Lothar Beutel

Lothar Beutel (6 May 1902 in Leipzig – 16 May 1986 in Berlin-Steglitz) was a German pharmacist and Schutzstaffel officer who worked on behalf of the Sicherheitsdienst.

During the Nazi invasion of Poland SS-Brigadeführer Beutel commanded Einsatzgruppe IV. In this position Beutel organised the initial capture of Warsaw's Jewish population and set in motion their ghettoization.[1] Beutel was also active in Bydgoszcz where he personally ordered around 120-150 Poles to be taken to nearby woods and shot on 11 and 12 September 1939.[2] This figure is given as 900 by another source.[3]

Police commander Arthur Nebe ordered that Beutel, who quickly became noted for his corruption, be investigated for the molestation of a Polish girl.[4] By mid-October 1939 Beutel had been replaced as Einsatzgruppe IV chief by Josef Albert Meisinger.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Dan Michman, The Emergence of Jewish Ghettos During the Holocaust, Cambridge University Press, 2011, pp. 75-76
  2. ↑ Jochen Böhler, Klaus-Michael Mallmann, Jürgen Matthäus: Einsatzgruppen w Polsce ("Einsatzgruppen in Poland"), Bellona, Warszawa 2009, pg 80 and 141
  3. ↑ Michael Mueller, Geoffrey Brooks, Canaris: the life and death of Hitler's spymaster, Naval Institute Press, 2007, p. 163
  4. ↑ Mario R. Dederichs, Heydrich: The Face of Evil, Casemate Publishers, 2009, p. 104
  5. ↑ Barbara Engelking-Boni, Jacek Leociak, The Warsaw ghetto: a guide to the perished city, Yale University Press, 2009, p. 31