Herbert Lange

For the historian of the American West, see Herbert H. Lang.
Herbert Lange

Herbert Lange in civilian clothing, before WWII
Born September 29, 1909
Menzlin, Pomerania
Died 20 April 1945 (aged 35)
Berlin
Allegiance Nazi Germany Nazi Germany
Service/branch Schutzstaffel
Years of service until 1945
Rank Sturmbannführer
Unit SS-Totenkopfverbände

Herbert Lange (September 29, 1909 - April 20, 1945) was a SS-Sturmbannführer (major) and the commandant of Chełmno extermination camp until April 1942; leader of the SS Special Detachment Lange conducting the extermination of Jews from the Łódź Ghetto. He was responsible for numerous crimes against humanity including the murder of mental patients in Poland and in Germany during the Action T4 of mid-1940.

Background

Born in Menzlin village near Anklam, Western Pomerania, Lange studied law, but failed to obtain a degree and he subsequently joined the NSDAP (Nazi Party) on May 1, 1932. He enlisted in the Sturmabteilung (SA) three months later, and the following year, he joined the SS. He subsequently joined the police force, becoming a deputy commissioner in 1935.

Crimes against humanity

On November 9, 1939, Lange was promoted to the rank of SS-Untersturmführer (2nd lieutenant) and posted in Poland in charge of Posen Gestapo.[1] In the beginning of 1940 he assumed command of a Sonderkommando (Kommando Lange) tasked with extermination of mentally ill in Wartheland area.[2] The unit, equipped with gas vans, shuttled between hospitals, picking up patients and killing them with carbon monoxide.[3]

After his promotion to SS-Obersturmführer (1st lieutenant) on April 20, 1940, his unit was permanently stationed at the Soldau concentration camp. In one particular case, Wilhelm Rediess hired Kommando Lange to kill 1558 mental patients in East Prussia for ten Reichsmark a head.[4] By December 1941 Lange was a SS-Hauptsturmführer (captain) and appointed the commander of the Chełmno extermination camp by then SS-Standartenführer Ernst Damzog, chief of the Sicherheitspolizei and Sicherheitsdienst (SD) in Posen.[5]

In 1942, Lange's services were needed at the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Reich Main Security Office) and he was transferred. He served under Arthur Nebe as a Kriminalrat (Criminal Investigator) and in 1944, he aided in catching the conspirators of the attempt on Hitler's life (the July 20 Plot), leading to his promotion to SS-Sturmbannführer.

Lange was killed in action during the Battle of Berlin.

References

  1. ↑ Friedlander, p. 138.
  2. ↑ Friedlander, pp. 138-139.
  3. ↑ Friedlander, p. 139.
  4. ↑ Friedlander, pp. 139-140. Rediess denied payment and left for Norway; legalese correspondence between Lange's superiors and Rediess continued for a whole year.
  5. ↑ Catherine Epstein (2010). "Ernst Damzog (Sipo and SD, Posen)". Model Nazi: Arthur Greiser and the Occupation of Western Poland. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0191613843. Retrieved 2014-09-20.

Sources