Jürgen Stroop

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Jürgen Stroop
Jürgen Stroop (Warsaw 1943), SS-Oberscharführer Karl Heinrich Klaustermeyer(rifle) and others.jpg
Jürgen Stroop (center), Oscha Karl Heinrich Klaustermeyer (rifle) and others during the Jewish insurgency in Warsaw in April 1943 protecting the firefighters who are putting out fires.
Birth name Josef Stroop
Birth date 26 September 1895(1895-09-26)
Place of birth Detmold, Principality of Lippe, German Empire
Death date 6 March 1952 (aged 56)
Place of death Mokotów Prison, Warsaw, Polish People's Republic
Allegiance  German Empire
 Weimar Republic
 National Socialist Germany
Service/branch Iron Cross of the Luftstreitkräfte.png Imperial German Army
Schutzstaffel
Rank Vizefeldwebel
Oberleutnant der Reserve
SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS und Polizei
Battles/wars World War I
World War II
Awards Iron Cross, 1st Class
War Merit Cross
Relations ∞ 1923 Käte Barckhausen

Josef Stroop, from 1941 Jürgen Stroop[1] (26 September 1895 – 6 March 1952), was an SS Group Leader and Lieutenant-General in the Waffen-SS and Police, who served as the SS and Police Leader of the Warsaw area during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943. He is the author of the Stroop Report on the uprising.

Life

Engagement announcement in 1922
Obituary for Stroop's father-in-law in 1925
SS-Truppführer Stroop as commander of the 3. Sturm/V. Sturmbann/19. SS-Standarte
SS-Sturmhauptführer
SS-Oberführer Stroop, supporting member of Lebensborn and participant of many Nuremberg rallies
Stroop in the witness box during his show trial in communist Poland.

Jürgen Stroop was born in Detmold in the Free State of Lippe, the son of a police officer. After receiving an elementary education until 1909, he became an apprentice (Katastaramtsanwärter) with the land register or "cadaster" (Geometer/Katasterinspektion Detmold) on 1 April 1910 in his home town of Detmold, where he worked until the start of World War I, when he joined the German Army as a volunteer. At the end of the war, he held the rank of a Vice-serjeant (Vizefeldwebel).

After the war and demobilisation, he worked at the Land Register. In 1922, he took the intermediate school certificate exam (Mittlere Reife) which had been delayed by the war. On 17 March 1923, he was admitted to the surveying secretary course on 23 July 1924. On 3 February 1928, he passed his surveying senior secretary (Vermessungsobersekretärprüfung) exam.

SS Career

Stroop joined the SS rune.png (SS-Nr. 44.611) on 1 August 1932 (other sources state 1 July) and in September 1932 (with effect from 1 July 1932) the NSDAP (Mitgliedsnummer 1.292.297). His career took off during the election campaign of the same year. On 4 March 1933, he was appointed leader of the Lippe Auxiliary Police (Hilfspolizei) and was given a leave of absence from the cadastre as Vermessungsobersekretär (Chief Secretary of Surveying). Through his new position he received his own office, which was located in the Lippe state government building.

One year later, he was promoted to the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer. Subsequently he worked for the SS-administration in Münster and Hamburg. In autumn 1938, he was promoted again, this time to the rank of SS-Standartenführer (colonel). After the invasion of Poland, he served as commander of the SS-section in Gnesen (Gniezno). On 9 May 1941, his name was officially changed from Josef to Jürgen to commemorate his late son. In July 1941, he became 2nd Lieutenant of the Waffen-SS and took part in Operation Barbarossa after Himmler approved this.

In April 1943, Heinrich Himmler replaced the chief of the SS and police in the Warsaw district, SS-Obergruppenführer Ferdinand von Sammern-Frankenegg, with Jürgen Stroop. A veteran of World War I, Stroop had more recently been involved in operations against Soviet partisans (Bandenbekämpfung) in the Ukraine and was familiar with the latest techniques in counter-insurgency warfare. He was in command of the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. See the article on this topic which also discusses the "Stroop Report" on the uprising. He was subsequently SS and Police Leader in Greece from September until November 1943. Later he was appointed SS and Police Leader in the Rhine area until the close of the war.

Trial and Execution

After World War II, he was arrested by the Americans and put on trial at the illegal American Dachau show trials, conducted by the U.S. military, for his alleged executions of Allied airmen (Allied bombing terror) in Germany. On March 21, 1947, he was sentenced to death by that tribunal. However, that sentence was not carried out; instead, he was illegally extradited to Poland to be tried by the communist Polish government. Needless to say Stroop was found guilty of "war crimes" during another show trial and, on 6 March 1952, executed in Warsaw by communist Polish soldiers.

Family

Josef was born the son of Conrad Stroop (1864–1920) and his wife Käte, née Walter (1871–1957). His father was a coachman in the service of the Prince of Lippe and, as of 1898, later a police officer (living in the Mühlenstraße 7). He receives a soldier's education from his father, which teaches him that discipline, obedience and loyalty are qualities through which one can progress in life can.

Marriage

Stroop married on 3 July 1923 his fiancée (since 12 March 1922) Katharina "Käte" Barckhausen, the daughter of director of studies and head of the Lyceum in Detmold Heinrich Barckhausen (1862-1925). Their marriage produced three children:

  • Renate (b. February 1928)
  • Jürgen (b. 1934; his death only days later hit him hard and caused him to bear his name as of 1941 to commemorate him)
  • Olaf (b. February 1936)

Promotions

Imperial Army

  • War Volunteer on 18 August 1914
    • 2nd Recruit Depot/Replacement Battalion/Infanterie-Regiment „Graf Bülow von Dennewitz“ (6. Westfälisches) Nr. 55
    • 1 October 1914 2nd Company/Replacement Battalion/Infanterie-Regiment „Graf Bülow von Dennewitz“ (6. Westfälisches) Nr. 55
    • 22 October 1914 wounded near La Bassée
  • Gefreiter (Corporal) on 30 March 1915
    • 1 July 1915 6th Company/Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 256/77. Reserve-Division
  • Unteroffizier (NCO) on 4 September 1915
  • Vizefeldwebel (Vice Sergeant) on 1 July 1918
    • 21 December 1918 Demobilized and dismissed

Wehrmacht

  • Leutnant der Reserve (2nd Lieutenant of the Reserves) on 1 March 1938
    • Stroop claims, he received a retroactive patent from July 1918[2]
  • Oberleutnant der Reserve (1st Lieutenant of the Reserves) in c. 1940

SS/Police/Waffen-SS

  • 1.8.1932 SS-Anwärter (Candidate)
  • 22.10.1932 SS-Mann
  • 22.10.1932 SS-Scharführer
    • Commander of the 3. Sturm/V. Sturmbann/19. SS-Standarte
  • 15.2.1933 SS-Truppführer (known as SS-Oberscharführer after 1935)
  • 8.3.1934 SS-Sturmhauptführer
    • Commander (Führer) of the II. Sturmbann/72. SS-Standarte
    • 23.5.1934 Stabsführer/SS-Abschnitt XVII
  • 20.4.1935 SS-Sturmbannführer
    • Commander (Führer) of the 28. SS-Standarte
  • 20.4.1936 SS-Obersturmbannführer
    • 28. SS-Standarte
  • 12.9.1937 SS-Standartenführer
    • 9.1. to 19.2.1938 Seminat at the SS-Führerschule Dachau
    • 14.11.1938 Commander (Führer) of the SS-Abschnitt XXXXII
  • 10.9.1939 SS-Oberführer
    • 16.7.1941 SS-Obersturmführer der Reserve of the Waffen-SS
    • 17.11.41 to 27.11.41 Instruction course with the public order and security police in Berlin („Einweisungskurs bei der Ordnungs- und Sicherheitspolizei“)
    • SS- und Polizeiführer (SSPF) in Georgia
    • 27.12.1941 IdS/HSSPF Rußland Süd (South Russia) in Kiev
  • 4.1.1942 Oberst der Polizei (Colonel of the Police) with effect from 1.1.1942
    • Deputy SSPF Nikolajew
  • 16.9.1942 SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Polizei
    • 10.10.1942 with effect from 1.10.1942 Dismissed as Commander (Führer) of the SS-Abschnitt XXXXII and subordinated to the Staff of the Reichsführer-SS (Persönlicher Stab „Reichsführer-SS“)
    • 15.2.1943 SS- und Polizeiführer Galizien z. b. V. (Lemberg)
    • 19.4.1943 SS- und Polizeiführer in Warsaw
    • 8./13.9.1943 Höherer SS- und Polizeiführer (HSSPF) in Greece
      • On 3 October 1943, Stroop announced that all Jews in this area would have to register.
  • 9.11.1943 SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Polizei
    • 9.11.1943 to 24 March 1945 Commander of the SS-Oberabschnitt Rhein-Westmark
    • 11.11.1943 to 8 May 1945 HSSPF Rhein-Westmark
  • 1.6.1944 SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS und Polizei

Awards and decorations

Gallery

  • March 1938

  • Jürgen Stroop (Warsaw) is standing in the background, wearing goggles around his neck

  • SS-Gruppenführer Maximilian von Herff respectfully interrogates Jewish prisoners who willingly provide information. Behind him to the left is SS-Brigadeführer Jürgen Stroop (Warsaw 1943).

  • Jürgen Stroop inspecting a parade of SS soldiers during Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in April 1943

  • April 1944

  • German American actor Jon Voight as SS-Brigadeführer Stroop in Warsaw in the television miniseries Uprising (2001)

References

  1. ↑ Josef Stroop applied for a name change from Josef to Jürgen in 1938, which was approved in 1941. He wrote that it was to honour his late son Jürgen and to commemorate him.
  2. ↑ Aufstieg und Fall von Jürgen Stroop (1943-1952): von der Beförderung zum Höheren SS- und Polizeiführer bis zur Hinrichtung
  3. ↑ Thierry Tixier: Allgemeine SS – Polizei – Waffen SS, Volume 3, 2019
  4. ↑ Was hat Detmold mit diesem Ereignis zu tun?
  5. ↑ Stroop, Jürgen (Waffen SS)
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