Jakob Sporrenberg
Encyclopedia
Jakob Sporrenberg was a SS
Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Polizei in Minsk, Russia
and Lublin, Poland
.
.
Sporrenberg joined the NSDAP in 1925. In 1929 he was appointed an SA officer and one year later joined the SS, rising to the rank of Brigadeführer
by 1933. From 1941 to 1943 he was SS and Police Leader
(SSPF) in Minsk
.
In 1943 he was assigned to the staff of General Erich von dem Bach
in Minsk
to combat partisans.
Sporrenberg subsequently succeeded Odilo Globocnik
as SS and Police Leader
of Lublin, in the Generalgouvernemant
of occupied Poland
in August 1943. In this capacity, Sporrenberg organized the Operation "Harvest Festival" there.
In November 1944 Sporrenberg and several of his staff were redeployed to Norway where they were captured by British forces at the end of the war. Their interrogation shed much light on Globocnik's activities in Lublin, and one outcome of his interrogation was that he was removed from the PWIS Detachment (Norway) in Oslo and transferred to the MI19
interrogation centre in Kensington Palace Gardens
, London
, known as the "London Cage
", for further questioning by the War Crimes Interrogation Unit. This established his participation in a number of war crimes committed in Poland and the Soviet Union.
Sporrenberg was extradited to Poland in October 1946, and sentenced to death by a Polish court in Warsaw
in 1950, the sentence being carried out on 6 December 1952 when he was executed by hanging.
by Polish writer Igor Witkowski
, who claimed to have discovered the existence of Die Glocke from transcripts of an interrogation by Polish authorities of Sporrenberg. Witkowski claims to have gained access to read the transcripts through an unnamed contact in the polish intelligence service. The interrogation and its contents have no primary documentation aside from Witkowski.
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...
Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Polizei in Minsk, Russia
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
and Lublin, Poland
Lublin
Lublin is the ninth largest city in Poland. It is the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 350,392 . Lublin is also the largest Polish city east of the Vistula river...
.
Biography
Jakob Sporrenberg was born on 16 September 1902 in Düsseldorf, GermanyDüsseldorf
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...
.
Sporrenberg joined the NSDAP in 1925. In 1929 he was appointed an SA officer and one year later joined the SS, rising to the rank of 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....
by 1933. From 1941 to 1943 he was 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:...
(SSPF) in Minsk
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
.
In 1943 he was assigned to the staff of General Erich von dem Bach
Erich von dem Bach
Erich Julius Eberhard von Zelewski or Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski , was a Nazi official and a member of the SS, in which he reached the rank of SS-Obergruppenführer .- Slavic origin :...
in Minsk
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
to combat partisans.
Sporrenberg subsequently succeeded Odilo Globocnik
Odilo Globocnik
Odilo Lotario Globocnik was a prominent Austrian Nazi and later an SS leader. He was an acquaintance of Adolf Eichmann, who played a major role in the extermination of Jews and others during the Holocaust...
as 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:...
of Lublin, in the Generalgouvernemant
General Government
The General Government was an area of Second Republic of Poland under Nazi German rule during World War II; designated as a separate region of the Third Reich between 1939–1945...
of occupied Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
in August 1943. In this capacity, Sporrenberg organized the Operation "Harvest Festival" there.
In November 1944 Sporrenberg and several of his staff were redeployed to Norway where they were captured by British forces at the end of the war. Their interrogation shed much light on Globocnik's activities in Lublin, and one outcome of his interrogation was that he was removed from the PWIS Detachment (Norway) in Oslo and transferred to the MI19
MI19
MI19 was a division of the British Directorate of Military Intelligence, part of the War Office. In World War II it was responsible for obtaining information from enemy prisoners of war.It was originally created in December 1940 as MI9a, a sub-section of MI9...
interrogation centre in Kensington Palace Gardens
Kensington Palace Gardens
Kensington Palace Gardens is a street in west central London which contains some of the grandest and most expensive houses in the world. It was the location of the London Cage, the British government MI9 centre used during the Second World War and the Cold War.A tree-lined avenue half a mile long...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, known as the "London Cage
London Cage
The "London Cage" was a MI19 prisoner of war facility during and immediately after World War II that was subject to frequent allegations of torture...
", for further questioning by the War Crimes Interrogation Unit. This established his participation in a number of war crimes committed in Poland and the Soviet Union.
Sporrenberg was extradited to Poland in October 1946, and sentenced to death by a Polish court in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
in 1950, the sentence being carried out on 6 December 1952 when he was executed by hanging.
Postwar
Sporrenberg has since been linked to the alleged German secret project Die GlockeDie Glocke
Die Glocke was a purported top secret Nazi scientific technological device, secret weapon, or Wunderwaffe. First described by Polish journalist Igor Witkowski, it was later popularized by military journalist and author Nick Cook as well as by writers such as Joseph P. Farrell...
by Polish writer Igor Witkowski
Igor Witkowski
Igor Witkowski, born 1963 in Warsaw, Poland, is a Polish journalist working in the fields of military technology and the history of World War II.- Biography :...
, who claimed to have discovered the existence of Die Glocke from transcripts of an interrogation by Polish authorities of Sporrenberg. Witkowski claims to have gained access to read the transcripts through an unnamed contact in the polish intelligence service. The interrogation and its contents have no primary documentation aside from Witkowski.
External links
- Porträt und Biographie im Handbuch der Reichstagsabgeordneten
- Biographie in Stichpunkten