Otto Rasch

Otto Rasch
Otto Rasch at the Einsatzgruppen Trial
Born	7 December 1891 Friedrichsruh, German Empire
Died	November 1, 1948(1948-11-01) (aged 56) Wehrstedt, Allied-occupied Germany
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Schutzstaffel
Rank	Brigadeführer

SS-Brigadeführer Otto Rasch (7 December 1891 — 1 November 1948) was a high-ranking Nazi official in the occupied Eastern territories, commanding Einsatzgruppe C (northern and central Ukraine) until October 1941. As a commanding officer, he was a Holocaust perpetrator and mass murderer.

Biography

Rasch was born in Friedrichsruh, northern Germany. He fought in the First World War as a naval lieutenant. He studied philosophy, law, political science, and received doctorates in law and political economy. With two university doctorates, Rasch was known as "Dr. Dr. Rasch", in accordance with German academic tradition. He became a lawyer in 1931 in Dresden and practiced law in the private sector. In 1933 he became mayor of Radeberg and in 1935 lord mayor of Wittenberg.

Rasch joined the NSDAP on 1 October 1931 with membership number 620,976. He joined the SA in 1933 and the SS on 10 March 1933; with membership number 107,100. Beginning in 1936 he was employed full-time by the Sicherheitsdienst (SD). On 1 October 1937, as commissioner, Rasch assumed leadership of the State Police (Stapo) in Frankfurt am Main. In March 1938, again as commissioner, Rasch became director of security (based in Linz) for Upper Austria. In June 1938, Rasch was assigned various responsibilities within the RSHA and was appointed chief of the Security Police (Sipo) and SD in Prague.

In 1940, as inspector of the Sipo and SD, Rasch was transferred to Königsberg. In June 1941, shortly before the invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa), Rasch took command of Einsatzgruppe C. In this capacity, he perpetrated extermination actions against Jews.

According to the post-war affidavit of Erwin Schulz, commander of Einsatzkommando 5 (part of Einsatzgruppe C):

SS Brigadeführer Dr. Rasch distinguished himself by particular ruthlessness. He ordered the leaders also to participate personally in the shootings.^[1]

In August 1941, Hitler gave the Fundamental Order (Führerbefehl) for the extermination of entire populations in the Eastern territories. The commando leaders subordinate to Rasch met with him to discuss this order. Paul Blobel later testified that Rasch basically quoted what had been stated by Friedrich Jeckeln, that "the measures against the Jewish population had to be sharper and that he disapproved of the manner in which they had been carried out until now because it was too mild". In other words, the order was to shoot more Jews.^[1]

Rasch organized the creation of the Soldau concentration camp. Rasch was discharged from his position in October 1941, and at the beginning of 1942, he became the director of Continental Oil, Inc. in Berlin.

Rasch was indicted at the Einsatzgruppen Trial at the end of September 1947 but the case against Rasch was discontinued on 5 February 1948 due to his battle with Parkinson's Disease and associated dementia. Otto Rasch died later that year in Wehrstedt.

In fiction

• Dr. Dr. Rasch appears in Jonathan Littell's novel "Les Bienveillantes". He files a record that the military should concentrate on fighting bolshevism which should not be identified with Jews.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Richard Rhodes (2002). Masters of Death: The SS-Einsatzgruppen and the Invention of the Holocaust, New York: Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 125, 223. ISBN 0-375-40900-9

Bibliography

• Rhodes, Richard (2002). Masters of Death: The SS-Einsatzgruppen and the Invention of the Holocaust, New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-375-40900-9
• Zenter, Christian and Bedürftig, Friedemann (1991). Encyclopedia of the Third Reich, New York: Macmillan, p. 754. ISBN 0028975022

Persondata
Name	Rasch, Otto
Alternative names
Short description	Nazi Holocaust perpetrator
Date of birth	7 December 1891
Place of birth	Friedrichsruh, German Empire
Date of death	1 November 1948
Place of death	Wehrstedt, Allied-occupied Germany