Koppe, Wilhelm Karl Heinrich.

Koppe, Wilhelm Karl Heinrich, born 15-06-1896 in Hildesheim, Baden, the son of the debt collector Robert Koppe and his wife Franziska Koppe, born Ising, fought in the first World War. Attended a private school in Stolzenau and the Harburg-Wilhelmsburg secondary school, went to highschool in 1914. From October 1914, Wilhelm joined as a volunteer the Schleswig-Holstein Pioneer Battalion No. 9, He from January 1915 was a volunteer in the 2nd field company in Schleswig -Holstein Pioneer Battalion No. 9 (Western Front). From 12-12-1916, promoted to Leutnant in the reserve. From January 1917 he was the battalion gas officer of Engineer Battalion No. 9 (wounded during the fighting in Flanders). Koppe was discharged from army service in December 1918,.In 1925 he married his fiancée Käthe Lohmann. The marriage gave birth to a son and a daughter, During the interwar period, he pursued a career in trade and wholesale until 1930 when he lost his job and as an ardent Nazi he joined the Nazi Party ,NSDAP No:305584, the Sturmabteilung, SA in 1931 and the Schutzstaffel, SS in 1932, SS  No:25958. Prior to World War II, he was a regional SS and SD commander in Münster, the Free city of Danzig, Dresden and Leipzig.  The German invasion of Poland took place in September 1939 and in October he became the Höhere SS and Polizei Führer in the Reichsgau Wartheland under the command of Arthur Greise, Gauleiter, Greiser was executed on 21-06-1946, age 49, in Poland.

            Arthur Greiser.                            Friedrich Krüger.

The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign] War of Poland of 1939, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak Republic, and the Soviet Union; which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 01-09-1939, one week after the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact

  between Germany and the Soviet Union, and one day after the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union had approved the pact. The Soviets invaded Poland on 17 September. The campaign ended on 6 October with Germany and the Soviet Union dividing and annexing the whole of Poland under the terms of the German–Soviet Frontier Treaty. The invasion is also known in Poland as the September campaign or 1939 defensive war and known in Germany as the Poland campaign.

However, because of the confusing power struggle inside the Nazi organization where Adolf Hitler (did you know) divided and ruled via his changing favourites, he had the same power and responsibilities as SS Obergruppenführer Arthur Greiser. Koppe had a very good relationship with SS Heinrich Himmler (did you know). The newly appointed police commander was an active participant in the the implementation of Nazi racial ideals, and in November 1939 he declared that he would make Poznan, Posen, “free from Jews” after which he ordered numerous executions and deportations of Poles and the Polish Jews. He also participated in the Nazi euthanasia program as the overall commander of “special Detachment, Sonder Commando Lange, an SS squad which gassed 1558 patients from mental asylums at the Soldau concentration camp in the nearby Gau of East Prussia during Mai and June 1940. There was a Dr. Martin Franz Erwin Rudolf Lange  (18-04-1910 – 23-02-1945?) a prominent Nazi police official. He served as commander of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) and Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo) in Riga, Latvia. He attended the Wannsee Conference (see Reinhard Heydrich) (see Adolf Eichmann) (see Roland Freisler) (see Erich Neumann) , and was largely responsible for implementing the extermination of Latvia’s Jewish population. Einatzgruppe A killed over 250.000 people in little less than six months. On 30-01-1942 Koppe

   here on the right with from the left SS Obergruppenführer Arthur Greise, SS Obergruppenführer Bach Zelewski,  Gauleiter and SS Obergruppenführer Albert Forster , and Heinz Hacker, was promoted to SS Obergruppenführer, and in October 1943 he replaced SS Obergruppenführer Friedrich Wilhelm Krüger , Krüger committed suicide in Austria, age 51, on 09-05-1945, Höhere SS and Polizei Führer in the General Government with headquarters in Krakow. SS Obergruppenführer Albert Forster was hanged on 28-02-1952, age 49, in Warsau, Poland, His wife, Gertrud Deetz, who had not heard from him since 1949, was informed of his death in 1954.

Koppe also held the position as state secretary on the issues of security in the General Government  and was involved in the operations of Chelmo extermination camp and Warsaw concentration camp as well as operations against the Polish resistance. He organized the execution of more than 30.000 Polish patients suffering from tuberculosis and ordered that all male relatives of identified resistance fighters should be executed and the rest of their family sent to concentrations camps (see Simon Wiesenthal)   and (see Anne Frank) , (see Ilse Koch)  (see Josef Mengele). The Polish Secret State ordered his death, but an assassination attempt failed. He was wounded by Kedyw unit Battalion Parasol in “Operation Koppe” part of “Operation Heads” on 11-07-1944 in Krakow. With the Eastern Front approaching Poland, Koppe ordered all prisoners to be executed rather than freed by the Soviets. In 1945 Koppe went underground and assumed an alias, Wilhelm Lohmann his wife’s surname, and became s director of the chocolate factory, Sarotti. in Bonn, Germany. On 30-12-1960 (according to another source as early as 31-01-1960) he was arrested on the basis of an anonymous complaint on the street in Bonn. Until 1962 he spent in custody. Criminal proceedings were initiated as early as 1961. On 19-04-1962, he was released on bail of DM 30,000. The Bonn public prosecutor’s office charged on 10-09-1964. On 19-01-1965, the unsubstantiated proceedings were discontinued by the Bonn Public Prosecutor’s Office, but this was not published until August 1965. The federal government rejected an extradition request from Poland.

Death and burial ground of Koppe, Wilhelm.

In 1960 he was arrested but released on bail on 19-04-1962. His trial opened in 1964, in Bonn. He was accused of being accessory to the mass murder of 145.000 people. The trial was adjourned due to Koppe’s ill health and in 1966 the Bonn Court decided not to presecute and Koppe was released for medical reasons. The German government refused a Polish request for extradition. Wilhelm Koppe died, age 79, on 02-07-1975, in Bad Godesberg. He is buried with his wife Käthe, born Lohmann, who died age 80, on 20-09-1980, on the Rungsdorf Cemetery in Bad Godesberg. Also buried on this cemetery are,

, General der Panzertruppe, Kommanding the XLVI. Panzerkorps, Smilo von Lüttwitz, the Fregatten Kapitän  and commander U-Boot U 37, “Naglfar” Victor Oehrn, the Luftwaffe Ace, later Brigade General German Bundeswehr, Oberst and flyer ace Gustav Rödel and the Flotille Admiral, Kommandeur Kreuzer Admiral Scheer, Ernst Thienemann.

‘Never convicted!!!’: One of the signs placed at Wilhelm Koppe’s gravesite.

Again and again, signs saying “Never convicted!!!” have been placed at the grave of Wilhelm Koppe in the Rüngsdorf cemetery, near Bonn. The signs reveal his past as a high-ranking Nazi leader in occupied Poland — and the fact that he was never held accountable. Cemetery staff usually swiftly remove them.

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