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Siegfried Kasche

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Siegfried Kasche
German Ambassador to Croatia
In office
15 April 1941 – 8 May 1945
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Member of Reichstag
In office
1930–1941
LeaderAdolf Hitler
Personal details
Born(1903-06-18)18 June 1903
Strausberg, Berlin, German Empire
Died7 June 1947(1947-06-07) (aged 43)
Zagreb, Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia
NationalityGerman
Political partyNazi Party
Alma materPotsdam Military Academy
OccupationDiplomat, politician
ProfessionSoldier
Military service
Allegiance Germany
Branch/serviceGerman Imperial Army (1920)
Sturmabteilung
Years of service1920, 1926-1945
RankSA-Obergruppenführer
Battles/warsWorld War II

Siegfried Kasche (18 June 1903 – 7 June 1947) was an ambassador of the German Reich to the Independent State of Croatia and Obergruppenführer of the Sturmabteilung, a Nazi Party's paramilitary wing.

Early life

Kasche was born in Strausberg. After attending cadet school in Potsdam and the Lichterfelde military academy, he spent 1919-1920 in the Freikorps in Berlin and the Baltic states. He joined the Sturmabteilung in 1925 and the Nazi party in 1926.[1] He was also a leader of the SA in Pommerania. From 1928 to 1931 Kasche was deputy Gauleiter in Ostmark, and in September 1930 was elected to the Reichstag. In 1934, Kasche was promoted to SA-Obergruppenführer, a rank equal to a lieutenant general in the Wehrmacht. Kasche was one of the few SA general officers to survive the Night of the Long Knives.[2]

Ambassador to Croatia

In April 1941, Kasche was assigned to the Foreign Ministry for diplomatic service. On 15 April 1941, when Germany recognized the Independent State of Croatia, Kasche was named ambassador. He arrived in Zagreb on 20 April. In the Independent State of Croatia, Kasche advocated joint effort of the Axis forces against the Yugoslav Partisans. Since he was very affectionate to Ante Pavelić and "Ustaše revolution", he justified policy and actions of Ustaše and Hitler called him "greater Croat then Pavelić".[2]

Kasche was in constant conflict with Edmund Glaise-Horstenau, a Plenipotentiary General in the Independent State of Croatia.[2] After the unsuccessful Lorković-Vokić plot, an attempt to align the Independent State of Croatia to the Allies, Kasche finally found a chance to denigrate Horstenau and make him withdraw from Croatia, as he was involved in the plot.[3] At a meeting of the Nazi leadership on 16 July he was designated as the future Reichskommissar of the planned Nazi colony called Moskau, which was to comprise the main territories of central and northern Russia up to the Ural mountains.[4] Military realities on the Eastern Front during the 1941-1942 winter prevented its establishment, leaving the project in the planning stages.

War crimes

During World War II, many Serbs were deported from Croatia—some to Serbia and others to Germany. The order to deport Serbs did not originate with the Croatian government. According to the Nuremberg Tribunal, a conference was held in the German Legation presided over by Siegfried Kasche, "at which it was decided forcibly to evacuate the Slovenes to Croatia and Serbia and the Serbs from Croatia into Serbia. This decision results from a telegram from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Number 389, dated 31 May 1941".[5]

He reported to Berlin on April 18, 1944 that "Croatia is one of the countries in which the Jewish problem has been solved".[6]

After the war, Kasche was returned to Yugoslavia by the Allies. He was tried by the Supreme Court of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia in May 1947, convicted, and executed by hanging on June 7, 1947.[7]

References

Citations
  1. ^ Jacobsen 1961, p. 4.
  2. ^ a b c Dizdar et al. 1997, p. 183.
  3. ^ Brissaud et al. 1977, p. 334.
  4. ^ Kay, Alex J. (2006). Exploitation, Resettlement, Mass Murder: Political and Economic Planning for German Occupation Policy in the Soviet Union, 1940-1941, p. 182. Berghahn Books. [1]
  5. ^ Secretariat of the Tribunal, Trial of the Major War Criminals, Nuremberg: International Military Tribunal: 1947: Vol. I, p. 433; See http://www.mcadams-croatia.net/wp_on_a_artukovic.htm.
  6. ^ [2] at www.porges.net
  7. ^ Collaborators Trial
Bibliography
  • Brissaud, André; Mabire, Jean; Odić, Slavko F.; Komarica, Slavko (1977). Noć i magla: Gestapo u Jugoslaviji (in Croatian). Centar za informacije i publicitet. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Dizdar, Zdravko; Grčić, Marko; Ravlić, Slaven; Stuparić, Darko (1997). Tko je tko u NDH (in Croatian). Minerva. ISBN 9536377039. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Jacobsen, Hans Adolf (1961). Ausgewählte Dokumente zur Geschichte des Nationalsozialismus, 1933-1945 (in German). Verlag Neue Gesellschaft. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

Further reading

  • Ernst Klee: Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich. (The Encyclopedia of People of the Third Reich) Revised edition, Frankfurt am Main, 2003, ISBN 3-10-039309-0, p 299
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