Oswald Pohl: Difference between revisions
imported>Howard C. Berkowitz No edit summary |
imported>Howard C. Berkowitz No edit summary |
||
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{subpages}} | {{subpages}} | ||
'''Oswald Pohl''' (1892-1951) rose to high Nazi rank principally through financial and administrative management skill, eventually heading the [[Schutzstaffel]]'s (SS) economic administration, | '''Oswald Pohl''' (1892-1951) rose to high Nazi rank principally through financial and administrative management skill, eventually heading the [[Schutzstaffel]]'s (SS) economic administration, its Economic and Administrative Main Office ([[WVHA]]), whose responsibilities included the actual operation of the [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camp]] system. A protege of [[Heinrich Himmler]], he was identified with the part of [[The Holocaust]] that wanted maximum economic exploitation of the Jews, as opposed to the security side that wanted them destroyed as soon as possible. Tried in the [[Pohl Case (NMT)|Pohl Case]] of the [[Nuremberg Military Tribunals]], he was executed by hanging. | ||
Pohl converted to Catholicism before his execution, and published his confession. <ref>{{citation | Pohl converted to Catholicism before his execution, and published his confession. <ref>{{citation | ||
Line 7: | Line 7: | ||
| journal = Journal of Men, Masculinities and Spirituality | | journal = Journal of Men, Masculinities and Spirituality | ||
| url = http://www.jmmsweb.org/issues/volume2/number2/pp62-81 | date = June 2008 | | url = http://www.jmmsweb.org/issues/volume2/number2/pp62-81 | date = June 2008 | ||
| volume = 2 | issue = 2}}</ref> | | volume = 2 | issue = 2}}</ref> His confessor, the prison chaplain, Karl Morgenschweis, helped him write it, commenting "“As priest and pastoral counselor, I have the holy duty to portray Pohl in just the way as I have seen him as his spiritual father and soul-guide in the several years of direct intercourse [Verkehr] with him." Morgenschweis does not excuse his offenses, but gives some insight into the man. | ||
What motivated him? Some have seen him largely as a technocrat. Allen, however, sees him as driven by a "plexus of ideologies", following [[Heinrich Himmler]]'s dual goal of producing the [[SS-State]] and making it efficient. <ref>{{citation | What motivated him? Some have seen him largely as a technocrat. Allen, however, sees him as driven by a "plexus of ideologies", following [[Heinrich Himmler]]'s dual goal of producing the [[SS-State]] and making it efficient. <ref>{{citation |
Revision as of 21:55, 24 November 2010
Oswald Pohl (1892-1951) rose to high Nazi rank principally through financial and administrative management skill, eventually heading the Schutzstaffel's (SS) economic administration, its Economic and Administrative Main Office (WVHA), whose responsibilities included the actual operation of the concentration camp system. A protege of Heinrich Himmler, he was identified with the part of The Holocaust that wanted maximum economic exploitation of the Jews, as opposed to the security side that wanted them destroyed as soon as possible. Tried in the Pohl Case of the Nuremberg Military Tribunals, he was executed by hanging.
Pohl converted to Catholicism before his execution, and published his confession. [1] His confessor, the prison chaplain, Karl Morgenschweis, helped him write it, commenting "“As priest and pastoral counselor, I have the holy duty to portray Pohl in just the way as I have seen him as his spiritual father and soul-guide in the several years of direct intercourse [Verkehr] with him." Morgenschweis does not excuse his offenses, but gives some insight into the man.
What motivated him? Some have seen him largely as a technocrat. Allen, however, sees him as driven by a "plexus of ideologies", following Heinrich Himmler's dual goal of producing the SS-State and making it efficient. [2]
References
- ↑ Bjorn Krondorfer (June 2008), "A Perpetrator’s Confession: Gender and Religion in Oswald Pohl’s Conversion Narrative", Journal of Men, Masculinities and Spirituality 2 (2)
- ↑ L. M. Stallbaumer-Beishline (July 2003), The Ideology of SS Bureaucrats: book review of Michael Thad Allen. The Business of Genocide: The SS, Slave Labor, and the Concentration Camps., H-Net