Fritz Dietrich (Nazi)

Fritz Dietrich
Born
Fritz Maria Josef Dietrich

(1898-08-06)6 August 1898
Lavarone, Italy
Died22 October 1948(1948-10-22) (aged 50)
Landsberg Prison, Landsberg am Lech, Allied-occupied Germany
Cause of deathExecution by hanging
Known forLiepāja massacres
Political partyNazi Party
Criminal statusExecuted
MotiveNazism
Conviction(s)War crimes
TrialDachau trials
Criminal penaltyDeath
SS career
Allegiance Nazi Germany
Service / branch Schutzstaffel
Years of service1936–1945
RankObersturmbannführer
Nazi police warning issued by Fritz Dietrich to the Jews of Liepāja to remain in their houses on December 15 and 16, 1941 (this was preparatory to their murder on those dates.)
Dietrich's warning (in Latvian)

Fritz Maria Josef Dietrich (6 August 1898 – 22 October 1948) was an Austrian SS officer and member of the Nazi Party. He held a doctoral degree in chemistry and physics.[1][2] His name is also seen as Emil Dietrich.[3] After the war, Dietrich was tried as a war criminal by the Dachau Military Tribunal for ordering the killings of 7 American prisoners of war. He was found guilty of these murders and executed.

It is now known that Dietrich was responsible for organizing the Liepāja massacres, in which over 5,000 Jewish men, women, and children were massacred by the Germans and Latvian collaborators. Lesser numbers of Roma, Communists, and mentally ill people were also killed.

  1. ^ Klee, Ernst; Dressen, Willi; Riess, Volker, eds. (1991). "The Good Old Days" -- The Holocaust as Seen by its Perpetrators and Bystanders. Translation by Deborah Burnstone. New York City: MacMillan. p. 290. ISBN 0-02-917425-2.
  2. ^ Klee, Ernst (2011). Das Personen Lexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945? (in German). Koblenz: Edition Kramer. p. 110. ISBN 978-398114834-3.
  3. ^ Ezergailis 1996, p. 288.