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Joachim Hamann (18 May 1913 in Kiel – 13 July 1945) was an officer of the Einsatzkommando 3, a killing unit of Einsatzgruppe A, responsible for tens of thousands of Jewish deaths in Lithuania.[1][2] Hamann organized and commanded Rollkommando Hamann, a small mobile killing unit composed of 8–10 Germans and several dozen local Lithuanian collaborators.[2]

Hamann was of Baltic German parentage.[3] Trained as a chemist, he had difficulties finding a job due to the Great Depression. He joined the SA in August 1931, the Nazi Party in December 1932, and the SS in July 1938.[4] He served in the Luftwaffe during the invasion of Poland and Battle of France as a paratrooper (Fallschirmjäger).[5] He returned to Berlin where he joined the SS and completed training courses. In March 1941, he was promoted to SS-Obersturmführer (first lieutenant).[4] After the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, Hamann organized and commanded Rollkommando Hamann which killed at least 39,000 Jews in various locations across Lithuania[2] and 9,102 people, almost all of whom were Jews, from the Daugavpils Ghetto.[6] Hamann's superior, Karl Jäger, documented these killings in the Jäger Report. Nevertheless, Martin C. Dean estimates the death toll of Rollkommando Hamann as an estimated 60,000 Jews in Lithuania alone.[7]

Hamann left Lithuania in October 1941 and continued his SS career.[8] In 1942, Hamann participated in Operation Zeppelin, a scheme to recruit Soviet POWs for espionage behind Russian lines.[9] From 1943 he worked at Amt IV of RSHA (Gestapo). He was involved in apprehending and executing suspected members of the 20 July plot to assassinate Hitler.[8] He was appointed aide to Ernst Kaltenbrunner, director of the Reich Security Main Office.[5] After the war, Hamann committed suicide.[5]

References[]

  1. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Bubnys, Arūnas (2004). "The Holocaust in Lithuania: An Outline the Major Stages and their Results". The Vanished World of Lithuanian Jews. Rodopi. p. 210. ISBN 9789042008502. https://books.google.com/books?id=mdXRKbcyi5oC&pg=PA210. 
  2. Voren, Robert van (2011). Undigested Past: The Holocaust in Lithuania. Rodopi. p. 76. ISBN 9789401200707. https://books.google.com/books?id=6RGlHunGIXMC&pg=PA76. 
  3. 4.0 4.1 Stang, Knut (1996). Kollaboration und Massenmord: die litauische Hilfspolizei, das Rollkommando Hamann und die Ermordung der litauischen Juden. Lang. pp. 153–154. ISBN 9783631308950. 
  4. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Sowjetunion mit annektierten Gebieten I: Besetzte sowjetische Gebiete unter deutscher Militärverwaltung, Baltikum und Transnistrien. Oldenbourg Verlag. 2011. p. 531. ISBN 9783486589115. https://books.google.com/books?id=97-iPND1jdwC&pg=PA531. 
  5. Ezergailis, Andrew (1996). The Holocaust in Latvia 1941-1944: The Missing Center. Riga: Historical Institute of Latvia. pp. 276–279. ISBN 9984-9054-3-8. 
  6. Dean, Martin C. (2004). "Local Collaboration in the Holocaust in Eastern Europe". In Stone, Dan. The Historiography of the Holocaust. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 127. ISBN 978-1-4039-9927-6. "The case of the Rollkommando Hamann, which murdered some 60,000 Jews mostly in the small towns of Lithuania between July and September 1941,..." .
  7. 8.0 8.1 Melamed, Joseph A.. "The Mechanized Commando Unit of Haman". Association of Lithuanian Jews in Israel. http://www.lithuanianjews.org.il/HTMLs/article_list4.aspx?C2014=14441&BSP=14430&BSS6=13971. 
  8. Muñoz, Antonio J. (2000). The Druzhina SS Brigade: A History, 1941-1943. Axis Europa Books. p. 16. ISBN 9781891227370. 
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