Name Friedrich-Wilhelm Kruger | Role Political leader | |
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Born Rank SS-Obergruppenfuhrer and General of the Waffen-SS and Polizei Service number NSDAP #171,199SS #6,123 Battles/wars World War IWorld War II Other work Organized war crimes in Poland, including concentration camps, forced labor, and mass murder. Died May 10, 1945, Schiltberg, Germany Commands held 6th SS Mountain Division Nord | ||
Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger (8 May 1894 – 10 May 1945) was a Nazi official and high-ranking member of the SA and the SS. Between 1939 and 1943 he was Higher SS and Police Leader in the General Government in German-occupied Poland and in that capacity he organized and supervised numerous acts of crimes against humanity and had a major responsibility for the Holocaust. At the end of the war, he committed suicide.
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Career
Krüger was born into a military family in Strassburg, Alsace-Lorraine, Germany (nowadays in France) in 1894; he left school before graduating to begin a military career as a cadet in military schools in Karlsruhe and Gross-Lichterfelde. In June 1914, Krüger was commissioned a second lieutenant in the German Army when World War I broke out. During the course of the war, he was wounded three times and awarded the 1st and 2nd class Iron Crosses. In August 1919, he joined the Freikorps von Lützow, which he left in March 1920. Afterwards he returned to civilian employment and got married.
Activities in SA and SS
While working at a refuse company, he probably met Kurt Daluege, who was an engineer at the company at that time. He later on became SS commander in Berlin and leader of the Ordnungspolizei ("order police") or Orpo. The two men soon formed a friendship. In November 1929, Krüger joined the NSDAP (as member 171,199) ; in February 1931, he also joined the SS (6,123), which he left in April to transfer to the SA. With the help of Daluege, Krüger instantly acquired the SA rank and the power necessary to conduct reforms of the SA Formation East. He was promoted to SA-Gruppenführer in 1932 and joined Ernst Röhm's personal staff.
In June 1933, Krüger was promoted to SA-Obergruppenführer and appointed chief of the Ausbildungswesen ("training", AW). Cooperating closely with the Reichswehr, he used his new position to school the SA's recruits (an estimated 250,000) to become unit leaders. Krüger was not caught in the Night of the Long Knives, in which Röhm and many other high-ranking SA members were killed, and it has been speculated that his switch from the SS to the SA was only for pragmatic reasons, especially in the light of Krüger transferring the SA armouries of which he was in charge to the Reichswehr as soon as the purge began. Afterwards, Krüger re-entered the SS while still keeping his SA rank. In February 1936, he was appointed inspector of border guard units as well as Adolf Hitler's personal representative at a variety of formal and informal NSDAP events.
Crimes in Poland
On 4 October 1939, Heinrich Himmler, appointed him to act as Higher SS and Police Leader (HSSPF East) (Höherer SS- und Polizeiführer) in the part of German-occupied Poland called the General Government. Krüger thus held one of the highest posts in occupied Poland. Among other things he was responsible for: eliminating rebellion in the extermination camps, setting up forced labour camps, the employment of police and SS in the deportations of Jews from Warsaw ghettos, the execution of Aktion Erntefest, the so-called "anti-partisan" fighting in the General Government, and the driving out of over 1,000,000 Polish farmers from the area around Zamość. Disagreements with governor general Hans Frank led to his dismissal on 9 November 1943. He was replaced by Wilhelm Koppe. The Polish Secret State ordered his death, but an assassination attempt on 20 April 1943 in Kraków failed when two bombs hurled at his car missed the target. Six months later, he wrote in a letter, "I have lost honour and reputation due to my four year struggle in the GG (General Government) (Ich habe für meinen vierjährigen Kampf im GG Ehre und Reputation verloren).
Later career and suicide
From November 1943 until April 1944 Krüger served with the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen in Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia. While ostensibly engaged in anti-partisan actions in Yugoslavia, this unit became notorious for committing atrocities against the civilian population.
Later from June to August Krüger took over the command over the 6th SS Mountain Division Nord in northern Finland. From August 1944 until February 1945 Krüger was commanding general of the V SS Mountain Corps. In February 1945 he was Himmler's representative at the German southeast front and in April and May 1945 he was commander of a combat unit of the Ordnungspolizei (Orpo) at Army Group South (known as Army Group Ostmark after 1 May 1945). At the end of the war Krüger committed suicide in Upper Austria.
Awards
