Gerhard Flesch

Gerhard Friedrich Ernst Flesch (8 October 1909 - 28 February 1948) was a German Nazi executed for war crimes i.e. the torture and murder of members of the Norwegian resistance movement.

He was an Oberregierungsrat and held the rank of SS-Obersturmbannführer. He was born in Posen, Province of Posen, German Empire. He became a member of NSDAP in 1933. In 1934, he took his degree in law and in 1936 was appointed by Reinhard Heydrich to the Gestapo where he was appointed to controlling the religious sects of Germany. In 1938, he took part in the German march into the Sudetenland, and in 1939, in the annexation of Bohemia and Moravia, and was later appointed political adviser to Gauleiter Sauckel in Thuringia. After the outbreak of the war in September, 1939, he became leader of an Einsatzkommando in Poznań ( _de. Posen). In 1940, he joined the 3rd SS Division Totenkopf in their march into France.

He had a position as "Regierungsrat" and SS-Sturmbannführer in April of 1940 when he was sent to Norway. His first job in Norway was "Kommandeur der Sipo und des SD" in Bergen. On the 11th October, 1941, he was appointed "Kommandeur der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD", in Trondheim. As Kommandeur of the district, he was also chief of Falstad concentration camp outside Trondheim and the prisons in Trondheim. He was given the rank of "Obersturmbannführer" and received the title of "Oberregierungsrat". His immediate superior was Heinrich Fehlis. On the 8th May, 1945, he fled from Trondheim with a gold bar in his luggage. He was caught and sent back with a police escort on the train and made an unsuccessful attempt to escape.

He was known for being a notorious torturer, and ordered the execution of many members of the Norwegian resistance movement without any trial. After WWII, in 1946, he was tried and sentenced, for many cases of torture and murder, to execution by firing squad. The sentence was carried out at midnight at Kristiansten festning on 28 February 1948. Right before the order was given to fire, Gerhard Flesch shouted loudly "Heil Hitler".

Quotes

"Aber Sie lassen doch keine kranken Juden liegen. Draussen ein Grab graben und alles ist in Ordnung." (But you don't leave sick Jews lying around. Dig a grave outside, and everything is alright.) [http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/WCC/flesch.htm]

External links

* [http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/WCC/flesch.htm Trial of Gerhard Friedrich Ernst Flesch]