Emil Haussmann, born 11 October 1910 in Ravensburg was a German SS functionary during the Nazi era. He was part of Einsatzkommando 12 of Einsatzgruppe D, which perpetrated the Holocaust in occupied Ukraine. Haussmann was charged with crimes against humanity in 1947 in the Einsatzgruppen Trial. He committed suicide while in prison.  Einsatzgruppe “task forces” or “deployment groups” were Schutzstaffel (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for… Read more »

Oswald Rothaug, born on 17 May 1897, in Mittelsinn, was In June 1933 named a prosecutor in Nuremberg, and in April 1937 he became the regional court director in Schweinfurt and director of Nazi “special courts” or “Sondergerichts” at Nuremberg. In 1938 he became a member of the German Nazi Party, though he had applied the year previously. He worked closely… Read more »

A camp for Dutch political prisoners was established at Vught, near the city in southern Holland near the city of Hertogenbosch, capital of the Noord-Brabant province and close to my hometown Eindhoven. In September 1944 Eindhoven was liberated by the 101 AB  “Screaming Eagles”, the “Band of Brothers” during Operation Market Garden.   The camp… Read more »

SS-Obersturmbannführer Bruno Gesche, born  on 5 November 1905 in Berlin, was an Oberstleutnant of the SS in Nazi Germany, a member of Adolf Hitler’s entourage   , and the commander of Adolf Hitler’s personal bodyguard (SS-Begleitkommando des Führers) for the periods June 1934 – April 1942 and December 1942 – December 1944. Gesche’s aspirations for… Read more »

Oskar Gröning; born 10 June 1921 in Nienburg, was a German SS junior squad leader who was stationed at the Auschwitz concentration camp.  His responsibilities included counting and sorting the money taken from prisoners, and he was in charge of the personal property of arriving prisoners. On a few occasions he witnessed the procedures of mass killing in the camp. … Read more »

Albert Edward Pryke “Ted” Briggs was the last survivor of the battle cruiser HMS Hood, sunk by the German warship Bismarck in the North Atlantic during the Second World War. The complement of “The Mighty Hood”, as she was affectionately known, was 1,421. When Briggs  fought his way to the surface, he could see only two… Read more »

Irmgard Huber  was the head nurse of Germany’s Hadamar Clinic, a psychiatric facility. Beginning in late 1939, it was operated as one of six major centers for Action T4 , a secret sterilization and euthanasia program in Nazi Germany   . Nearly 15,000 German citizens were killed here, including thousands of children. Irmgard Huber   was born in 1901… Read more »

Wallace Strobel was born on June 5, 1922 and grew up in Saginaw, Michigan; the son of Carl and Elizabeth Strobel. After graduation from Arthur Hill High School, Wallace enlisted in the National Guard and consequently the United States Army. He served as a first lieutenant in the “Screaming Eagles”, the 101st Airborne Division, 502… Read more »

Captain Benjamin Lewis Salomon was serving at Saipan, in the Marianne Islands on July 7, 1944, as the Surgeon for the 2nd Battalion, 105th Infantry Regiment, 27th Infantry Division, nickname “New York Division”   . The Regiment’s 1st and 2nd Battalions were attacked by an overwhelming force estimated between 3,000 and 5,000 Japanese soldiers. It was one of… Read more »

Hitler‘s own Generals tried to assassinate him on July 20, 1944, to end Nazi Germany’s all-out commitment to a war that was now clearly lost. But the assassination attempt failed. Hitler took revenge by purging the General Staff of anyone deemed suspicious or exhibiting defeatist behavior. Nearly 200 officers and others were killed, in some… Read more »