Field Men

German Execution Squad

German Execution Squad

Photographs at execution sites were strictly forbidden, but a few surface in archives or from German military antique dealers’ stores every year.

German Execution Squad2016-02-28T18:35:07-06:00

SS-Brigadeführer Erich Naumann, Einsatzgruppe B

Erich Naumann during early career

Erich Naumann during early career

SS-Brigadeführer Erich Naumann

Naumann commanded Einsatzgruppe B from November 1941 to March 1943.  Einsatzgruppe B killed at least 134,000 victims during the war.  Born in Meissen, Saxony on April 29, 1905, Naumann was a high school graduate, a merchant, married and listed his religion as agnostic.  He entered the Nazi Party on November 1, 1929 and the SS on July 1, 1935.  He also served as the Inspector of the SD in Berlin.  During his service in Einsatzgruppe B, he won the Iron Cross First Class.  Naumann was convicted at trial after the war, sentenced to death and hanged at Landsberg, Bavaria on June 8, 1951.

SS-Brigadeführer Erich Naumann, Einsatzgruppe B2016-03-01T19:29:01-06:00

SS-Standartenführer Paul Blobel, Einsatzkommando 4a

SS-Standartenführer Paul Blobel

Blobel commanded Einsatzkommando 4a from June 1941 to January 1942.  In total, Einsatzkommando 4a murdered 59,018 people.  Blobel then commanded Sonderkommando 1005 from July 1942 to July 1944.  In the fall of 1942, this unit began disinterring corpses at various Einsatzgruppen killing sites and destroyed the remains through burning.  The organization then turned to the concentration camps, especially at Treblinka, Sobibór and Belzec, to erase all traces of the crimes there.  He also served as the commander of the SD in Salzburg.  Paul Blobel ended the war in command of Einsatzgruppe Iltis, fighting Yugoslav partisans in the area of Carinthia, Austria.  He was convicted at trial after the war, sentenced to death and hanged at Landsberg, Bavaria on June 8, 1951 – one of the last Nazi war criminals to be executed in the west.  Born in Potsdam on August 13, 1894, Blobel was a Protestant, married, an architect, winner of the Iron Cross First Class in World War I, a Nazi Party member and an SS member since December 1, 1931.

SS-Standartenführer Paul Blobel, Einsatzkommando 4a2016-02-28T18:36:53-06:00
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