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Joachim Hamann

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Joachim Hamann

Joachim Hamann (18 May 1913 in Kiel – 13 July 1945 in Heikendorf) was an officer of the Einsatzkommando 3, a killing unit of Einsatzgruppe A, responsible for tens of thousands of Jewish deaths in Lithuania.[1][2] Hamann organized and commanded Rollkommando Hamann, a small mobile killing unit composed of 8–10 Germans and several dozen local Lithuanian collaborators.[2]

Biography

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Hamann was of Baltic German parentage.[3] Trained as a chemist, he had difficulties finding a job due to the Great Depression. He joined the SA in August 1931, the Nazi Party in December 1932, and the SS in July 1938.[4] He served in the Luftwaffe during the invasion of Poland and Battle of France as a paratrooper (Fallschirmjäger).[5] He returned to Berlin where he joined the SS and completed training courses. In March 1941, he was promoted to SS-Obersturmführer (first lieutenant).[4]

After the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, Hamann organized and commanded Rollkommando Hamann which killed at least 39,000 Jews in various locations across Lithuania[2] and 9,102 people, almost all of whom were Jews, from the Daugavpils Ghetto.[6] Hamann's superior Karl Jäger documented these killings in the Jäger Report. Nevertheless, Martin C. Dean estimates the death toll of Rollkommando Hamann as 60,000 Jews in Lithuania alone.[7]

Hamann left Lithuania in October 1941 and continued his SS career.[8] In 1942, Hamann participated in Operation Zeppelin, a scheme to recruit Soviet POWs for espionage behind Russian lines.[9] From 1943 he worked at Amt IV of RSHA (Gestapo). He was involved in apprehending and executing suspected members of the 20 July plot to assassinate Hitler.[8] He was appointed aide to Ernst Kaltenbrunner, director of the Reich Security Main Office.[5] Two months after Germany's surrender Hamann committed suicide.[5]

References

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  1. ^
    • Matthaūs, Jūrgen (1991). "Anti-Semitism as an Offer: The Function of Ideological indoctrination in the SS and Police Corps During the Holocaust". In Hayes, Peter; Dagmar, Herzog (eds.). Lessons and Legacies VII: The Holocaust in International Perspective. Notrthwestern University Press. p. 119. ISBN 9780810109551.
    • Struve, Kai (2016). "Anti-Jewish Violence in the Summer of 1941". In Geissbühler, Simon (ed.). Romania and the Holocaust: Events Contexts Aftermath. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 106. ISBN 9783838269245.
    • Friedman, Jonathan C., ed. (2010). The Routledge History of the Holocaust. New York: Routledge. ISBN 9781136870590.
  2. ^ a b c Bubnys, Arūnas (2004). "The Holocaust in Lithuania: An Outline the Major Stages and their Results". In Nikžentaitis, Alvydas; Schreiner, Stefan; Staliūnas, Darius (eds.). The Vanished World of Lithuanian Jews. Rodopi. p. 210. ISBN 9789042008502.
  3. ^ Voren, Robert van (2011). Undigested Past: The Holocaust in Lithuania. Rodopi. p. 76. ISBN 9789401200707.
  4. ^ a b Stang, Knut (1996). Kollaboration und Massenmord: die litauische Hilfspolizei, das Rollkommando Hamann und die Ermordung der litauischen Juden. Lang. pp. 153–154. ISBN 9783631308950.
  5. ^ a b c Aly, Götz; Hoppe, Bert, eds. (2011). Sowjetunion mit annektierten Gebieten I: Besetzte sowjetische Gebiete unter deutscher Militärverwaltung, Baltikum und Transnistrien. Oldenbourg Verlag. p. 531. ISBN 9783486589115.
  6. ^ Ezergailis, Andrew (1996). The Holocaust in Latvia 1941-1944: The Missing Center. Riga: Historical Institute of Latvia. pp. 276–279. ISBN 9984-9054-3-8.
  7. ^ Dean, Martin C. (2004). "Local Collaboration in the Holocaust in Eastern Europe". In Stone, Dan (ed.). The Historiography of the Holocaust. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 127. ISBN 978-1-4039-9927-6. The case of the Rollkommando Hamann, which murdered some 60,000 Jews mostly in the small towns of Lithuania between July and September 1941,....
  8. ^ a b Melamed, Joseph A. "The Mechanized Commando Unit of Haman". Association of Lithuanian Jews in Israel. Archived from the original on 2015-09-10. Retrieved 2014-10-12.
  9. ^ Muñoz, Antonio J. (2000). The Druzhina SS Brigade: A History, 1941-1943. Axis Europa Books. p. 16. ISBN 9781891227370.
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