German Criminals

Rank the Most Wicked German Criminals

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 1 
Josef Mengele
(German Physician Known for His Atrocities at the Auschwitz II Concentration Camp)
Josef Mengele
106
Birthdate: March 16, 1911
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Bavaria, Germany
Died: February 7, 1979

Known as Angel of Death, Dr. Josef Mengele was the chief doctor of Auschwitz concentration camp and was responsible for killing thousands of Jews as well as torturing the prisoners mercilessly and conducting inhuman experiments on them. These included injecting them with chemicals and stitching twin children together. Despite his horrible crimes, the infamous Nazi doctor could never be captured.

 2 
Adolf Eichmann
(German Military Official and One of the Major Organisers of the Holocaust)
Adolf Eichmann
88
Birthdate: March 19, 1906
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Solingen, Germany
Died: June 1, 1962
Adolf Eichmann was a Nazi lieutenant colonel and one of the chief organizers of the Holocaust, that involved mass deportation and murder of Jews. In 1962, Eichmann was captured by the Mossad in Argentina and was then taken to Israel. He was eventually tried and hanged for crimes against humanity.
 3 
Irma Grese
(Nazi Concentration Camp Guard at Ravensbrück & Auschwitz Who Served as Warden of Bergen-Belsen)
Irma Grese
32
Birthdate: October 7, 1923
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Feldberger Seenlandschaft, Germany
Died: December 13, 1945

Irma Grese, or the Hyena of Auschwitz, served as an SS guard at the Nazi concentration camps of Auschwitz and Ravensbrück. She was also the warden of the ladies’ section of the Bergen-Belsen camp and ended up being convicted of torture and murder of prisoners. She was executed at 22.

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 4 
Klaus Barbie
(Nazi Leader)
Klaus Barbie
20
Birthdate: October 25, 1913
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Bad Godesberg
Died: 1991 AD

Klaus Barbie was a Gestapo and SS official during the Nazi era. Dubbed the Butcher of Lyon, Barbie was known for having tortured prisoners of the Gestapo while stationed in Lyon, France. It is also believed that he played a major role in the execution of Che Guevara. Barbie's life and work inspired the 2007 documentary film My Enemy's Enemy.

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 5 
Ilse Koch
(German War Criminal Who Became One of the First Prominent Nazis Tried by the U.S. Military)
Ilse Koch
21
Birthdate: September 22, 1906
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Dresden, Germany
Died: September 1, 1967
Ilse Koch was the wife of Karl-Otto Koch, the Nazi commandant of the Buchenwald and Majdanek concentration camps. Also known as Beast of Buchenwald, The Bitch of Buchenwald, and Butcher Widow, she was tried by the U.S. military for her sadistic abuse of war prisoners. She died of suicide.
 6 
Oskar Dirlewanger
(War Criminal)
Oskar Dirlewanger
12
Birthdate: September 26, 1895
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Würzburg, Germany
Died: June 7, 1945
German military officer Oskar Dirlewanger established and led the Nazi SS penal unit Dirlewanger during World War II. He had also participated in World War I and the Spanish Civil War, winning the Iron Cross 2nd Class and 1st Class. He died in Allied custody at the Altshausen prison camp.
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 7 
Willi Herold
(Military personnel)
Willi Herold
22
Birthdate: September 11, 1925
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Chemnitz, Germany
Died: November 14, 1946
 8 
Herschel Grynszpan
8
Birthdate: March 28, 1921
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Hanover
Died: May 8, 1960

Herschel Grynszpan was a German Jew best remembered for assassinating a German diplomat named Ernst vom Rath to avenge the persecuted Jews. Rath's assassination had a huge impact on the Jews as the Nazis cited his murder as justification for their planned antisemitic pogroms against the Jews in Germany. Herschel Grynszpan disappeared in 1944 and was declared dead in 1960.

 9 
Alfred Jodl
(Chief of the Operations Staff of the German Armed Forces High Command (1939 - 1945))
Alfred Jodl
14
Birthdate: May 10, 1890
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Würzburg, Germany
Died: October 16, 1946

Alfred Jodl was a German colonel-general who played an important role throughout World War II by serving as Chief of the Operations Staff of a German Armed Forces High Command called the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht. After the war, Jodl was tried at the Nuremberg trials and was found guilty on charges, such as crimes against humanity and war crimes.

 10 
Dorothea Binz
(Officer)
Dorothea Binz
7
Birthdate: March 16, 1920
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Templin, Germany
Died: May 2, 1947
 11 
Greta Bösel
(Nurse)
Greta Bösel
1
Birthdate: May 9, 1908
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Wuppertal, Germany
Died: May 3, 1947
 12 
Adam Worth
(art thief)
Adam Worth
1
Birthdate: 1844 AD
Birthplace: Kingdom of Prussia
Died: January 8, 1902

Adam Worth was a German-born American thief whose short stature earned him the nickname Napoleon of the criminal world. It is widely believed that he was the inspiration behind Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's character Professor James Moriarty. In the 1976 period comedy film Harry and Walter Go to New York, Adam Worth was portrayed by English actor Sir Michael Caine.

 13 
Hildegard Lächert
(Nurse)
Hildegard Lächert
5
Birthdate: January 20, 1920
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Berlin, Germany
Died: 1995 AD
 14 
Fritz Haarmann
(Serial killer)
Fritz Haarmann
11
Birthdate: October 25, 1879
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Hanover, Germany
Died: April 15, 1925
 15 
Oskar Groening
(War Criminal)
Oskar Groening
14
Birthdate: June 10, 1921
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Nienburg, Lower Saxony, Germany
Died: March 9, 2018

Oskar Groening was a German SS Unterscharführer at the Auschwitz concentration camp. He was in charge of counting and sorting the money retrieved from the prisoners arriving at the camp. At the end of the war, he surrendered to the British and was transferred to Britain as a prisoner of war. Years later, he was named a war criminal.

 16 
Paul Blobel
(Military leader, Criminal)
Paul Blobel
1
Birthdate: August 13, 1894
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Potsdam, Germany
Died: June 7, 1951
 17 
Armin Meiwes
(German Convicted Murderer)
Armin Meiwes
16
Birthdate: December 1, 1961
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Essen, Germany
Armin Meiwes, also known as "The Master Butcher," was a computer repair man who killed and ate engineer Jürgen Armando Brandes, who had voluntarily offered himself to be eaten, in response to an advertisement on an online cannibalism-oriented forum. Armin is now serving a life sentence for murder.
 18 
Brigitte Mohnhaupt
(Criminal)
Brigitte Mohnhaupt
2
Birthdate: June 24, 1949
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Rheinberg, Germany
 19 
Irmgard Möller
(Terrorist)
Irmgard Möller
2
Birthdate: May 13, 1947
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Bielefeld, Germany
 20 
Heinz Lammerding
(German SS Officer Convicted of War Crimes During World War II)
Heinz Lammerding
2
Birthdate: August 27, 1905
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Dortmund, Germany
Died: January 13, 1971
 21 
Reinhard Heydrich
(Nazi Official)
Reinhard Heydrich
45
Birthdate: March 7, 1904
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Halle
Died: June 4, 1942

Reinhard Heydrich was a Nazi police officer and a high-ranking SS. Heydrich is widely regarded as one of the main architects of the Holocaust, a World War II genocide that killed some six million Jews. Described by Adolf Hitler as the man with the iron heart, Heydrich is regarded as the darkest figure of the Nazi era by many historians.

 22 
Franz von Papen
(Former Vice-Chancellor of Germany)
Franz von Papen
13
Birthdate: October 29, 1879
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Werl, Westphalia, Prussia, Germany
Died: May 2, 1969

Franz von Papen was a German politician, Prussian nobleman, diplomat, and General Staff officer. From 1933 to 1934, he served under Adolf Hitler as the Vice-Chancellor of Germany. After World War II, Franz von Papen was indicted alongside other war criminals in the Nuremberg trials. However, he was later acquitted of all charges.

 23 
Said Bahaji
(Alleged member of the Hamburg cell that provided money and material support to the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks)
Said Bahaji
0
Birthdate: July 15, 1975
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Haselünne, Germany
Died: August 31, 2013
 24 
Gudrun Ensslin
(Far-left terrorist and founder of the West German far-left militant group Red Army Faction)
Gudrun Ensslin
3
Birthdate: August 15, 1940
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Bartholomä, Germany
Died: October 18, 1977
 25 
Ludolf von Alvensleben
(SS functionary and Police Leader)
Ludolf von Alvensleben
3
Birthdate: March 17, 1901
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Halle, Germany
Died: April 1, 1970
 26 
Elisabeth Becker
(Guard)
Elisabeth Becker
4
Birthdate: July 20, 1923
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Nowy Staw, Poland
Died: July 4, 1946
 27 
Fritz Klein
(Military physician, War criminal)
Fritz Klein
2
Birthdate: November 24, 1888
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Codlea, Romania
Died: December 13, 1945
 28 
Gerda Steinhoff
(Guard)
Gerda Steinhoff
4
Birthdate: January 29, 1922
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Wrzeszcz, Gdańsk, Poland
Died: July 4, 1946
 29 
Martin Gottfried Weiss
(Military personnel)
Martin Gottfried Weiss
2
Birthdate: June 3, 1905
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Weiden, Germany
Died: May 29, 1946
 30 
Wanda Klaff
(Camp guards)
Wanda Klaff
4
Birthdate: March 6, 1922
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Danzig, Free City of Danzig
Died: July 4, 1946
 31 
Jenny-Wanda Barkmann
(Guard)
Jenny-Wanda Barkmann
4
Birthdate: May 30, 1922
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Hamburg, Germany
Died: July 4, 1946
 32 
Helmut Oberlander
(War criminals)
Helmut Oberlander
3
Birthdate: February 15, 1924
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Molotschna, Ukraine
 33 
Niels Högel
(Nurse)
Niels Högel
13
Birthdate: December 30, 1976
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Wilhelmshaven, Germany
 34 
Hans von Salmuth
(Military General)
Hans von Salmuth
3
Birthdate: November 11, 1888
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Metz, France
Died: January 1, 1962
 35 
Friedrich Flick
(Industrialist)
Friedrich Flick
1
Birthdate: July 10, 1883
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Germany
Died: July 20, 1972
 36 
Hermann Pister
(German officer)
Hermann Pister
3
Birthdate: February 21, 1885
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Lübeck, Germany
Died: September 28, 1948
 37 
Adelheid Schulz
(Criminal)
Adelheid Schulz
2
Birthdate: March 31, 1955
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Lörrach, Germany
 38 
Herta Bothe
(Concentration camp guard during World War II)
Herta Bothe
10
Birthdate: January 3, 1921
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Teterow, Germany
Died: March 16, 2000
 39 
Birgit Hogefeld
(Red Army Faction)
Birgit Hogefeld
4
Birthdate: July 27, 1956
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Wiesbaden, Germany
 40 
Erich Naumann
(War crimal, Police officer)
Erich Naumann
3
Birthdate: April 29, 1905
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Meissen, Germany
Died: June 7, 1951
 41 
Martin Bormann
(Private Secretary of Adolf Hitler)
Martin Bormann
35
Birthdate: June 17, 1900
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Wegeleben, Germany
Died: May 2, 1945

Martin Bormann was a Nazi Party official. Bormann headed the Nazi Party Chancellery, and gained immense power after he was accepted into Adolf Hitler's inner circle. In 1935, he became Hitler's personal secretary and served as the minister of the Nazi Party after Hitler's suicide in 1945.

 42 
Rudolf Höss
(German Nazi Commandant and Longest-Serving Commandant of Auschwitz Concentration and Extermination Camp)
Rudolf Höss
22
Birthdate: November 25, 1901
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Baden-Baden, Germany
Died: April 16, 1947

Rudolf Höss was a German SS officer who was convicted of war crimes after the defeat of Nazi Germany. The longest-serving commandant of the Auschwitz extermination camp, Höss implemented means to accelerate the Final Solution, a Nazi plan for the genocide of Jews. Upon his order, pesticide Zyklon B was used in gas chambers, killing millions of people.

 43 
Wilhelm Keitel
(Chief of the German Armed Forces High Command (1938 - 1945))
Wilhelm Keitel
11
Birthdate: September 22, 1882
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Helmscherode, Bad Gandersheim, Germany
Died: October 16, 1946

Wilhelm Keitel was a German field marshal. As the chief of the Armed Forces High Command, Keitel was Nazi Germany Armed Forces' highest-ranking officer during World War II. Wilhelm Keitel was responsible for the loss of many lives as he signed several criminal orders. After the war, he was indicted as one of the war criminals and sentenced to death.

 44 
Otto von Pack
(Conspirator)
Otto von Pack
0
Birthdate: 1480 AD
Birthplace: Germany
Died: February 8, 1537
 45 
Ernst Röhm
(Nazi War Criminal)
Ernst Röhm
24
Birthdate: November 28, 1887
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Munich, Germany
Died: July 1, 1934

Regarded by Hitler as a potential rival, Röhm was murdered at the Führer’s order. Ernst Röhm was a prominent German military officer and an early member of the Nazi Party. He was wounded thrice in World War I and was briefly imprisoned for his part in the Beer Hall Putsch. 

 46 
Herta Ehlert
(Camp guard)
Herta Ehlert
8
Birthdate: March 26, 1905
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Berlin, Germany
Died: April 4, 1997
 47 
Heinz Jost
(German SS Official)
Heinz Jost
1
Birthdate: July 9, 1904
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Homberg (Efze)
Died: November 12, 1964
 48 
Curveball
(Defense Intelligence Agency cryptonym)
Curveball
0
Birthdate: 1968 AD
Birthplace: Iraq
 49 
Peter Kürten
(Serial killer)
Peter Kürten
8
Birthdate: May 26, 1883
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Cologne, Germany
Died: July 2, 1931
 50 
Wilhelm Ruppert
(Guard)
Wilhelm Ruppert
4
Birthdate: February 2, 1905
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Frankenthal, Germany
Died: May 29, 1946