Wilhelm Koppe German Nazi commander. SS Obergruppenführer and General of Police. General of the SS troops. Date of Birth: 15.06.1896 Country: Germany

Biography of Wilhelm Koppe

Wilhelm Koppe was a German Nazi commander, SS Obergruppenführer, and police general. He was responsible for numerous atrocities committed against Poles and Jews in the Imperial County of Wartheland.

Born on June 15, 1896, in Hildesheim, Wilhelm Koppe came from a family of legal officials. After serving in World War I, he pursued a career in wholesale trade as a merchant. In 1930, Koppe joined the Nazi army, followed by the SA in 1931 and the SS in 1932. Prior to the outbreak of World War II, he held regional positions within the SS and was the commander of the Security Service (SD) in Münster, Dresden, Leipzig, and Danzig.

Following the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, Koppe was appointed as the senior leader of the SS and police in the Reichsgau Wartheland under Gauleiter Arthur Greiser in October. However, due to internal power struggles within the Nazi organization, Hitler redistributed power and favored other individuals, resulting in Greiser's responsibilities and authorities being transferred to Koppe. Wilhelm also had a close relationship with SS Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler.

In November 1939, Koppe made a loud declaration to make the province of Posen "free from Jews," leading to a brutal campaign where many Poles and Polish Jews were executed or deported. Sending Jews to ghettos and concentration camps, Wilhelm actively participated in the Nazi euthanasia program, commanding the "Special Lange Commando." From May to June 1940, the SS unit poisoned 1,558 patients in the Soldau concentration camp.

In late January 1942, Koppe was promoted to SS Obergruppenführer and later replaced Friedrich Wilhelm Krüger as the General Governor in Krakow in October 1943. He also served as the State Secretary for Security and took part in operations at the Helmno death camp, Warsaw concentration camp, and operations against the Polish Resistance. Under his leadership, the extermination camp in Helmno resulted in the deaths of approximately 320,000 people.

In 1945, Wilhelm Koppe went into hiding and assumed his wife's surname, Lomann. He worked as the director of a chocolate factory in Bonn, Germany. In 1960, he was arrested but released on bail on April 19, 1962. A trial was initiated in Bonn in 1964, where Koppe was accused of involvement in the mass murder of 145,000 people. Due to his deteriorating health, the trial was postponed, and in 1966, a decision was made not to resume the proceedings and to release Koppe on health grounds. The German government refused to extradite him to Poland. Wilhelm Koppe passed away on July 2, 1975, in a hospital in Bonn.