Wilhelm Kube | |
|---|---|
 Generalkommissar Wilhelm Kube | |
| Gauleiter of Gau Ostmark | |
| In office 1 February 1928 – 1 June 1933 | |
| Gauleiter of Gau Kurmark | |
| In office 1 June 1933 – 7 August 1936 | |
| Succeeded by | Emil Stürtz |
| Oberpräsident of Brandenburg | |
| In office 29 May 1933 – 7 August 1936 | |
| Preceded by | Adolf Meier |
| Succeeded by | Emil Stürtz |
| Oberpräsident of Posen-West Prussia | |
| In office 18 July 1933 – 7 August 1936 | |
| Preceded by | Hans von Meibom |
| Succeeded by | Emil Stürtz |
| Generalkommissar for Generalbezirk Weißruthenien | |
| In office 17 July 1941 – 22 September 1943 | |
| Preceded by | Position created |
| Succeeded by | Curt von Gottberg |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 13 November 1887 Glogau, Silesia, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire |
| Died | 22 September 1943 (aged 55) Minsk, RK Ostland |
| Manner of death | Assassination |
| Political party | Nazi Party |
| Education | History, economics and theology |
| Alma mater | University of Berlin |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Nazi Germany |
| Rank | Generalkommissar |
Wilhelm Kube (13 November 1887 – 22 September 1943) was a Nazi official and German politician. He was an important figure in the German Christian movement during the early years of Nazi rule. During the war he became a senior official in the occupation government of the Soviet Union, achieving the rank of Generalkommissar for Generalbezirk Weißruthenien. He was assassinated by a Soviet partisan in Minsk in 1943 after his participation in the Holocaust, triggering brutal reprisals against the city's citizens.
An extreme antisemite and participant in numerous war crimes against Jewish people, he is known to have said about Jews: "What plague and syphilis are to humanity, are Jews to the white race."[1] However, Kube behaved towards German Jews in a relatively mild way during his rule in Minsk, by trying—generally unsuccessfully—to protect them, whom he felt as culturally closer to Germans, from extermination.[2] As for Minsk, he planned to level the city and replace it with a German settlement, called Asgard.[3]
- ^ ""What plague and syphilis are to humanity, are Jews to the white race." in Finnish "Sitä mitä rutto ja syfilis ovat ihmiskunnalle, ovat juutalaiset valkoiselle rodulle."". www.nazi-lauck-nsdapao.com. Archived from the original on 2019-06-07. Retrieved 2016-05-08.
- ^ Gerald Fleming, Hitler and the Final Solution (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1994), pp. 116–119.
- ^ Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin By Timothy Snyder page 251