Joachim Hamann

Joachim Hamann (18 May 1913 in Kiel – 13 July 1945) was an officer of the Einsatzkommando 3, a killing unit of Einsatzgruppe A, responsible for thousands of Jewish deaths in Lithuania. Hamann organized and commanded Rollkommando Hamann, a small mobile killing unit composed of 8–10 Germans and several dozens of local Lithuanian collaborators.[1]

Hamann was of Baltic German parentage.[2] Trained as a chemist, he had difficulties finding a job due to the Great Depression. He joined SA in August 1931, NSDAP in December 1932, and SS in July 1938.[3] He served in the Wehrmacht during the invasion of Poland and Battle of France as a paratrooper (Fallschirmjäger).[4] He returned to Berlin where he joined the SS and completed training courses. In March 1941, he was promoted to SS-Obersturmführer (First Lieutenant).[3] After the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, Hamann organized and commanded Rollkommando Hamann which killed at least 39,000 Jews in various locations across Lithuania[1] and 9,102 people, almost all of whom were Jews, from the Daugavpils Ghetto.[5] Hamann's superior, Karl Jäger, documented these killings in the Jäger Report. Nevertheless Martin C. Dean sets the death toll of Rollkommando Hamann to 60.000 murdered people in Lithuania alone.[6]

Hamann left Lithuania in October 1941 and continued his SS career.[7] In 1942, SS-Hauptsturmführer Hamann participated in the Operation Zeppelin, a scheme to recruit Soviet POWs for espionage behind Russian lines.[8] From 1943 he worked at Amt IV of RSHA (Gestapo). He was involved in apprehending and executing suspected members of the 20 July plot to assassinate Hitler.[7] He was appointed aide to Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Director of the Reich Main Security Office.[4] In January 1945, Hamann was promoted to SS-Sturmbannführer.

After the war, Hamann committed suicide.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 Bubnys, Arūnas (2004). "The Holocaust in Lithuania: An Outline the Major Stages and their Results". In Nikžentaitis, Alvydas. The Vanished World of Lithuanian Jews. Rodopi. p. 210. ISBN 9789042008502.
  2. ↑ Voren, Robert van (2011). Undigested Past: The Holocaust in Lithuania. Rodopi. p. 76. ISBN 9789401200707.
  3. 1 2 Stang, Knut (1996). Kollaboration und Massenmord: die litauische Hilfspolizei, das Rollkommando Hamann und die Ermordung der litauischen Juden. Lang. pp. 153–54. ISBN 9783631308950.
  4. 1 2 3 Aly, Götz; Hoppe, Bert, eds. (2011). Sowjetunion mit annektierten Gebieten I: Besetzte sowjetische Gebiete unter deutscher Militärverwaltung, Baltikum und Transnistrien. Oldenbourg Verlag. p. 531. ISBN 9783486589115.
  5. ↑ Ezergailis, Andrew (1996). The Holocaust in Latvia 1941-1944: The Missing Center. Riga: Historical Institute of Latvia. pp. 276–279. ISBN 9984-9054-3-8.
  6. ↑ Dean, Martin C. (2004). "Local Collaboration in the Holocaust in Eastern Europe". In Stone, Dan. The Historiography of the Holocaust. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 127. ISBN 978-1-4039-9927-6. The case of the Rollkommando Hamann, which murdered some 60,000 Jews mostly in the small towns of Lithuania between July and September 1941,....
  7. 1 2 Melamed, Joseph A. "The Mechanized Commando Unit of Haman". Association of Lithuanian Jews in Israel. Retrieved 2014-10-12.
  8. ↑ Muñoz, Antonio J. (2000). The Druzhina SS Brigade: A History, 1941-1943. Axis Europa Books. p. 16. ISBN 9781891227370.
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