Carl Albrecht Oberg | |
|---|---|
 Oberg in 1945 | |
| Born | 27 January 1897 (1897-01-27) |
| Died | 3 June 1965(1965-06-03) (aged 68) |
| Criminal status | Deceased |
| Convictions | British Military War crimes French Military Crimes against humanity |
| Criminal penalty | British Military Death; commuted tolife imprisonment French Military Death; commuted tolife imprisonment; further commuted to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour |
| SS service | |
| Nickname | The Butcher of Paris |
| Allegiance | Nazi Germany |
| Branch | Schutzstaffel |
| Years of service | 1933–1945 |
| Rank | SS-Obergruppenführer |
| Commands |
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Carl Albrecht Oberg (27 January 1897 – 3 June 1965) was a GermanSS functionary during theNazi era. He served asSenior SS and Police Leader (HSSPF) in occupied France, from May 1942 to November 1944, during theSecond World War, Oberg came to be known as theButcher of Paris. From May 1942, under orders fromReinhard Heydrich, Oberg ordered the execution of hundreds of hostages and the roundup and deportation of over 40,000 Jews from France to extermination camps, most infamously during theVel' d'Hiv Roundup with the assistance of the Vichy French police.
Arrested by American military police inTyrol in July 1945, Oberg was sentenced to death by two different courts: British and French before being handed over to the French. In 1958 his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and later reduced to 20 years athard labour. Oberg was eventually released on 28 November 1962 and pardoned by PresidentCharles de Gaulle. He died inWest Germany on 3 June 1965.
Carl Albrecht Oberg was born inHamburg on 27 January 1897, the son of a physician and professor of medicine Prof. Dr. Carl Joseph Gustav Alexander Oberg. In August 1914, he volunteered for the army with the Holsteinisches Feld-Artillerie-Regiment Nr. 24. His enlistment was postponed, he then achieved his warAbitur in August 1915 and was subsequently assigned to the artillery, serving as battery officer with Lauenburgisches Feld-Artillerie-Regiment Nr. 45. On 21 September 1916,[1] he was commissioned as aLeutnant fighting on theWestern Front and was awarded theIron Cross in both classes. He worked in manufacturing as a branch manager after the war until he was laid off in 1930.[2]
Oberg joined theNazi Party on 1 April 1931 and theSchutzstaffel (SS) on 7 April 1932. After meetingReinhard Heydrich in May 1933, he asked Heydrich for a job and joined theSicherheitsdienst (SD). Oberg was later promoted to an SS-Oberführer and made the police administrator forHanover. He served in that capacity from September 1938 until January 1939, then serving as police president ofZwickau until late 1941. He wasSS-und Polizeiführer (SS and Police Leader – SSPF), "Radom" from August 1941 to May 1942. Oberg received a promotion to SS-Brigadeführer on 20 April 1942.[2]
From 5 May 1942 to 28 November 1944,[3] Oberg served asHigher SS and Police Leader (Höherer SS-und Polizeiführer, HSSPF) "Frankreich" (France) over all German police forces in France, including the SD and theGestapo. He was the supreme authority in France for managing anti-Jewish policy and the battle against theFrench Resistance. In 1942, shortly after his arrival, he issued theJewish badge decree for identification,[2] supported the roundup of 13,152 Jews in the ParisVélodrome d'Hiver (Vel' d'Hiv Roundup), and ordered mass execution of hostages in retribution for acts of the French resistance.[4] He earned condemnation as the "Butcher of Paris".[5] On Heydrich's orders, Oberg deported over 40,000 Jews from the country with the assistance of theVichy France police force headed byRené Bousquet.[6][7][8]
On 18 January 1943, Himmler demanded a "cleansing" ofMarseille with 100,000 arrests and explosive demolition of the city's crime district. Working with the French police, Oberg supervised a lesser response of 6,000 arrests, 20,000 people displaced, and partial destruction of the harbour area.[9] In 1944, Oberg blocked an attempt to establish anEinsatzkommando of the Waffen-SS in France.[10] On 10 March 1945, he became aGeneral der Waffen-SS.[3]
Oberg was captured in June 1945 in the mountains nearKitzbuhel by the U.S. military. He had been disguised as a private in the Austrian Army. He was sentenced to death by a British court before receiving another death sentence from the French in October 1954. On 10 April 1958, the sentence was commuted to life by French PresidentVincent Auriol, whose successorRené Coty then reduced it further to 20 years hard labor in 1959.[11] On 20 November 1962, Oberg was pardoned by PresidentCharles de Gaulle and set free on 28 November 1962.[2][a]Oberg then was repatriated toFlensburg, in the north of theGerman state ofSchleswig-Holstein, at the time, according toDie Zeit, a stronghold of former Nazis and SS cadres.[13]
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