Paul Blobel | |
|---|---|
 Blobel in 1947 | |
| Born | 13 August 1894 Potsdam, German Empire |
| Died | 7 June 1951 (aged 56) Landsberg Prison, West Germany |
| Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
| Known for | |
| Criminal status | Executed |
| Motive | Nazism |
| Conviction(s) | Crimes against humanity War crimes Membership in a criminal organization |
| Trial | Einsatzgruppen Trial |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Details | |
| Victims | 60,000+ |
Span of crimes | June 1941 – 1944 |
| Country | Poland, Ukraine, and Yugoslavia |
| SS career | |
| Allegiance |  Nazi Germany |
| Service |  Schutzstaffel |
| Rank | SS-Standartenführer |
| Unit | Einsatzgruppe C |
| Commands | Sonderkommando 4a Sonderaktion 1005 |
Paul Blobel (13 August 1894 – 7 June 1951) was a German Sicherheitsdienst (SD) commander and convicted war criminal who played a leading role in the Holocaust. He organised the Babi Yar massacre, the largest massacre of the Second World War at Babi Yar ravine in September 1941, pioneered the use of the gas van, and, following re-assignment, developed the gas chambers for the extermination camps. From late 1942 onwards, he led Sonderaktion 1005, wherein millions of bodies were exhumed at sites across Eastern Europe in an effort to erase all evidence of the Holocaust and specifically of Operation Reinhard. After the war, Blobel was tried at the Einsatzgruppen trial and sentenced to death. He was executed in 1951.