He was a tall brown-haired man with noble features, bottomless gray-blue eyes, well-groomed hands and a pleasant voice. With such external data, the favorite of women, Otto Olendorf, could well have become a movie star, but he liked another thing. During World War II, he led the Third Directorate of the RSHA, and also served as the head of Einsatzgruppe D, popularly referred to as the death squad. During his tenure, a Nazi leader ordered the extermination of 1 million civilians, most of whom were Jews, Gypsies and Communists.
Young years, entry into the NSDAP
Olendorf Otto was born in 1907 in Hoheneggelsen, located in Lower Saxony (Germany). His parents were highly educated peasants. From 1917 to 1928 he studied at the gymnasium located in Andreanum. After graduating, he entered Göttingen, where he studied law.
From early youth, Otto was passionately interested in politics. In 1925, as a gymnasium student, he became a member of the National Socialist Workers Party of Germany (NSDAP) and its SA assault troops. A year later, 19-year-old Olendorf was enlisted in the SS militia. In the NSDAP, he led the party cell, served as the organizer of rallies and the treasurer. Olendorf spoke a lot at meetings, but preferred to remain an ordinary National Socialist and stay away from the top of the party.
Attitude to Fascism
1931 Otto Olendorf went to study in exchange for the Apennine Peninsula. While in Italy, he first became acquainted with fascist ideology. Olendorf was her ardent opponent. He did not like the fact that supporters of Italian fascism see a person as a tool to achieve a goal, not taking into account his personal qualities. The National Socialist Society, according to Otto, was the exact opposite of fascist society . In it, each individual had the opportunity to develop their very best qualities in order to subsequently serve for the good of the state. Returning after studying to Germany, Olendorf repeatedly spoke at party meetings criticizing fascism, emphasizing its danger to National Socialism.
Career in the 30s
After the NSDAP leader Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, Otto’s career began to skyrocket. In 1933, Olendorf was appointed deputy director of the Kiel Institute for World Economy. The following year, he heads a major department at the Berlin Institute for Economic Research. In 1936, the National Socialist was enlisted in the ranks of the SD security service, where he collected information about the mood inside the Third Reich. Thanks to this work, he got the opportunity to communicate directly with the leadership of the state.
Throughout the Second World War (1939-1945) Olendorf served as head of the Third Directorate of the RSHA, under whose control was the public life of Germany. In parallel with this, he worked at the Ministry of Economy.
Activities as head of the Einsatzgruppe
At the beginning of World War II, Olendorf, despite his disagreement, was appointed the head of Einsatzgruppe D and sent to the southern regions of the Soviet Union (southern Ukraine and Crimea). Fulfilling the orders of the higher authorities, during 1941-1942 he ordered the destruction of the civilian population in the territory occupied by the Germans. Every resident of the south of Ukraine knew who Olendorf Otto was. His death squad ruthlessly shot everyone whom the Nazi ideology considered unworthy of life. About 90 thousand Jews were destroyed by order of Olendorf alone. In addition to them, the forces of the Einsatzgruppen took the lives of hundreds of thousands of Communists and Gypsies.
In the summer of 1942, Olendorf, on the orders of Himmler, returned to Berlin and was engaged in civil affairs. In the fall of 1943, he began to develop a plan to restore the German economy in the postwar period.
Awards
Otto Olendorf was generously rewarded for the faithful service of Nazi Germany. The biography, in which awards occupy a significant place, indicates that the leadership of the Einsatz Group D was highly appreciated by the leadership. For his services to the state, Olendorf was awarded the Chevron of the old fighter, the Dead Head ring, the NSDAP Golden Badge, and the Military Merit Crosses of the I and II degrees. In addition, in the collection of his awards was a saber of the Reichsfuhrer SS, which was granted only to the most faithful citizens of Nazi Germany.
Postwar Biography: Otto Olendorf and the Court
In 1946, at the Nuremberg trials, Olendorf was recognized as a war criminal. After 2 years for the massacres committed in Soviet territories during the Great Patriotic War, he was sentenced to death by hanging. He was charged with the destruction of 1 million civilians. The former head of the Einsatzgruppe pleaded not guilty, insisting that he obeyed the orders of senior management. He did not repent of the murders committed, considering the extermination of the Jewish people and Gypsies a necessary and historically justified process. After the verdict was announced, Olendorf filed a petition for clemency, hoping for a mitigation of punishment. He claimed that he was not involved in a small proportion of those murders that he was charged with.
Popularity among women, execution
Otto Olendorf, who was in the dock, was always focused on the views of thousands of young women. The blue-gray eyes and the charming smile of a war criminal sunk into the hearts of the fairer sex so much that they sent him bouquets of flowers directly to the cell. The young beauties were not embarrassed either by the fact that Olendorf was married and had five children, or the fact that he was accused of killing one million people. Despite the popularity, the prisoner was unable to obtain pardon. On June 7, 1951, 44-year-old Olendorf was hanged at Landsberg Prison.
The man, on whose orders hundreds of thousands of innocent people were killed, tried for three years to prove to others that he had the right to life. However, he, like other war criminals of Nazi Germany, suffered a well-deserved punishment for committed atrocities.