Joachim Hamann (18 May 1913 inKiel – 13 July 1945 inHeikendorf) was an officer of theEinsatzkommando 3, a killing unit ofEinsatzgruppe A, responsible for tens of thousands of Jewish deaths inLithuania.[1][2] Hamann organized and commandedRollkommando Hamann, a small mobile killing unit composed of 8–10 Germans and several dozen local Lithuanian collaborators.[2]
Hamann was ofBaltic German parentage.[3] Trained as a chemist, he had difficulties finding a job due to theGreat Depression. He joined theSA in August 1931, theNazi Party in December 1932, and theSS in July 1938.[4] He served in theLuftwaffe during theinvasion of Poland andBattle of France as a paratrooper (Fallschirmjäger).[5] He returned to Berlin where he joined the SS and completed training courses. In March 1941, he was promoted to SS-Obersturmführer (first lieutenant).[4]
After theNazi invasion of the Soviet Union, Hamann organized and commandedRollkommando Hamann which killed at least 39,000 Jews in various locations across Lithuania[2] and 9,102 people, almost all of whom were Jews, from theDaugavpils Ghetto.[6] Hamann's superiorKarl Jäger documented these killings in theJäger Report. Nevertheless,Martin C. Dean estimates the death toll ofRollkommando Hamann as 60,000 Jews in Lithuania alone.[7]
Hamann left Lithuania in October 1941 and continued his SS career.[8] In 1942, Hamann participated inOperation Zeppelin, a scheme to recruit Soviet POWs for espionage behind Russian lines.[9] From 1943 he worked at Amt IV of RSHA (Gestapo). He was involved in apprehending and executing suspected members of the20 July plot to assassinate Hitler.[8] He was appointed aide toErnst Kaltenbrunner, director of theReich Security Main Office.[5] Two months after Germany's surrender Hamann committed suicide.[5]
The case of the Rollkommando Hamann, which murdered some 60,000 Jews mostly in the small towns of Lithuania between July and September 1941,....
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