Oswald Pohl ( Duisburg , in Rhineland , 30 of June of 1892 - Landsberg am Lech , Bavaria , 7 of June of 1951 ) was a military German and a leading Nazi , a leading member of the SS where he reached the rank of Obergruppenführer . It was an important part of the Holocaust during World War II and was executed for crimes against humanity .
Beginnings in Nazism
In 1912 he enlisted in the German Navy. He participated in World War I , mainly destined in the Baltic in functions of Pagador of salaries from 1 of April of 1912, reason why was considered Administrative Officer and not like official, what allowed to affiliate from August of 1926 to the Party Nazi with the file number 30 842, was protected by Heinrich Himmler to reach posts of relevance in the national security. He was in the Navy until January 31, 1934.
Participation in the Holocaust
In 1934 he entered the SS, with the file number 147 614; Was appointed Standartenführer of the SS and Head of Section IV of the Staff of the SS Reichsführer and Head of the SS Central Administration. From September 1939, he held the position of Director of the Central Office of Economics and Administration of the SS, or WVHA for its acronym in German. It was he who directed the recovery of assets with economic value confiscated from the Jews who were murdered in the concentration camps and collaborated with Hans Kammler in the organization of the camps. This office controlled some thirty factories in charge of the SS: for example, the German Equipment Factories in Dachau and Oranienburg , the Stone Factories and Oranienburg Land where weapons were produced. He reached the hierarchy of SS Obergruppenführer on April 20, 1942.
At the end of World War II , he hid with his family in Halfing, near Rosenheim in Bavaria . Arrested on 27 May 1947, while working as a peasant on a farm under the name of “Ludwig Gniss” and transferred to Bremen, by British military investigators. He was handed over to the US authorities to be brought and tried in Nuremberg for war crimes , crimes against humanity and membership of a criminal organization in the WVHA Case Trial, being sentenced to death by an American Military Court on November 3 1947, his request for clemency was rejected on 31 January 1951 and was executed on 7 of June of 1951 in the prison of Landsberg am Lech .