Franz Kutschera

Franz Kutschera (22 February 1904 in Oberwaltersdorf in Lower Austria – 1 February 1944 in Warsaw, Poland) was an SS general and Gauleiter of Carinthia.

As SS and Police Leader of the Warsaw district, he was sentenced to death by high command of the Polish Home Army in agreement with the Polish government in exile and assassinated by the members of Polish Home Army in the center of Warsaw (in front of Warsaw SS Headquarters).

Life and career

Kutschera was a shipboy in 1918-1919 in the Austro-Hungarian navy. Afterwards, he became a gardener. In the 1920s, he lived in Czechoslovakia. He joined the NSDAP in late 1930 and the SS in late 1931.

From 1935 until March 1938 Kutschera was leader of the 90th SS Standard "Carinthia", which became known after his death as "Franz Kutschera". During Anschluss with Nazi Germany, he was for a short time (February to May 1938) managing Gauleiter of Carinthia, and thereafter first acting Gauleiter, and then finally Gauleiter in 1940-1941. After Anschluss he became a member of the Reichstag, remaining such until his death. Early in 1939 he became an honorary judge at the Volksgerichtshof.

Kutschera was appointed an SS Brigadeführer in 1940 and late in 1942 a Major-General of the police. He distinguished himself in the fight against resistance (or "bandits" as the Nazis called them) with his fanaticism. Hence, he was appointed SS and Police Leader, first from April 1943 in the Mogilev district and then as of September 1943, and until his death on 1 February 1944, the Police leader of the District of Warsaw in the occupied by Nazi Germany Poland.

Assassination by the Polish resistance

Kutschera was sentenced to death by the secret Military Tribunal of the Polish Secret State for the crimes against Polish nation, in particular mass murders of civilians in occupied Warsaw. The death sentence was approved by the Polish government in exile and the execution order was given by the commander of KeDyw, Gen. Emil August Fieldorf “Nil”.

The assassination, code named Operation Kutschera, was carried out in front of Kutschera’s Warsaw residency by the members of company "Agat" from Szare Szeregi’s unit "Pegaz", part of the KeDyw (Directorate of Sabotage and Diversion).

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