Notable Police/SS Officers Involved in Holocaust Policies

1. Otto Winkelmann (Germany / Hungary)

  • Role: High‑ranking German police and SS leader; Higher SS and Police Leader (HSSPF) in Hungary during the Nazi occupation.
  • Involvement: Oversaw police structures while Hungarian Jews were rounded up and deported; worked with Adolf Eichmann’s office during the mass deportations of 1944, when hundreds of thousands of Jews were sent to Auschwitz.
  • Upbringing / Background: Born in Bordesholm (then German Empire) in 1894; long police career in Germany before the Nazis, joined SS 1938; served in police leadership positions.
  • Post‑war: Captured by U.S. forces, denied culpability, released without major prosecution, later led retired police association.

2. Georg Michalsen (Austria/Germany)

  • Role: SS–Police leader involved in deportations and extermination operations in occupied Poland (Operation Reinhard).
  • Upbringing: Born 1906 in Austrian Silesia; son of a teacher, educated in Oppeln/Opole region.
  • Involvement: Played a part in deportations of Jews to killing centers; later tried and convicted for complicity in murder.

3. Hans Krüger (Germany/Poland)

  • Role: Gestapo officer active in occupied Poland.
  • Actions: Organized massacres in 1941, including mass shootings of Jews and intelligentsia in areas around Lwów (now Lviv) and Stanisławów (now Ivano‑Frankivsk).
  • Upbringing: Born in Posen (then German Empire) 1909; later life post‑war included work in West German politics (controversially).

4. Herbert Böttcher (Germany/Poland)

  • Role: SS Brigadeführer and police leader in the Radom district of occupied Poland.
  • Actions: Oversaw deportation of more than 300,000 Jews from Radom to Treblinka extermination camp; instituted orders against Poles aiding Jews.
  • Background: Born 1907 in East Prussia; trained as a lawyer before Nazi career in police and SS.
  • Fate: Tried and executed by Polish authorities after the war.

5. Paul Bredow (Germany / Poland)

  • Role: SS non‑commissioned officer at Treblinka extermination camp.
  • Actions: Part of Operation Reinhard death camp duties; notorious for cruelty in camp operations.
  • Background: Born 1903 in German Silesia; served earlier at euthanasia centers before transfer to Treblinka.

6. Arpad Wigand (Germany / Poland)

  • Role: SS and Police Leader in Warsaw (occupied Poland) 1941–1943.
  • Involvement: Responsible for police orders that led to shootings of Jews outside the Warsaw Ghetto.
  • Background: Born in Mannheim 1906; railway worker’s son, joined SS pre‑war, rose through police ranks.
  • Post‑war: Convicted for war crimes in Poland and later in Germany.