Wilhelm Harster

Wilhelm Harster (21 July 1904 – 25 December 1991) was a German lawyer, police official and convicted war criminal. An SS-Gruppenführer in the Schutzstaffel (SS), he commanded German security police and intelligence services in Kraków, the Netherlands and northern Italy during the Second World War. A Holocaust perpetrator, he was convicted by a Dutch court and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment. After an early release, he returned to Germany and was employed by the state government of Bavaria as a civil servant but was dismissed after a public outcry, though he retained his full pension. He was again tried, convicted and sentenced to 15 years for complicity in the murder of 83,000 Dutch Jews.

Early life and education Harster was born in Kelheim, the son of a lawyer and police official. He attended Volksschule and a humanist Gymnasium in Munich, receiving his Abitur in 1922. He then studied law at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München from 1922 to 1926, passing his first state law examination that year and completing a doctorate of law degree in 1927. Following a legal clerkship, he passed his second state law examination in 1929, becoming an Assessor. Harster also served as a volunteer with the paramilitary Freikorps Oberland in Bavaria between 1920 and 1926 and was a reservist with the Reichswehr 19th (Bavarian) Infantry Regiment. On 16 October 1929, he joined the Kriminalpolizei (criminal police) in Stuttgart as a Regierungsassessor (government lawyer) in the German civil service. In spring 1931, he transferred into the political police, becoming its deputy leader in 1933.

Police and SS career Following the Nazi seizure of power, Harster joined the Nazi Party on 1 May 1933 (membership number 3,226,954). He also joined the Schutzstaffel (SS) on 9 November 1933 (serial number of 225,932). On 15 January 1934, he was named the Police Director of Tübingen and the leader of the Tubingen branch office of the political Landespolizei (state police). In May, he advanced to deputy leader of the state police for all of Württemburg and, in June, to the leader of the state police office in Berlin, an office he held until 31 March 1938. In the SS, Harster joined the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), the Nazi intelligence service, on 29 October 1935. From 15 January 1934, he was attached to SS-Oberabschnitt (main district) "Südwest" in Stuttgart. On 9 November 1937, he was transferred to the SD Main Office in Berlin, under Reinhard Heydrich, which became part of the Reich Security Main Office on 27 September 1939. He was found guilty and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for his role in the persecution, deportation and murder of Dutch Jews and for his negligence in supervising the staff at the Amersfoort concentration camp. He was released from prison in 1953, after eight years in custody.

Upon release, Harster returned to Germany and obtained employment as a civil servant in Bavaria in 1956, becoming an Oberregierungsrat (senior government councilor) at the ministry of the interior. He was forced to retire due to public and media pressure in 1963, however he was allowed to retain his full pension. In January 1966, he was arrested in Munich and was put on trial the following year alongside two of his closest aides Wilhelm Zoepf and Gertrud Slottke. On 24 February 1967, He was convicted of complicity in the murder of almost 83,000 Dutch Jews (including Anne Frank) and sentenced to an additional 15 years in jail for deportation of Jews to Auschwitz and Sobibor. He was given credit for his prior time served as well as his pre-trial detention, leaving him with approximately six years to serve. He was granted early release in August 1968, which again caused a public outcry. The Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München officially withdrew his doctorate. The Dutch Auschwitz Committee petitioned the Chancellor of Germany not to pardon him, but the pardon was approved in 1969. Harster died in 1991.

SS and police ranks + SS and police ranks Date Rank 9 November 1933 SS-Anwärter 9 August 1934 SS-Mann 30 January 1936 SS-Rottenführer 20 April 1936 SS-Scharführer 20 April 1937 SS-Hauptscharführer 9 November 1937 SS-Untersturmführer 1 August 1938 SS-Obersturmbannführer 1 August 1940 SS-Standartenführer 1 January 1941 Oberst der Polizei 9 November 1941 SS-Oberführer 9 November 1942 SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Polizei 9 November 1944 SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Polizei