Head of the Munich Gestapo. Oswald Schäffer. Part Two.
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- Опубліковано 21 гру 2023
- Earlier, we saw that Lisette Schaeffer, a ninety year old woman was murdered in Sanremo in 2001, leaving around EUR10m in cash and assets in various countries. We saw that her brother, Oswald Schäfer, who was two years older than she was, studied to become a lawyer and then got a job with the Reich Security Main Office and how his career was propelled by Werner Best, who was second in command of the SD to Reinhard Heydrich. This led him to being the head of the Gestapo at Wesermunde - Bremehaven and Reichensberg in occupied Czechia before being sent to the east to mass murder Jews and others in the occupied Soviet Union as the CO of EK9. We take up this story in the Spring of 1942, when Oswald Schaeffer was posted away from EK9, to take up a new position in Munich.
From 20 December 1941 to the beginning of February 1942, Schäfer was a substitute inspector of the security police and the SD in Munich - although this job had to wait as he was in the occupied Soviet Union murdering people. However shortly after his return, Schäfer was appointed head of the Munich Gestapo Control Center by the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) in March 1942 and held this position until 1945. This move was clearly a promotion for Schäfer.
One of the duties of the Gestapo was to oversee the arrest and deportation of Jews. As far as Schäfer and the Munich Gestapo were concerned, the following was the procedure. The Gestapo forced Munich’s Jewish community to assist with organizing the transports. A card index with the names and addresses of all Munich’s Jews existed in triplicate at the Aryanization department, the office of the Jewish community and at Munich’s Gestapo headquarters. This index was used to assemble the different transports. The Gestapo determined the criteria of the transports based upon age, ability to work and other factors. About a week before the planned transport, the Gestapo instructed the Jewish community to inform the victims of their forthcoming “evacuation” to Theresienstadt. The community also had to finance the transports, provide food for the deportees and pay helpers to deal with the luggage. One or two days before the deportation, the deportees who were not yet living in the Milbertshofen assembly camp were picked up from their apartments by the Gestapo in large, closed removal vans and taken to the assembly camp. This usually took place during the night or in the early morning. In Milbertshofen they stayed for a day or two. They were searched and their last valuables were confiscated. The deportees had to endure bureaucratic procedures and undergo the final stages of expropriation. Their declarations of property were collected and they were informed that because they were “enemies of the Reich” their assets had been seized.
On the day of deportation, they were woken up and had to leave the assembly camp in Milbertshofen in the morning. Every transport was accompanied by Gestapo members and members of the uniformed police.
Closed furniture trucks or buses were used to transport the Jews approximately 10 kilometers from the assembly camp to the train stations where the transports departed for Theresienstadt. Trains left either directly from Munich central train station or the freight train station located at Munich-Laim district.
At the station, one second-class passenger car awaited them. The deportees were ordered to board the train, usually at around 9 in the morning. If it left from the goods depot, the train went to Munich central station. Here the car was connected to a regular, scheduled passenger train that left Munich every day at around 12 for Marktredwitz via Moosach, Freising, Landshut, Regensburg and Schwandorf. At Marktredwitz the car was connected to other trains going to Eger, Karlovy Vary (Karlsbad) and Usti nad Labem (Aussig) to Bohusovice (Bauschowitz), where it finally arrived a day after departure.
The deportees were taken off the train at Bohusovice station and forced by the awaiting SS personnel and Czech gendarmerie to walk the approximate 3 km to Theresienstadt, carrying their backpacks. Only people who were unable to walk were taken in trucks.
To take one example, on 2 July 1942, 50 people were sent to Theresienstadt. The transport consisted of 50 elderly Jews, the majority being female. All of them had lived in the Milbertshofen assembly camp prior to their deportation. None of them survived. The two most elderly people on this deportation were Rosalie Obernbreit and Isidor Noerdlinger, born in 1866, therefore they were 76 years old. I do not know the fate of Rosalie Obernbreit but I do know what happened to Isidor Noerdlinger. From Theresienstadt he was deported on transport Bo, train Da 83 from Theresienstadt to Treblinka on 19 September 1942. If he survived the journey, he would have been murdered on arrival.
During the summer of 1942, leaflets from a resistance group called the White Rose started to appear in Munich.
Thank you for doing this… bringing this history to light
Yes. The destruction in Germany was horrific during WWII. I am familiar with the City of Ulm (located between Munich and Stuttgart), as I lived there for two years in the early 80's. Much of the city was new, due to being nearly turned to rubble during the war. We were informed that the Ulmer Münster Church was actually only hit with flour bags by Allied bombers. This was to spare it and to show the population just how accurate bomb targeting could be. Yes, I can see how people would feel liberated from such ruination. Personally speaking, I only saw a couple of isolated incidents where older residents would show contempt toward American Soldiers.
Thank you for mentioning Sophie and Hans Scholl and the rest of the White Rose, not many people know of them.
I think they are quite well known Chester - particularly after a number of films about them!
Brilliant videos... please more vidoes on the little Known functionaries and activists of the NSDAP.
I watch all your videos thanks for the up loads and all the work and effort you do putting these together . merry Christmas 🍻
What a lot of research. These are so informative and poignant. Thank you.
Really good once again Alan! I think the music selection and mix was brilliant and of course I can't wait for part 3! As some of the other's have said keep bringing us the lesser known villains. Thank you and happy holidays!
Many thanks Dom!
quite right! and the music. I'll say this in jest only...thank you for sharing the music. If I ever lose my job and need to drive an ice cream truck, I'm playing this music.
I like that technique. How you have video over a still. Excellent narrative and fascinating subject matter. It's hard to imagine .
Thank you although it is quite easy to do. I reduce the opacity of the photo or film which is overlaying the other - the effect worked quite well here. It is particularly useful with old photos where the quality is not very good.
very interesting. Thank you Alan
Exceptional investigations Alan. Well done!
Another wonderful historical coverage video ( Part 2) about Oswald Schafer executioner.. Nazi mass murderer ,commanders of Einsatzkomman and other places .thank you , amazing ( history on UA-cam), and 🙏 Sir Alan .
Perfect description. But do you have the freferences to the arrests of the 50 executed air force personnel. How did the British find them?
Is there a book which describes the events?
Very good video, thoroughly researched as usual. I really enjoy them.
With reference to SAAF member Johannes Gouws: ‘Gouws’ is pronounced thus: the ‘G’ is soft like the ‘ch’ in Scottish ‘loch’ and the ‘ouws’ is pronounced like syllable ‘ows’ in the English word ‘shows’.
Merry Christmas and Happy 2024 to you!
Thanks Michael - it is a bit difficult to redo now. I assumed it was like in Dutch. So the surname is pronounced [chose]!
No worries. Actually, the ‘g’ in Afrikaans is pronounced very like Russian ‘х’ in ‘хорошо’. As a ‘half-breed’ I know that Afrikaners and Hollanders are quite critical of each others pronunciations!😂
Great videos and excellent research. But, you need to stop saying that they were liberated. They were conquered.
My father was in an I&R platoon of the 99th infantry division. They weren't first there, but he was there shortly after the surrender.
The people were cheering because the conquerors weren't Russians!
These people all had relatives in the army or SS. They worked in the war economy.
They would have been fine with the NSDAP - if the war had gone another way.
That said, my father entered the war truly hating the Germans. By summer he had changed his mind and made many friends.
If you do not believe me that the people considered themselves liberated then you might still find people who were around then to speak to. Everyone I have spoken to considered themselves liberated and not conquered.
Maybe relieved the way it all ended. But, who can say the citizens did not support Hitler and the NSDAP? If there was a vote in 1944 - while some still hoped for a good war ending - who would the people have chosen? The US Army - or Hitler?
Again, not critisising you - just questioning. I enjoy all your videos and they are unique on UA-cam.
I add some more info from my father. When the US Army entered Munich they had been in Germany for about three months. There was a huge change on the population 's attitude. In February they were sullen and fearful. My father described going to towns - like Iserlohn- without seeing one person or animal.
By the end of April the population just wanted it over and had given up. And, everyone knew about the Russians...
@@jim7544 Yes. They were freed from being utterly destroyed by the Allies. Nonetheless, many have indicated that they felt "liberated" from Nazi oppression, but I also greatly question this. Personally speaking, when I was in the Army in the early 1980's, I only saw a couple of isolated incidents where older German citizens would show contempt toward American Soldiers. Beyond that, it was if the war had never happened.
Were they really so innocent though, as they claim? I struggle with that question because empirical evidence shows quite the opposite
Who are you referring to as not being innocent?
Sadly, poor narration and audio. Speak slowly.
And others tell me to speak quickly. If you can do it better, why don't I send you the text and you can try?