German War Criminals
The German Empire was one of the Central Powers in the World War I, and numerous war crimes were perpetuated under the orders of the empire. Nazi Germany, under the dictatorship and control of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party also witnessed an unprecedented number of war crimes. The brutality of German war criminals has been written about in numerous accounts by the witnesses and survivors of the horrendous crimes committed against humanity. General Lothar von Trotha, of the Imperial German Army was widely condemned for his brutality in the Herero Wars, particularly for his role in the genocide that led to the near-extermination of the Herero. Josef Mengele, a physician in Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II was a member of the team of doctors responsible for the selection of victims to be killed in the gas chambers and for performing deadly human experiments on prisoners. Josef "Sepp" Dietrich was another war criminal who participated in a series of political extra-judicial executions during the Night of the Long Knives. Heinrich Luitpold Himmler, a leading member of the Nazi Party, was one of the people most directly responsible for the Holocaust. This section provides you information about the life and works of notorious German war criminals.
Rank the Most Wicked German War Criminals
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1
Josef Mengele(German Physician Known for His Atrocities at the Auschwitz II Concentration Camp)
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)
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)
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.
4
Ilse Koch(German War Criminal Who Became One of the First Prominent Nazis Tried by the U.S. Military)
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.
Birthdate: March 16, 1920
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Templin, Germany
Died: May 2, 1947
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.
7
Willi Herold
(Military personnel)
Birthdate: September 11, 1925
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Chemnitz, Germany
Died: November 14, 1946
Birthdate: January 20, 1920
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Berlin, Germany
Died: 1995 AD
9
Alfred Jodl(Chief of the Operations Staff of the German Armed Forces High Command (1939 - 1945))
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.
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.
Birthdate: May 9, 1908
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Wuppertal, Germany
Died: May 3, 1947
12
Gudrun Ensslin
(Far-left terrorist and founder of the West German far-left militant group Red Army Faction)
Birthdate: August 15, 1940
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Bartholomä, Germany
Died: October 18, 1977
13
Paul Blobel
(Military leader, Criminal)
Birthdate: August 13, 1894
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Potsdam, Germany
Died: June 7, 1951
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.
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.
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.
17
Martin Gottfried Weiss
(Military personnel)
Birthdate: June 3, 1905
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Weiden, Germany
Died: May 29, 1946
18
Fritz Klein
(Military physician, War criminal)
Birthdate: November 24, 1888
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Codlea, Romania
Died: December 13, 1945
19
Ludolf von Alvensleben
(SS functionary and Police Leader)
Birthdate: March 17, 1901
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Halle, Germany
Died: April 1, 1970
20
Ludwig Fischer
(Politician, War Criminal)
Birthdate: April 16, 1905
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Kaiserslautern, Germany
Died: March 8, 1947
Birthdate: March 6, 1922
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Danzig, Free City of Danzig
Died: July 4, 1946
22
Friedrich Flick
(Industrialist)
Birthdate: July 10, 1883
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Germany
Died: July 20, 1972
23
Hermann Pister
(German officer)
Birthdate: February 21, 1885
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Lübeck, Germany
Died: September 28, 1948
24
Erich Naumann
(War crimal, Police officer)
Birthdate: April 29, 1905
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Meissen, Germany
Died: June 7, 1951
25
Herta Bothe
(Concentration camp guard during World War II)
Birthdate: January 3, 1921
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Teterow, Germany
Died: March 16, 2000
26
Hans von Salmuth
(Military General)
Birthdate: November 11, 1888
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Metz, France
Died: January 1, 1962
27
Rudolf Höss(German Nazi Commandant and Longest-Serving Commandant of Auschwitz Concentration and Extermination Camp)
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.
28
Helmut Oberlander
(War criminals)
Birthdate: February 15, 1924
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Molotschna, Ukraine
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.
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.
Birthdate: March 26, 1905
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Berlin, Germany
Died: April 4, 1997
32
Wilhelm Keitel(Chief of the German Armed Forces High Command (1938 - 1945))
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.
Birthdate: June 2, 1909
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany
Died: June 2, 1948
Birthdate: February 2, 1905
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Frankenthal, Germany
Died: May 29, 1946
35
Anton Thernes
(Military leader)
Birthdate: February 8, 1892
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Germany
Died: December 3, 1944
36
Friedrich Entress
(Surgeon, Criminal)
Birthdate: December 8, 1914
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Poznań, Poland
Died: May 28, 1947
Birthdate: November 30, 1885
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Marktsteft, Kingdom of Bavaria, Germany
Died: July 16, 1960
One of Hitler’s most reliable strategists during World War II, Albert Kesselring was a loyal Luftwaffe general. His exploits include operations in Poland, France, and Britain. Following the Nuremberg trials, he was sentenced to death, but the sentence was later commuted. He was released after being diagnosed with throat cancer.
38
Viktor Brack
(Member of the Schutzstaffel (SS) and a convicted Nazi war criminal, who was one of the prominent organisers of the euthanasia programme Aktion T4)
Birthdate: November 9, 1904
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Haaren, Aachen, Germany
Died: June 2, 1948
One of the leaders of the Action T4 euthanasia plan that exterminated the physically and mentally disabled, Nazi Party member Viktor Brack also specialized in child euthanasia. He was also chosen to plan a sterilization drive for physically fit Jews. He was eventually hanged for his war crimes.
39
Otto Ohlendorf
(German SS Functionary and Holocaust Perpetrator During the Nazi Era)
Birthdate: February 4, 1907
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Hoheneggelsen, Söhlde, Germany
Died: June 7, 1951
Otto Ohlendorf was a German SS official who played an important role in carrying out the Holocaust in the Nazi regime. As the commander of Einsatzgruppen, Nazi Germany's paramilitary death squads, Otto Ohlendorf was responsible for mass murder in south Ukraine, Moldova, the Crimea, and the North Caucasus. He was tried for crimes against humanity and executed in 1951.
Birthdate: August 14, 1888
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Schlüchtern, Germany
Died: September 20, 1948
41
Herbert Kappler
(Key German SS Functionary Responsible for the Ardeatine Massacre)
Birthdate: September 23, 1907
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Stuttgart, Germany
Died: February 9, 1978
Herbert Kappler was a German SS official who served in the Nazi regime. As the head of German police in Rome, Kappler was responsible for the Fosse Ardeatine massacre, which killed 335 civilians and political prisoners. The massacre inspired a film titled Massacre in Rome, where Kappler was played by Richard Burton. Kappler was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
42
Fritz Sauckel
(Politician)
Birthdate: October 27, 1894
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Haßfurt, Germany
Died: October 16, 1946
43
Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach
(Industrialist)
Birthdate: August 13, 1907
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Essen, Germany
Died: July 30, 1967
44
Karl Gebhardt
(Medical doctor and a war criminal during World War II)
Birthdate: November 23, 1897
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Haag in Oberbayern, Germany
Died: June 2, 1948
Initially a professor of sports medicine, Karl Gebhardt later joined the Nazi camp. He had headed the German Red Cross and also developed sports for the physically disabled. After being accused of failing to treat Reinhard Heydrich, he conducted deadly experiments on concentration camp inmates to prove his innocence.
45
Karl Eberhard Schöngarth
(Military personnel)
Birthdate: April 22, 1903
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Leipzig, Germany
Died: May 16, 1946
46
Stefan Baretzki
(Known for SS guard at Auschwitz)
Birthdate: March 24, 1919
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Chernivtsi, Ukraine
Died: June 21, 1988
47
Dieter Wisliceny
(Military leader)
Birthdate: January 13, 1911
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Możdżany, Poland
Died: May 4, 1948
48
Hilde Liesewitz
(Schutzstaffel Guard)
Birthdate: January 31, 1922
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Grünwald, Germany