SS men belonging to Rollkommando Hamann

[Novelbro1]

RK Hamann had these officers attached to it:

Hauptscharführers

Porst
Stütz
Salzmann
Mack
Planert

Does anyone have info on any of them including their first names?

[Puck]

May be I have 3 men:

Fritz Planert (born 21.07.1907 in Ebersbach/Löbau)
https://recherche.staatsarchiv.hamburg. ... ID=1314457

Heinz Mack (born 14.07.1908 Berlin - 13.04.1943 Panevezys) CO KdS-Außenstelle Šiauliai (Schaulen)
https://recherche.staatsarchiv.hamburg. ... ID=1314799
or
Johann Mack (born 11.06.1909 München) SS-Oberscharführer, member EK 3

Reinhold Porst (28.12.1900 Neuendorf) SS-Oberscharführer, member EK 3

(last two from Yad Vashem)

Regards Puck

[Novelbro1]

Thank you Puck! I'll look into these names to try and confirm it.

[steve248]

An interesting link under Heinz Mack (above) to the StA Hamburg investigation and trial of EK 2 personnel.
In the link it mentions an SS-Stubaf. Werner Gottschalk (born 20 Nov. 1906, Messenthin; Führer - Restkommando EK 2 Schaulen).

There was no SS-Stubaf. Werner Gottschalk - there was probably a SS-Stuscha. Werner Gottschalk (same DOB, POB) who was later commissioned SS-Ustuf. on 9 Nov. 1944.

Anyone who was examined the West German police investigations from the 1950s through 1960s will know they had few resources about SS documents and highly dependent on the views of other perpetrators. Their enquiries of WAst were many but they appear not to have been able to consult the US Army's BDC SSO and RuS files. An indication that historians today need to have many resources able to double-check previous "accepted" facts.

[gregscousin]

Hi, I've been researching RK-Hamann for years, so I can offer some info. However, the unit was ad hoc, often using personnel for one "action" or another, without said people being members of the unit. Still, there were some regulars...

Hauptscharfuerher:
* Albert Helmut Rauca (3 Nov 1908 - 29 Oct 1983) - Hamann's deputy and "Jewish Affairs Specialist" for the Kaunas Ghetto. Rauca escaped to Canada after the war and lived under his own name, collecting Canadian social security, until he was arrested in 1983. He died in custody before trial.
*** see: "The Rauca Case: War Criminals on Trial", Sol Littman, 1983, for details.

* Fritz Planert (21 Jan 1907 - KIA during the war)

Oberscharfuerher:
* Reinhold Porst (28 Dec 1900 - ?)
* Johann Mack (11 June 1909 - ?, KIA in Lithuania during the war)
* Stuetz (?) - Rauca's deputy
* Alfred Salzmann (25 Dec 1907 - ?, KIA during the war) - operated out of Latvia. likely the Daugavpils Ghetto

Others:
* Hans Mertens (?) - from Kiel; in Aug 1941 he became Hamann's driver. Testified to this in 1965.
* Gottfried Moll (?) - EK-3s cook; testified about RK-H's drunkenness during "aktionen", with alcohol provided by the SS to make the shooters more pliable.
* Grauer & Kortkampf - two other EK-3 squad leaders who had limited interaction with Hamann and his RK

See: "Collaboration and Mass Murder", Knut Stang, 1994, only available in German (only 1 chapter deals with Hamann, but given the dearth of sources, Stang's work is invaluable. I have a rough, but serviceable English translation).

Lithuanian Collaborators:
* Vytautas Reivytus (19 July 1901 - Feb 1988) - policeman who studied in Lithuania and Germany prior to the war. Worked with Abwehr prior to Barbarossa; promoted to colonel and commanded the Lithuanian Security Police in summer 1941, working closely with Hamann. Fled to Germany as the Red Army advanced; Lived in Illinois, US, after the war, but then returned to west Germany to avoid US investigation of his wartime activities.

* Bronius Norkus (20 Oct 1914 - 4 Apr 1942) - Lithuanian army Lt. and noted aviator who raised the flag on Vytautas the Great Church, Kaunas, when the Wehrmacht "liberated" Lithuania from the Soviet occupation. Commanded the 1st company, 3rd Tautinio Darbo Aspaugos Battalion (National Defense Labor Force), a paramilitary unit that acted as Hamann's auxiliaries, conducting the actual shootings during "aktionen". In early 1942, he commanded the 13th police battalion in Pskov, USSR, where he died after falling, drunk, from his horse. Rumors occasionally circulate claiming he committed suicide, often said to have been in response to remorse over his murder of Jews, but this was denied by his father, who claimed that Norkus, who was a drunk, was never troubled by his Jewish murders. Sometimes, the suicide claim is repeated in sources, though it's been repeatedly debunked. Norkus was well-liked by the members of RK-H. He was the only Lithuanian allowed in the RK's canteen; Hamann, however, couldn't stand him. The 2 men vehemently disliked each other, according to Stang. Norkus's patriotism, aviation records, and anti-communism is still commemorated in Lithuanian, provoking international outrage form time to time.

* Juozas Barzda-Klemas (1913? - 15 Dec 1945) - Lithuanian Lieutenant, 2nd Infantry Division until 1940, when the USSR annexed Lithuania. Acted as Norkus's deputy in TDA Battalion during summer, 1941. Drown when he accidently parachuted in a lake. Not to be confused with general Juozas Barzda-Bradauskas.

* Anatolijus Dagys (?) - Lithuanian Lieutenant, 2nd Infantry Division with Barzda till Soviet annexation; served as Norkus's deputy in TDA Battalion until Oct 1941, when Dagys was promoted to command the 3rd company. Went east to Pskov with Norkus in 1942, and took over command of 13th police battalion after Norkus's death. He lived in the US after the war.

Obersturmfuerher Joachim Hamann (18 May 1913 - 13 July 1945) - born in Kiel to Baltic German parents. Father KIA in WW1; mother died or ran off in his youth, so he was raised by grandparents. Educated to become a pharmacist, sometimes said a chemist. He couldn't find work bc of the great depression and was homeless for a while. Joined SA in Aug, 1931; Nazi Party in Dec, 1932, and SS in July, 1938. Dismissed for "abusing subordinates", according to Stang (whose written the only work on Hamann outside of his activities in Lithuania). He joined Wehrmacht as a paratrooper in 1938, fighting in Poland and France, during which he rehabilitated himself in the eyes of the SS. Afterwards, he completed police courses in Berlin and was selected to command a flying squad, RK-H, to operate in Lithuania during Barbarossa. Unfortunately, RK-Hs activities are poorly documented and Jaeger Report contains numerous errors. Reliable sources, in so far as they mention RK-H, sometimes disagree irreconcilably. For instance, Arunas Bubnys states Hamann found the executions distasteful, and thus didn't attend them, preferring instead to issue orders and send subordinates from his HQ on Vytautas Prospect, Kaunas; however, Stang notes that colleagues described Hamann as a virulent anti-Semite, who "attended every execution," bringing a whip (riding crop) that he used to beat the condemned Jews. I'm inclined to believe Stang, owing to the details he provides, but I couldn't swear absolutely to it. Hamann left Lithuania in Oct, 1941. He trained Russians pressganged into service for rear line partisan warfare for Germany, teaching parachuting (operation zeppelin). 90% died during training or immediately after touching down, according to the sources. He was promoted to Captain in 1943. In 1944, Hamann worked for Amt IV-A (Gestapo) and then Amt IV-A3. After the Stauffenberg bomb plot to kill Hitler (July, 1944), Hamann rounded up suspects. Stang claims, "The big moment in Hamann's career came after the July 20 plot, when Hamann arrested Erwin Rommel." However, Stang provides no further details about this episode, nor is Hamann's name mentioned by any other source that I'm familiar with in connection to Rommel's forced suicide. He committed suicide in Kiel, 13 July 1945, though how is not specified (pistol, suicide ampule, or combo of the two).

I hope this helps.
Erik

[steve248]

I do not think Hamann shirked his duty or found the executions "distasteful":
“Gut vierzehn Tagen später als die anderen Anwärtern kamen [back to Berlin], Hamann und Häfner aus dem Einsatz zurück. Hamann rühmte sich in Casino, 77,000 Juden erschossen zu haben. Auf Drängen der vier Kameradschaftsführer (Fendler, Prast, Carsten und ich), des Lehrgangältesten Gustav Grauer ... kam es dann dazu, daß Hamann und Häfner durch die Mitwirkung von Schulz aus dem Lehrgang ausgeschlossen wurden.
…
“Hamann soll später wieder in den Lehrgang hineingekommen sein. Ich weiß weiter, daß er später in der Sonderkommission zur Aufklärung des 20.Juli 1944 tätig gewesen ist.”
source: ZSL, 76/59 (Streckenbach Case), Vol. XI, pp 7599-7604 (Kortkampf vnns dated 7 Oct 1971)

One of several reports stating the same. Though he did exaggerate the numbers of those he executed in this bragging competition.

[gregscousin]

Steve248,

I agree with you. I don't think Hamann shirked or found aktionen distasteful either--I was merely repeating Bubnys, who wrote that Hamann didn't like attending them. Bubnys, AFAIK, is the only source that says Hamann found them unpleasant. Moreover, other sources explicitly disagree. Stang, as I noted, says Hamann attended every execution, adding the riding crop detail, which, coupled with the scant info we have on Hamann's personality, in my mind lends credence to Stang over Bubnys vis-à-vis Hamann's aktion attendance.

From what few sources describe Hamann's personality, it does indeed seem he was a braggart, and the 77,000 victims is on point with the aktionen RK-H was known or suspected to have performed, as not all those listed in the Jaeger Report were conducted by RK-H. Stang, in fact, writes, "By his [Hamann's] own estimate, 77,000 Jews had been murdered." Given the identical figures cited, I imagine Stang is quoting the same source you provided.

*** Please note: I worked my way thru the quotes you provided, but my German is rudimentary and my vocab extremely limited (which is why my English translation of Stang is "rough, but serviceable"), so while I'm extremely interested in any info you might have on RK-H, English would be infinitely preferable.

Thanks! -- Erik

PS: I think I found Stuetz's first name--Josef

[smetanin albert]

Add Info - Werner Gottschalk