Reich Security Main Office Referat IV B4, known asRSHA IV B4 (German:Eichmannreferat IV D4 until March 1941, orJudenreferat), was a sub-department of Germany'sReich Security Main Office[a] (Reichssicherheitshauptamt or RSHA) and theGestapo duringthe Holocaust.[1] Led bySS-ObersturmbannführerAdolf Eichmann, RSHA IV B4 was responsible for "Jewish affairs and evacuation"[2] inGerman-occupied Europe, and specifically for the deportation of Jews from outside Poland to concentration or extermination camps. Within Poland, the liquidation of theghettos and transport of Jews was handled by the SS and local police departments.[1]
The sub-department was a natural successor to theCentral Office for Jewish Emigration which had initially been established by Eichmann inVienna in August 1938. On 24 January 1939, theReich Central Office for Jewish Emigration (Reichszentrale für jüdische Auswanderung) was established in Berlin byHermann Göring withReinhard Heydrich as chief.[3] It was charged with the task of using all available means to prompt Jews to emigrate, and for establishing a Jewish organization that would incorporate all of German Jewry and co-ordinate emigration from the Jewish side. An office was subsequently opened inPrague.
Following a reorganization of the RSHA, in March 1941 Eichmann's office name and remit was changed fromGroup of countries IV D (Ländergruppe IV D) toGroup of churches IV B (Kirchengruppe IV B), and was finally calledReferat IV B 4.[4][2] RSHA IV B4 managed the categorization of Jews, the imposition of anti-Jewish legislation in the country concerned, the eventual removal of Jews from that country, and their deportation to a camp and usually the gas chamber.[1] Unit IV B4 was also in charge of theReich Association of Jews in Germany, which oversaw all Jewish organizations.[5]
Jews were carried to the camps in freight trains that had to be booked and paid for. TheDeutsche Reichsbahn (German state railway) charged a one-way fare for the deportees and a return fare for the guards. The RSHA was billed for trains carrying Jews.[6]
Due to its large size compared to otherRSHA departments (which were housed inPrinz-Albrecht-Strasse), Unit IV B4 was based in Kurfürstenstraße 115/116, Berlin. The building was the former club and residential building of the Jewish Brotherhood and was managed by Eichmann's adjutant Rudolf Jaenisch.
The departmental hierarchy, according toRaul Hilberg:
RSHA IV B4 also had a large number of regional specialists who were deployed to various countries to assist with deportations - Anton Brunner,Dieter Wisliceny,Franz Abromeit,Siegfried Seidl, Hermann Krumey,Alois Brunner,Anton Burger,Theo Dannecker, andHans Günther (who was the brother ofRolf Günther) being the principal figures.[8]