- Helmut Kapp
Helmut Kapp (born as "Konstanty Kapuścik") was a member of the
Gestapo and awar criminal . He was executed inJędrzejów for his crimes against Polish citizens in 1943.Kapp was born in Polish part of
Silesia . After the outbreak ofWorld War II he signed the GermanVolksliste and joined theGestapo . Initially a translator, with time he was promoted to the deputy commander of a Gestapo outpost inJędrzejów . Among his tasks were recruitment of collaborators and assisting in the arrest of people in thepowiat s of Jędrzejów andWłoszczowa . He was also one of the people to brutally interrogate and torture those arrested by the Germans. According to his own testimony, he personally murdered 452 Poles, including 365 Jews.In the early months of 1943 Kapp was sentenced to death by the
Special Courts for the Jędrzejów area and the verdict was supported by the local command of theArmia Krajowa . As a pre-war Polish citizen he was found guilty of high treason, murder and betrayal. After several initial attempts to execute the verdict by poisoning him, it was decided to create a death squad. In mid-May the Armia Krajowa was warned by an informer that Kapp was highly likely to leave Jędrzejów for Germany. Officials decided to create the death squad as soon as possible.On
May 31 ,1943 the squad composed of 2nd Lt "Zola", Cpr "Ryszard" and private "Wituś". The squad, armed with pistols, notified that Kapp was having a meeting at the gardens near the Gestapo building in Jędrzejów. They reached the gardens and found Kapp returning home with a German Gestapo driver named Tierling and certain miss Erna Meyer. After a short fight, Tierling was killed, Kapp was heavily wounded and the woman was allowed to return to Gestapo. Kapp died the following day.As a reprisal for this action, on
June 9 ,1943 the Germans killed 11 random civilians of Jędrzejów while additional 25 were arrested, tortured and sent toAuschwitz concentration camp .References
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