The Geheime Staatspolizei, Secret State Police, abbreviated “Gestapo” was the secret police of Nazi Germany and its main tool of oppression and destruction, which persecuted Germans, opponents of the regime, and Jews. It later played a central role in helping carry out the Nazi’s “Final Solution.” The Gestapo (until 1936 also known as Gestapa, for Geheimes Staatspolizeiamt),… Read more »
AntonThumann was born in Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm, Bavaria, German Empire on 31-10-1912. In the 1930s Thumann joined the Nazi party (member no. 1,726,633) and the SS (member no. 24,444). He then served as a guard at Dachau concentration camp from 1933 onward. Starting in 1937, Thumann was employed in the Office of Guard Command and ascended to the rank of Protective Custody… Read more »
Friedrich Kussin was born on 1 march 1895 in Aurich. He joined the army on 26 march 1913 in the 2nd Regiment. He fought with this regiment in World War I. With the outbreak of World War II he was commander of the 80th Pioneer Battalion until february 1940. From 1 april 1943 until 2… Read more »
Staff Sergeant Piotr Śmietański, born 27 June 1899 in Zawady village son of Anna and Władysła was a non-commissioned officer of the communist secret police Urząd Bezpieczeństwa and one of the main executioners in Stalinist Poland. Śmietański was stationed at the Mokotów Prison in the Warsaw borough of Mokotów located at 37 Rakowiecka Street. From World War II until the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in 1989, Mokotów Prison – where Śmietański… Read more »
Operation Hannibal was the naval evacuation of German troops and civilians from Courland, East Prussia, and Danzig-West Prussia as the Red Army advanced. The MV Wilhelm Gustloff ‘s final voyage was to evacuate German refugees and military personnel as well as technicians who worked at advanced weapon bases in the Baltic from Gdynia, then known to the Germans as Gotenhafen, to Kiel. The Gustloff… Read more »
