported to the headquarters in Lublin andwere instructed to their duties by Höfle. For an example of the limitedpaperwork, every member of Operation Reinhard signed the followingdeclaration of secrecy:I have been thoroughly informed and instructed by SS Hauptsturmführer Höfle, as Commander of the main department of Einsatz Reinhard of the SS and PoliceLeader in the District of Lublin:1. that I may not under any circumstances pass on any form of information, verbally or in writing, on the progress, procedure or incidents in theevacuation of Jews to any person outside the circle of Einsatz Reinhardstaff;2. that the process of the evacuation of Jews is a subject that comes under"Secret Reich Document, " in accordance with censorship regulation Vershl V.a;…4. that there is an absolute prohibition on photography in the camps ofEinsatz Reinhard;…I am familiar with the above regulations and laws and am aware of theresponsibilities imposed upon me by the task with which I have beenentrusted. I promise to observe them to the best of my knowledge andconscience. I am aware that the obligation to maintain secrecy continueseven after I have left the Service.As head of the "Main Department" (Hauptabteilung), Höfle was in charge ofthe organization and manpower of Operation Reinhard. He coordinated thedeportations of Jews from all areas of the General Government and directedthem to one of the extermination camps. The deportation orders werecoordinated and channelled through SS authorities from Höfle’s office forthe Lublin reservation, through the district SS and Police Leaders, down tothe localities where the expulsions were to take place.Around May 1942 in the General Government, a substitution policy developedfor a short time in which Polish workers who were sent to the German Reichwere gradually replaced with Jewish laborers. It became standard procedureto stop deportation trains from the Reich and Slovakia in Lublin in order toselect able-bodied Jews for work in the General Government, the others beingsent on to their deaths in Belzec. In this way, many Jews were temporarilyspared death and instead relegated to forced labor. Hermann Höfle was one ofthe chief supporters and implementers of this policy.Höfle personally oversaw the deportation of the Warsaw Ghetto, the so-calledGroßaktion Warschau. The operation was preceded on 20 and 21 July 1942 by aspree of randomly killing actions along the streets of the Ghetto and by thearrest and brutal imprisonment of many others taken as hostages amongcouncilors, department managers and those connected in a way or another tothe Judenrat. All this was to intimidate and soften the Judenrat to the newupcoming measures. The day after, in the morning of 22 July, SturmbannführerHöfle, accompanied by an entourage of SS and government officials, arrivedat the Judenrat in the Warsaw Ghetto and announced to the chairman, AdamCzerniaków, that the Jews, regardless of sex or age and with but a fewexceptions, were to be evacuated to the East. The exceptions were workers inGerman factories who had valid work permits, Judenrat employees, the JewishOrder Service, hospital patients and employees, and the families of theexempt. The deportees were allowed to carry with them 15 kg of baggage, foodfor three days, money, gold, and other valuables. The order also called for6,000 Jews to report to the Umschlagplatz every day by 4 p.m. to board thetrains for deportation.Adam Czerniaków wrote in his diary on 22 July 1942 (he committed suicide thenext day):Sturmbannführer Höfle (who is in charge of the evacuation) asked me into hisoffice and informed me that for the time being my wife was free, but if thedeportation were impeded in any way, she would be the first one to be shotas a hostage.Höfle also played a key role in the Harvest Festival massacre of Jewishinmates of the various labour camps in the Lublin district in early November1943. Approximately 43,000 Jews were murdered during this operation whichwas the single largest German massacre of Jews in the entire war. Höflerejoined Globočnik in Trieste, after various missions in the Netherlands andBelgium.Höfle TelegramTelegram from Hermann Höfle listing the number of deaths in theextermination camps during a 14-day period in 1942 and for the whole year1942 (1,274,166). (L) stands for Lublin/Majdanek, (B) for Bełżec, (S) forSobibor and (T) for Treblinka extermination camp.Main article: Höfle TelegramOn 11 January 1943, Höfle sent a radiogram from Lublin toSS-Obersturmbannführer Franz Heim in Kraków, who was at the time the deputycommander of the Security Police and SD in the General Government, and toSS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann in Berlin. The message documented thetotal deportations of Jews to the four Operation Reinhard camps through 31of December 1942. Today this document is called the Höfle Telegram.On 31 May 1945 Höfle was found hiding in Möslacher Alm near the WeissenseeLake in Carinthia (Southern Austria) by the British, along with SS stormtroopers Ernst Lerch and Georg Michalsen. After two years in the Britishinterrogation center Wolfsberg (Carinthia), he was released to the Austrianjudicial system. On 30 October 1947, under oath, he was released to continuehis earlier occupation as an auto mechanic in his birthplace, Salzburg.After an extradition request on 9 July 1948 by the Polish government, hefled to Italy, where he lived under a false name until 1951. Later hereturned to Austria and then emigrated to the Federal Republic of Germany.There he was employed briefly as an informant for U.S. ArmyCounterintelligence.Höfle returned to Salzburg, where he lived as a free man until 2 January1961, when he was arrested by the Austrian authority and sent to prison inVienna, where in 1962 he hanged himself before his trial could begin.This hand written letter is A4 size measuring 270mm x 190mm
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