Heinz Jost
Encyclopedia
Heinz Jost was an SS
Brigadeführer
and a Generalmajor (Brigadier General) of Police. Jost was involved in espionage matters as the Sicherheitsdienst
(Security Service) or (SD) section chief of Office VI (foreign intelligence) of the Reich Main Security Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt - RSHA). Jost was also responsible for genocide in eastern Europe as commander of Einsatzgruppe A
from March to September 1942.
- Ortsteil Holzhausen - if Hersfeld
. Jost attended grammar school in Bensheim
, graduating in 1923. As a student he became a member of the Young German Order
, a nationalistic paramilitary movement. Jost studied law and economics at the Universities of Giessen
and Munich. He completed his civil service examination in May 1927. He later worked in the district court at Darmstadt.
. From 1930 he settled as an independent lawyer in Lorsch
, Hesse. After the Nazi seizure of power in March 1933, Jost was appointed Director of Police Worms
and then to police director of Giessen. From this period came his association with Werner Best
, who brought Jost into the main Nazi intelligence and security agency, the Sicherheitsdienst (SD). On 25 July 1934, Jost began his full-time career with the SD. His SS membership number was 36,243. He quickly rose in the SD Main Office to lead Office III (defense). In 1938, Jost was head of the Einsatzgruppe Dresden which occupied Czechoslovakia. In August 1939 Jost was tasked by Reinhard Heydrich
with the purchase of Polish uniforms needed for the bogus attack on the station in Gleiwitz
. When the Reich Main Security Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt) or RSHA was organized in September 1939, Jost was appointed as chief of Amt VI (Office VI) Ausland-SD (foreign intelligence). One of the chief purposes of Amt VI was to counteract foreign intelligence services that might try to operate in Germany. He served as an SS officer in the German invasion of Poland in 1939.
. Best lost a power struggle with Heydrich who went on to became one of the most powerful men in the Nazi state. In March 1942, Jost was fired from his position as chief of the Ausland-SD. Jost's place was taken by Brigadeführer Walter Schellenberg
, a deputy of Heydrich's. Schellenberg had been tasked by Heydrich with building up a case for Jost's removal. According to Schellenberg, Jost was lacking in bureaucratic skill and drive.
Jost was sent to command Einsatzgruppe A, whose previous commander Franz Walter Stahlecker
, had recently been killed in a battle with partisans. Einsatzgruppe A was then operating in the Baltic States
and in Belarus
, then known as White Russia or White Ruthenia. Jost became Commander of the Security Police and the SD (Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD or BdS) in Reichskommissariat Ostland
, with his headquarters at Riga
. Jost retained this position until September 1942. According to Jost, this position carried substantial responsibility:
During the time the territory under his jurisdiction was subject to army control, Jost as Chief of Einsatzgruppe A cooperated with the army command. When the territory came under civilian administration, he, as Commander in Chief of Security Police and SD received his orders from the Higher SS and Police Leader
. In both cases Jost was responsible for all operations conducted in his territory.
After his Einsatzgruppen command, Jost was able to secure a position with the occupation administration for the eastern territories that was run by Alfred Rosenberg
, where he acted as a liaison officer between Rosenberg and the Wehrmacht commander in southern Russia, Ewald von Kleist
. At his later trial, Jost claimed that he held this position until May 1944, when as a result of enmity from Himmler, he was forced to enlist with the Waffen-SS
as a second lieutenant. Himmler
decided in January 1945, that Jost should be retired from the SS
with a pension.
In April 1945, Jost was arrested in Gardelegen
, in Saxony-Anhalt.
He was charged with murders committed by Einsatzgruppen
A. Jost tried to avoid responsibility for these crimes by claiming that the murders, or at least some of them, occurred before he came into the command of the unit:
This defense was rejected by the tribunal:
Jost also claimed, through his attorney, that whatever he had done was justified by "self-defense, necessity, and national emergency". He claimed further that he had had nothing to do with carrying out the Fundamental Order (Führerbefehl) for the extermination of entire populations. These claims were rejected by the tribunal as being inconsistent with each other: "If, as a matter of fact, the defendant committed or approved of no act which could be interpreted either as a war crime or crime against humanity, the argument of self-defense and necessity is entirely superfluous."
Jost did testify that when in May 1942 he received an order from Heydrich to surrender Jews under 16 and over 32 for liquidation, he placed the order in his safe and declined to transmit it. The tribunal found that the evidence contradicted him. According to Einsatzgruppen status report number 193, dated 17 April 1942, there was an execution in Kovno [Kaunas], on 7 April 1942, of 22 persons "among them 14 Jews who had spread Communist propaganda".
In addition, the tribunal found, that on 15 June 1942, one of Jost's subordinates wrote to the RSHA, requesting shipment of a gas van
(used by the Einsatzgruppen for executions by means of carbon monoxide asphixiation) and gas hoses for three gas vans on hand. Jost denied any knowledge of this letter but admitted that the subordinate in question had the authority to order equipment.
. He then worked in Düsseldorf
as a real estate agent. He died in 1964 Bensheim
.
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
Brigadeführer
Brigadeführer
SS-Brigadeführer was an SS rank that was used in Nazi Germany between the years of 1932 and 1945. Brigadeführer was also an SA rank....
and a Generalmajor (Brigadier General) of Police. Jost was involved in espionage matters as the Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst , full title Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS, or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. The organization was the first Nazi Party intelligence organization to be established and was often considered a "sister organization" with the...
(Security Service) or (SD) section chief of Office VI (foreign intelligence) of the Reich Main Security Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt - RSHA). Jost was also responsible for genocide in eastern Europe as commander of Einsatzgruppe A
Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen were SS paramilitary death squads that were responsible for mass killings, typically by shooting, of Jews in particular, but also significant numbers of other population groups and political categories...
from March to September 1942.
Early life
Jost was the son of a pharmacist. He was born in the northern Hessian Homberg (Efze)Homberg (Efze)
Homberg is a small town in northern state of Hesse in central Germany with about 15,000 inhabitants. It is the seat of the Schwalm-Eder district.-Geography:...
- Ortsteil Holzhausen - if Hersfeld
Bad Hersfeld
The festival and spa town of Bad Hersfeld is the district seat of Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany, roughly 50 km southeast of Kassel....
. Jost attended grammar school in Bensheim
Bensheim
Bensheim is a town in the Bergstraße district in southern Hesse, Germany. Bensheim lies on the Bergstraße and at the edge of the Odenwald mountains while at the same time having an open view over the Rhine plain...
, graduating in 1923. As a student he became a member of the Young German Order
Young German Order
The Young German Order was a large para-military organisation in Weimar Germany. Its name and symbol were inspired by the Teutonic Knights ....
, a nationalistic paramilitary movement. Jost studied law and economics at the Universities of Giessen
University of Giessen
The University of Giessen is officially called the Justus Liebig University Giessen after its most famous faculty member, Justus von Liebig, the founder of modern agricultural chemistry and inventor of artificial fertiliser.-History:The University of Gießen is among the oldest institutions of...
and Munich. He completed his civil service examination in May 1927. He later worked in the district court at Darmstadt.
Nazi career
Jost joined the Nazi party on 2 February 1928 with a NSDAP card number of 75,946. He performed various functions for the party's operations in southern HesseHesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
. From 1930 he settled as an independent lawyer in Lorsch
Lorsch
Lorsch is a town in the Bergstraße district in Hesse, Germany, 60 km south of Frankfurt. Lorsch is well known for the Lorsch Abbey, which has been named a World Heritage Site.-Location:...
, Hesse. After the Nazi seizure of power in March 1933, Jost was appointed Director of Police Worms
Worms, Germany
Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts, who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over the title of "Oldest City in Germany." Worms is the only...
and then to police director of Giessen. From this period came his association with Werner Best
Werner Best
Dr. Werner Best was a German Nazi, jurist, police chief, SS-Obergruppenführer and Nazi Party leader from Darmstadt, Hesse. He studied law and in 1927 obtained his doctorate degree at Heidelberg...
, who brought Jost into the main Nazi intelligence and security agency, the Sicherheitsdienst (SD). On 25 July 1934, Jost began his full-time career with the SD. His SS membership number was 36,243. He quickly rose in the SD Main Office to lead Office III (defense). In 1938, Jost was head of the Einsatzgruppe Dresden which occupied Czechoslovakia. In August 1939 Jost was tasked by Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich , also known as The Hangman, was a high-ranking German Nazi official.He was SS-Obergruppenführer and General der Polizei, chief of the Reich Main Security Office and Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia...
with the purchase of Polish uniforms needed for the bogus attack on the station in Gleiwitz
Gleiwitz incident
The Gleiwitz incident was a staged attack by Nazi forces posing as Poles on 31 August 1939, against the German radio station Sender Gleiwitz in Gleiwitz, Upper Silesia, Germany on the eve of World War II in Europe....
. When the Reich Main Security Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt) or RSHA was organized in September 1939, Jost was appointed as chief of Amt VI (Office VI) Ausland-SD (foreign intelligence). One of the chief purposes of Amt VI was to counteract foreign intelligence services that might try to operate in Germany. He served as an SS officer in the German invasion of Poland in 1939.
Einsatzgruppe command
Jost's career suffered by being linked with Werner Best, who was a rival of Reinhard HeydrichReinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich , also known as The Hangman, was a high-ranking German Nazi official.He was SS-Obergruppenführer and General der Polizei, chief of the Reich Main Security Office and Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia...
. Best lost a power struggle with Heydrich who went on to became one of the most powerful men in the Nazi state. In March 1942, Jost was fired from his position as chief of the Ausland-SD. Jost's place was taken by Brigadeführer Walter Schellenberg
Walter Schellenberg
Walther Friedrich Schellenberg was a German SS-Brigadeführer who rose through the ranks of the SS to become the head of foreign intelligence following the abolition of the Abwehr in 1944.-Biography:...
, a deputy of Heydrich's. Schellenberg had been tasked by Heydrich with building up a case for Jost's removal. According to Schellenberg, Jost was lacking in bureaucratic skill and drive.
Jost was sent to command Einsatzgruppe A, whose previous commander Franz Walter Stahlecker
Franz Walter Stahlecker
Franz Walter Stahlecker was Commander of the Sicherheitspolizei and the Sicherheitsdienst for the Reichskommissariat Ostland in 1941/42...
, had recently been killed in a battle with partisans. Einsatzgruppe A was then operating in the Baltic States
Baltic states
The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
and in Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
, then known as White Russia or White Ruthenia. Jost became Commander of the Security Police and the SD (Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD or BdS) in Reichskommissariat Ostland
Reichskommissariat Ostland
Reichskommissariat Ostland, literally "Reich Commissariat Eastland", was the civilian occupation regime established by Nazi Germany in the Baltic states and much of Belarus during World War II. It was also known as Reichskommissariat Baltenland initially...
, with his headquarters at Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
. Jost retained this position until September 1942. According to Jost, this position carried substantial responsibility:
During the time the territory under his jurisdiction was subject to army control, Jost as Chief of Einsatzgruppe A cooperated with the army command. When the territory came under civilian administration, he, as Commander in Chief of Security Police and SD received his orders from the Higher SS and Police Leader
SS and Police Leader
SS and Police Leader was a title for senior Nazi officials that commanded large units of the SS, of Gestapo and of the regular German police during and prior to World War II.Three levels of subordination were established for bearers of this title:...
. In both cases Jost was responsible for all operations conducted in his territory.
After his Einsatzgruppen command, Jost was able to secure a position with the occupation administration for the eastern territories that was run by Alfred Rosenberg
Alfred Rosenberg
' was an early and intellectually influential member of the Nazi Party. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart; he later held several important posts in the Nazi government...
, where he acted as a liaison officer between Rosenberg and the Wehrmacht commander in southern Russia, Ewald von Kleist
Ewald von Kleist
Ewald von Kleist is the name of:*Ewald Jürgen Georg von Kleist , co-inventor of the Leyden jar*Ewald Christian von Kleist , German poet and soldier*Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist , German Field Marshal...
. At his later trial, Jost claimed that he held this position until May 1944, when as a result of enmity from Himmler, he was forced to enlist with the Waffen-SS
Waffen-SS
The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...
as a second lieutenant. Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
decided in January 1945, that Jost should be retired from the SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
with a pension.
War crimes trial
Gardelegen
Gardelegen is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Milde, 20 m. W. from Stendal, on the main line of railway Berlin-Hanover....
, in Saxony-Anhalt.
He was charged with murders committed by Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen were SS paramilitary death squads that were responsible for mass killings, typically by shooting, of Jews in particular, but also significant numbers of other population groups and political categories...
A. Jost tried to avoid responsibility for these crimes by claiming that the murders, or at least some of them, occurred before he came into the command of the unit:
This defense was rejected by the tribunal:
Jost also claimed, through his attorney, that whatever he had done was justified by "self-defense, necessity, and national emergency". He claimed further that he had had nothing to do with carrying out the Fundamental Order (Führerbefehl) for the extermination of entire populations. These claims were rejected by the tribunal as being inconsistent with each other: "If, as a matter of fact, the defendant committed or approved of no act which could be interpreted either as a war crime or crime against humanity, the argument of self-defense and necessity is entirely superfluous."
Jost did testify that when in May 1942 he received an order from Heydrich to surrender Jews under 16 and over 32 for liquidation, he placed the order in his safe and declined to transmit it. The tribunal found that the evidence contradicted him. According to Einsatzgruppen status report number 193, dated 17 April 1942, there was an execution in Kovno [Kaunas], on 7 April 1942, of 22 persons "among them 14 Jews who had spread Communist propaganda".
In addition, the tribunal found, that on 15 June 1942, one of Jost's subordinates wrote to the RSHA, requesting shipment of a gas van
Gas van
The gas van or gas wagon was an extermination method devised by Nazi Germany to kill victims of the regime. It was also rumored that analog of such device was used by the Soviet Union on an experimental basis during the Great Purge-Nazi Germany:...
(used by the Einsatzgruppen for executions by means of carbon monoxide asphixiation) and gas hoses for three gas vans on hand. Jost denied any knowledge of this letter but admitted that the subordinate in question had the authority to order equipment.
Pardon and later life
In 1951, Jost was released from Landsberg prisonLandsberg Prison
Landsberg Prison is a penal facility located in the town of Landsberg am Lech in the southwest of the German state of Bavaria, about west of Munich and south of Augsburg....
. He then worked in Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
as a real estate agent. He died in 1964 Bensheim
Bensheim
Bensheim is a town in the Bergstraße district in southern Hesse, Germany. Bensheim lies on the Bergstraße and at the edge of the Odenwald mountains while at the same time having an open view over the Rhine plain...
.
Further reading
- Earl, Hilary, The Nuremberg SS-Einsatzgruppen Trial, 1945–1958: Atrocity, Law, and History, Nipissing University, Ontario ISBN 9780521456081
- Headland, Ronald, Messages of Murder: A Study of the Reports of the Einsatzgruppen of the Security Police and the Security Service, 1941–1943, Rutherford 1992 ISBN 0838634184