Josef Albert Meisinger
Encyclopedia
Josef Albert Meisinger also known as the Butcher of Warsaw, was a German Colonel of the Gestapo
and Nazi Party member.
He was arrested in Japan
at the end of World War II
, convicted of war crime
s and was executed in Warsaw
, Poland
.
, the son of Josef and Berta Meisinger, he enlisted on 23 December 1916 and served during World War I
in a reserve Minenwerfer (mine-laying) battalion in the 30th Infantry Regiment, 230th Company. After being wounded in battle he was awarded the Iron Cross
and the Bavarian Military Distinguished Service Cross. On 18 January 1919 he attained the rank of Vizefeldwebel (Sergeant Major
), and on 19 April 1919 he entered the Freikorps
under Franz Ritter von Epp, with whom he fought against the Soviet Republic of Bavaria. On 1 October 1922 he began working at the Munich Police Headquarters. As leader of the III Platoon of the II Company of the Freikorps Oberland
, he took part in the Hitlerputsch on 8–9 November 1923.
He was inducted on 5 March 1933 into the SS
and then into the Bavaria
n political police on 9 March 1933, thus coming into official contact with Heinrich Müller, Franz Josef Huber and Reinhard Heydrich
. He became a member of the Nazi Party on 1 May 1933. He received the Blood Order
Medal of the Nazi Party on 9 November 1933.
office of the Gestapo on 1 May 1934, took with him his most trusted colleagues: Heinrich Müller, Franz Josef Huber and Josef Meisinger, referred to as the Bajuwaren-Brigade (Bavarian Brigade). On 9 May he was promoted to SS-Untersturmführer
in the Dezernat II 1 H and II H 1, which had the following tasks:
On 24 June 1934 he went to hear Erich Klausener
at the Catholic Congress
in Berlin and informed Heydrich that Klausener had made anarchist statements. On 30 June 1934 Klausener was shot by an SS-squad in his office at the transportation ministry.
On 16 December 1935 Meisinger received an SS-Julleuchter from Hitler, and on 23 April 1936 he was promoted to SS-Sturmbannführer
.
. During this period he was promoted to SS-Obersturmbannführer
. When Heinrich Himmler
wanted to dispose of Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg
, a member of the army's high command and Adolf Hitler
's Minister of Defense whom Himmler disliked intensely, Meisinger's investigations revealed the fact that Blomberg's wife, Erna Gruhn, had once posed for pornographic photos and was the daughter of a woman who had once operated a brothel. Blomberg was accused of having married a prostitute and was forced to resign.
When in July 1936 the Commander-in-Chief
of the Army Colonel General
Werner von Fritsch
was in court over accusations of homosexuality
, the case was the responsibility of Meisinger. Here Meisinger saw an opportunity for advancement, since he knew that Himmler and the SS regarded homosexuals as a danger to the regime. However Meisinger's police work was judged to be sloppy and Heydrich and Müller were dissatisfied. At one point when Meisinger interrogated Otto Schmidt, a notorious liar who had identified Fritsch as a homosexual, Meisinger provided a photograph of Fritsch on which was clearly printed Fritsch's name, title and military rank. Schmidt undoubtedly jumped at the chance to advance himself by slandering a general. Werner Best
, in describing this incident, called Meisinger "a primitive man with clumsy methods." It was eventually determined that von Fritsch had been confused with someone else: Rittmeister
von Frisch. The accusations against Fritsch broke down and Meisinger’s career in the Gestapo was almost terminated.
office, but by September 1939 he had risen to Deputy Commander of the SD-Einsatzgruppe IV in Poland
. On 1 January 1940 he was appointed to the post of SS-Standartenführer
, Commander of the State Police in the Warsaw
District, replacing Lothar Beutel
who had been denounced for corruption.
Meisinger proceeded to apply brutal force against Jews in Poland. As part of the German AB-Aktion in Poland, he authorized the mass shooting of 1,700 people in the forest near Palmiry
. As a reprisal for the murder of a Polish policeman, he ordered the execution of 55 Jewish residents on 22 November 1939, and on 20 December, the execution of 107 Poles as a reprisal for the murder of two Germans. Meisinger became so notorious that he was called the “Butcher of Warsaw” (although this sobriquet
was also given to SS-Gruppenführer
Heinz Reinefarth
). His atrocities in Warsaw appalled even his Gestapo superiors. According to Walter Schellenberg
, head of the foreign intelligence section of the RHSA, Meisinger's file showed him to be "so utterly bestial and corrupt as to be practically inhuman." Only Heydrich's appeal to Himmler saved Meisinger from court-martial
and possible execution. He was sent to Tokyo
by submarine as a means of keeping him at arm's length until the dust had settled.
During his trial in 1947 Meisinger stated that he was not in Warsaw after October 1940, but it is likely that he participated in the creation of the Warsaw Ghetto
.
at the German Embassy in Tokyo
. His duties included seeking out enemies of the Third Reich within the German community, using various informants. He was also liaison officer of the SD
to the Japanese Secret Intelligence Service
. One of his tasks in Japan was the observation of the secret Soviet agent Richard Sorge
(who was under suspicion in Berlin) but Meisinger soon became Sorge's constant drinking companion and, unwittingly, one of Sorge's best sources of information.
In 1941 Meisinger tried to influence the Japanese to exterminate approximately 18,000–20,000 Jews who had escaped from Austria
and Germany and who were living in Japanese-occupied Shanghai
. His proposals included the creation of a concentration camp on Chongming Island in the delta of the Yangtze, or starvation on freighters off the coast of China. The Japanese admiral responsible overseeing Shanghai would not yield to pressure from Meisinger, however the Japanese built a ghetto in the neighborhood of Hongkew
, which had already been planned by Tokyo in 1939, a slum with about twice the population density
of Manhattan
. The ghetto was strictly isolated by Japanese soldiers under the command of the sadistic Japanese official Kano Ghoya, and Jews could only leave it with special permission. Some 2,000 of them died in the Shanghai Ghetto
during the wartime period.
On 25 January 1943 Meisinger was appointed a Gestapo
Colonel under Heinrich Müller.
s, Clark Lee of the INS
and Robert Brumby of MBS
, at the Fujiya Hotel
in Hakone, Kanagawa
. The reporters drove him to the Yokohama
headquarters of the Counter-Intelligence Corps where Meisinger turned himself in. He was held in the Yokohama
Jail where he underwent intensive questioning for two weeks before being transferred to U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower
's headquarters in Frankfurt
. In November 1945 he was flown to Washington, D.C.
for questioning on his involvement in the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto
. In 1946 he was handed over to Polish authorities. In Warsaw on 17 December 1946 he was accused together with Ludwig Fischer, the Nazi Governor of the Warsaw District, Max Daume (Acting Commander of the Ordnungspolizei in Warsaw), and Ludwig Leist (Deputy District Chief for the City of Warsaw), of war crimes and tried in February. On 3 March 1947 the Supreme National Tribunal
in Warsaw condemned Meisinger to death, and on 7 March 1947 he was executed in Warsaw's Mokotów Prison
.
by Jonathan Littell
, and in the Spanish novels La Espina de la Amapola and La Crin de Damocles by Javier Pérez Fernández, winner of the 2006 Premio Azorín
.
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
and Nazi Party member.
He was arrested in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
at the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, convicted of war crime
War crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
s and was executed 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...
, 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...
.
Early life
Meisinger was born in MunichMunich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, the son of Josef and Berta Meisinger, he enlisted on 23 December 1916 and served during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in a reserve Minenwerfer (mine-laying) battalion in the 30th Infantry Regiment, 230th Company. After being wounded in battle he was awarded the Iron Cross
Iron Cross
The Iron Cross is a cross symbol typically in black with a white or silver outline that originated after 1219 when the Kingdom of Jerusalem granted the Teutonic Order the right to combine the Teutonic Black Cross placed above a silver Cross of Jerusalem....
and the Bavarian Military Distinguished Service Cross. On 18 January 1919 he attained the rank of Vizefeldwebel (Sergeant Major
Sergeant Major
Sergeants major is a senior non-commissioned rank or appointment in many militaries around the world. In Commonwealth countries, Sergeants Major are usually appointments held by senior non-commissioned officers or warrant officers...
), and on 19 April 1919 he entered the Freikorps
Freikorps
Freikorps are German volunteer military or paramilitary units. The term was originally applied to voluntary armies formed in German lands from the middle of the 18th century onwards. Between World War I and World War II the term was also used for the paramilitary organizations that arose during...
under Franz Ritter von Epp, with whom he fought against the Soviet Republic of Bavaria. On 1 October 1922 he began working at the Munich Police Headquarters. As leader of the III Platoon of the II Company of the Freikorps Oberland
Freikorps Oberland
The Freikorps Oberland was a free corps in the early years of the Weimar Republic, fighting against Communist and Polish insurgents...
, he took part in the Hitlerputsch on 8–9 November 1923.
He was inducted on 5 March 1933 into 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...
and then into the Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
n political police on 9 March 1933, thus coming into official contact with Heinrich Müller, Franz Josef Huber and 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...
. He became a member of the Nazi Party on 1 May 1933. He received the Blood Order
Blood Order
The Blood Order , officially known as the Decoration of 9 November 1923 , was one of the most prestigious decorations in the Nazi Party...
Medal of the Nazi Party on 9 November 1933.
Gestapo career
On 20 April 1934 he was promoted to SS-Obertruppenführer. Heydrich, upon his transfer to the BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
office of the Gestapo on 1 May 1934, took with him his most trusted colleagues: Heinrich Müller, Franz Josef Huber and Josef Meisinger, referred to as the Bajuwaren-Brigade (Bavarian Brigade). On 9 May he was promoted to SS-Untersturmführer
Untersturmführer
Untersturmführer was a paramilitary rank of the German Schutzstaffel first created in July 1934. The rank can trace its origins to the older SA rank of Sturmführer which had existed since the founding of the SA in 1921...
in the Dezernat II 1 H and II H 1, which had the following tasks:
- Uncovering of opponents of Adolf HitlerAdolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
within the Nazi Party - Prosecution of homosexuals
- Prosecution of cases of abortionAbortionAbortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
- Prosecution of cases of intimate relations between JewsJewsThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
and non-Jews.
On 24 June 1934 he went to hear Erich Klausener
Erich Klausener
Erich Klausener was a German Catholic politician who was murdered in the Night of the Long Knives as the Nazis purged their opponents.- Biography :...
at the Catholic Congress
Catholic Congress
A Catholic Congress or lay association is a term for gathering of lay Catholics to discuss certain political or social issues from a Catholic perspective. These have included the Piusverein in Germany and Switzerland as well a the Catholic Truth Society....
in Berlin and informed Heydrich that Klausener had made anarchist statements. On 30 June 1934 Klausener was shot by an SS-squad in his office at the transportation ministry.
On 16 December 1935 Meisinger received an SS-Julleuchter from Hitler, and on 23 April 1936 he was promoted to SS-Sturmbannführer
Sturmbannführer
Sturmbannführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party equivalent to major, used both in the Sturmabteilung and the Schutzstaffel...
.
Role in the Blomberg–Fritsch Affair
From 1936 to 1938 Meisinger was a leader in the Gestapo in charge of Bekämpfung der Homosexualität und der Abtreibung ("Campaign against Homosexuality and Abortion") in the Gestapo Central Headquarters at the SicherheitspolizeiSicherheitspolizei
The Sicherheitspolizei , often abbreviated as SiPo, was a term used in Nazi Germany to describe the state political and criminal investigation security agencies. It was made up by the combined forces of the Gestapo and the Kripo between 1936 and 1939...
. During this period he was promoted to SS-Obersturmbannführer
Obersturmbannführer
Obersturmbannführer was a paramilitary Nazi Party rank used by both the SA and the SS. It was created in May 1933 to fill the need for an additional field grade officer rank above Sturmbannführer as the SA expanded. It became an SS rank at the same time...
. When Heinrich 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...
wanted to dispose of Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg
Werner von Blomberg
Werner Eduard Fritz von Blomberg was a German Generalfeldmarschall, Minister of War and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces until January 1938.-Early life:...
, a member of the army's high command and Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
's Minister of Defense whom Himmler disliked intensely, Meisinger's investigations revealed the fact that Blomberg's wife, Erna Gruhn, had once posed for pornographic photos and was the daughter of a woman who had once operated a brothel. Blomberg was accused of having married a prostitute and was forced to resign.
When in July 1936 the Commander-in-Chief
Commander-in-Chief
A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...
of the Army Colonel General
Colonel General
Colonel General is a senior rank of General. North Korea and Russia are two countries which have used the rank extensively throughout their histories...
Werner von Fritsch
Werner von Fritsch
Werner Thomas Ludwig Freiherr von Fritsch was a prominent Wehrmacht officer, member of the German High Command, and the second German general to be killed during World War II.-Early life:...
was in court over accusations of homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
, the case was the responsibility of Meisinger. Here Meisinger saw an opportunity for advancement, since he knew that Himmler and the SS regarded homosexuals as a danger to the regime. However Meisinger's police work was judged to be sloppy and Heydrich and Müller were dissatisfied. At one point when Meisinger interrogated Otto Schmidt, a notorious liar who had identified Fritsch as a homosexual, Meisinger provided a photograph of Fritsch on which was clearly printed Fritsch's name, title and military rank. Schmidt undoubtedly jumped at the chance to advance himself by slandering a general. 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...
, in describing this incident, called Meisinger "a primitive man with clumsy methods." It was eventually determined that von Fritsch had been confused with someone else: Rittmeister
Rittmeister
Rotamaster was the military rank of a commissioned cavalry officer in charge of a squadron , the equivalent of O3 or Captain, in the German-speaking armies, Austro-Hungarian, Polish-Lithuanian, Russian and some other states.The exact name of this rank maintains a variety of spellings in different...
von Frisch. The accusations against Fritsch broke down and Meisinger’s career in the Gestapo was almost terminated.
Activities in Poland
As a consequence of Meisinger's and his agency's failure, he and others were replaced, transferred for disciplinary reasons or dismissed. In 1938 he was transferred to work in the archives of the principal SD Security ServiceSicherheitsdienst
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...
office, but by September 1939 he had risen to Deputy Commander of the SD-Einsatzgruppe IV in 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...
. On 1 January 1940 he was appointed to the post of SS-Standartenführer
Standartenführer
Standartenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was used in the so-called Nazi combat-organisations: SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK...
, Commander of the State Police in the 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...
District, replacing Lothar Beutel
Lothar Beutel
Lothar Beutel was a German pharmacist and Schutzstaffel officer who worked on behalf of the Sicherheitsdienst....
who had been denounced for corruption.
Meisinger proceeded to apply brutal force against Jews in Poland. As part of the German AB-Aktion in Poland, he authorized the mass shooting of 1,700 people in the forest near Palmiry
Palmiry
Palmiry During World War II, between 1939 and 1943, the village and the surrounding forest was one of the sites of German mass executions of Jews, Polish intelligentsia, politicians and athletes, killed during the AB Action. Most of the victims were first arrested and tortured in the Pawiak prison...
. As a reprisal for the murder of a Polish policeman, he ordered the execution of 55 Jewish residents on 22 November 1939, and on 20 December, the execution of 107 Poles as a reprisal for the murder of two Germans. Meisinger became so notorious that he was called the “Butcher of Warsaw” (although this sobriquet
Sobriquet
A sobriquet is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another. It is usually a familiar name, distinct from a pseudonym assumed as a disguise, but a nickname which is familiar enough such that it can be used in place of a real name without the need of explanation...
was also given to SS-Gruppenführer
Gruppenführer
Gruppenführer was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party, first created in 1925 as a senior rank of the SA.-SS rank:...
Heinz Reinefarth
Heinz Reinefarth
Heinrich Reinefarth was a German military officer during and government official after World War II. During the Warsaw Uprising his troops committed numerous war atrocities. After the war Reinefarth became the mayor of the town of Westerland and member of the Schleswig-Holstein Landtag...
). His atrocities in Warsaw appalled even his Gestapo superiors. According to 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:...
, head of the foreign intelligence section of the RHSA, Meisinger's file showed him to be "so utterly bestial and corrupt as to be practically inhuman." Only Heydrich's appeal to Himmler saved Meisinger from court-martial
Court-martial
A court-martial is a military court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment.Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in which a breach of...
and possible execution. He was sent to Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
by submarine as a means of keeping him at arm's length until the dust had settled.
During his trial in 1947 Meisinger stated that he was not in Warsaw after October 1940, but it is likely that he participated in the creation of the Warsaw Ghetto
Warsaw Ghetto
The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest of all Jewish Ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II. It was established in the Polish capital between October and November 15, 1940, in the territory of General Government of the German-occupied Poland, with over 400,000 Jews from the vicinity...
.
Activities in Shanghai and Japan
From 1 April 1941 to May 1945 Meisinger acted as Gestapo liaison connecting leaders and particular agents of the SD Security ServiceSicherheitsdienst
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...
at the German Embassy in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
. His duties included seeking out enemies of the Third Reich within the German community, using various informants. He was also liaison officer of the SD
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...
to the Japanese Secret Intelligence Service
Kempeitai
The was the military police arm of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1881 to 1945. It was not an English-style military police, but a French-style gendarmerie...
. One of his tasks in Japan was the observation of the secret Soviet agent Richard Sorge
Richard Sorge
Richard Sorge was a German communist and spy who worked for the Soviet Union. He has gained great fame among espionage enthusiasts for his intelligence gathering during World War II. He worked as a journalist in both Germany and Japan, where he was imprisoned for spying and eventually hanged....
(who was under suspicion in Berlin) but Meisinger soon became Sorge's constant drinking companion and, unwittingly, one of Sorge's best sources of information.
In 1941 Meisinger tried to influence the Japanese to exterminate approximately 18,000–20,000 Jews who had escaped from Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and Germany and who were living in Japanese-occupied Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
. His proposals included the creation of a concentration camp on Chongming Island in the delta of the Yangtze, or starvation on freighters off the coast of China. The Japanese admiral responsible overseeing Shanghai would not yield to pressure from Meisinger, however the Japanese built a ghetto in the neighborhood of Hongkew
Shanghai ghetto
The Shanghai ghetto, formally known as the , was an area of approximately one square mile in the Hongkou District of Japanese-occupied Shanghai, to which about 20,000 Jewish refugees were relocated by the Japanese-issued Proclamation Concerning Restriction of Residence and Business of Stateless...
, which had already been planned by Tokyo in 1939, a slum with about twice the population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. The ghetto was strictly isolated by Japanese soldiers under the command of the sadistic Japanese official Kano Ghoya, and Jews could only leave it with special permission. Some 2,000 of them died in the Shanghai Ghetto
Shanghai ghetto
The Shanghai ghetto, formally known as the , was an area of approximately one square mile in the Hongkou District of Japanese-occupied Shanghai, to which about 20,000 Jewish refugees were relocated by the Japanese-issued Proclamation Concerning Restriction of Residence and Business of Stateless...
during the wartime period.
On 25 January 1943 Meisinger was appointed a Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
Colonel under Heinrich Müller.
Arrest and execution
On 6 September 1945 Meisinger surrendered to two war correspondentWar correspondent
A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories firsthand from a war zone. In the 19th century they were also called Special Correspondents.-Methods:...
s, Clark Lee of the INS
International News Service
International News Service was a U.S.-based news agency founded by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1909.Established two years after the Scripps family founded the United Press Association, INS scrapped among the newswires...
and Robert Brumby of MBS
Mutual Broadcasting System
The Mutual Broadcasting System was an American radio network, in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the golden age of U.S. radio drama, MBS was best known as the original network home of The Lone Ranger and The Adventures of Superman and as the long-time radio residence of The Shadow...
, at the Fujiya Hotel
Fujiya Hotel
The is a historic hotel in Miyanoshita in Hakone, Kanagawa, Japan.It was constructed in 1891, and consists of many different parts constructed in a mixture of traditional Japanese and western architecture which was popular during the Meiji period...
in Hakone, Kanagawa
Hakone, Kanagawa
is a town in Ashigarashimo District in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 2010, the town had an estimated population of 13,339 and a density of 144 persons per km². The total area was 92.82 km².-Geography:...
. The reporters drove him to the Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
headquarters of the Counter-Intelligence Corps where Meisinger turned himself in. He was held in the Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
Jail where he underwent intensive questioning for two weeks before being transferred to U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
's headquarters in Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
. In November 1945 he was flown to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
for questioning on his involvement in the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto
Warsaw Ghetto
The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest of all Jewish Ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II. It was established in the Polish capital between October and November 15, 1940, in the territory of General Government of the German-occupied Poland, with over 400,000 Jews from the vicinity...
. In 1946 he was handed over to Polish authorities. In Warsaw on 17 December 1946 he was accused together with Ludwig Fischer, the Nazi Governor of the Warsaw District, Max Daume (Acting Commander of the Ordnungspolizei in Warsaw), and Ludwig Leist (Deputy District Chief for the City of Warsaw), of war crimes and tried in February. On 3 March 1947 the Supreme National Tribunal
Supreme National Tribunal
The Supreme National Tribunal was a war crime tribunal active in Poland from 1946 to 1948, with jurisdiction over fascist-hitlerite criminals and traitors to the Polish nation.The tribunal presided over seven high-profile cases ....
in Warsaw condemned Meisinger to death, and on 7 March 1947 he was executed in Warsaw's Mokotów Prison
Mokotów Prison
Mokotów Prison is a prison in Warsaw's borough of Mokotów, Poland, located at Rakowiecka 37 street. It was built by the Russians in the final years of the foreign Partitions of Poland...
.
Appearances in literature
Meisinger appears in the French novel The Kindly OnesThe Kindly Ones
The Kindly Ones is a euphemistic reference to the Furies in Greek mythology.The phrase has been used as the title of:...
by Jonathan Littell
Jonathan Littell
Jonathan Littell is a bilingual writer living in Barcelona. He grew up in France and United States and is a dual citizen of both countries. After acquiring his bachelor degree he worked for a humanitarian organisation for nine years, leaving his job in 2001 in order to concentrate on writing...
, and in the Spanish novels La Espina de la Amapola and La Crin de Damocles by Javier Pérez Fernández, winner of the 2006 Premio Azorín
Premio Azorín
The Premio Azorín de Novela is one of the most important literary awards for works written in the Spanish language...
.
External links
- Josef Albert Meisinger
- Josef Meisinger
- Meisinger and the Gay Holocaust
- Administrative Structure of the State Security Department (Gestapo)
- Heinz Eberhard Maul, Japan und die Juden. Studie über die Judenpolitik des Kaiserreiches Japan während der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus 1933 – 1945. Doctoral Dissertation, Bonn 2000: Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität.