Herbert Backe | |
|---|---|
 Backe in U.S. custody, c. 1946–47 | |
| Minister Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture | |
| In office 6 April 1944 – 23 May 1945 (Acting from 23 May 1942) | |
| Chancellor | Adolf Hitler |
| Preceded by | Richard Walther Darré |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| State Secretary Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture | |
| In office 27 October 1933 – 6 April 1944 | |
| Chancellor | Adolf Hitler |
| Preceded by | Hans Joachim von Rohr |
| Succeeded by | Hans-Joachim Riecke |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Herbert Friedrich Wilhelm Backe 1 May 1896 Batumi, Kutais Governorate, Russian Empire |
| Died | 6 April 1947 (aged 50) Nuremberg Prison, Bavaria, Allied-occupied Germany |
| Cause of death | Suicide by hanging |
| Nationality | German |
| Political party | Nazi Party |
| Alma mater | University of Göttingen |
| Profession | Agronomist |
Herbert Friedrich Wilhelm Backe (1 May 1896 – 6 April 1947) was a German politician and SS Senior group leader (SS-Obergruppenführer) in Nazi Germany who served as State Secretary and Minister in the Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture. He was a doctrinaire racial ideologue, a long-time associate of Richard Walther Darré and a personal friend of Reinhard Heydrich.[1] He developed and implemented the Operation Hunger that envisioned death by starvation of millions of Slavic and Jewish "useless eaters" following Operation Barbarossa, the 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union.
Operation Hunger was developed during the planning phase of Operation Barbarossa and provided for diverting and redirecting of Ukrainian food stuffs away from central and northern Russia for the benefit of the invading army and the population in Germany. As a result, millions of local civilians died in the German-occupied territories. He was arrested in 1945 at the end of World War II and was due to be tried for war crimes at Nuremberg in the Ministries Trial but he committed suicide in his prison cell in 1947.
- ^ Tooze 2008, p. 478.