Karl Löffler

Karl Löffler was a German Nazi who was head of the "Jewish Desk" (or Jewish Affairs) department of the Gestapo in Cologne, Germany during the 1930s and 1940s. As such he was in charge of coordinating the deportations of the Jewish community of Cologne to concentration camps.

After the war, Löffler was fully exoneratedcite news
url=http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/02/20/reviews/000220.20gewent.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
title=Hitler's Silent Partners: How much responsibility did ordinary citizens bear for the Holocaust?
author=Barry Gewen
date=February 20 2000
publisher=The New York Times
accessdate=2007-07-15] by the Denazification courts of Cologne after receiving positive recommendations from the heads of the Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish churches in Cologne.Fact|date=July 2007 He appealed successively to have his pension restored, to have his pension increased to account for his promotions, and to have his promotions during his Gestapo service recognized.

Historian Eric A. Johnson used Löffler as an example of what he called "local Eichmanns" in his book, "Nazi Terror: The Gestapo, Jews, and Ordinary Germans". Johnson points out that local Gestapo chiefs were usually prosecuted, but Gestapo officials below that level were often not. [cite book
url=http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/j/johnson-terror.html
title=Nazi Terror: THe Gestapo, Jews and Ordinary Germans
publisher=Basic Books
year=2000 First chapter republished by "The New York Times".]

References

* [http://www.ghi-dc.org/bulletinS04/34.153.pdf Nazi Crimes and the law] , retrieved 2006-04-12 (PDF)