Jürgen Stroop

Jürgen Stroop, (born Josef Stroop, 26 September 1895 in Detmold, Germany — died 6 March 1952 in Warsaw, Poland), was a high-ranking Nazi Party and SS official during World War II. He was best known for his role in liquidating the Warsaw Ghetto and for his book-length account of the operation: a document originally titled The Warsaw Ghetto Is No More. Following Germany's defeat, Stroop was sentenced to death for war crimes by a US military tribunal during the Dachau Trials in 1947. He was later extradited to Poland where he was also tried and convicted of crimes against humanity. He was hanged by Polish authorities in 1952.

Jürgen Stroop was born to Roman Catholic parents in Detmold, in the Principality of Lippe, in the German Empire. His father, Konrad Stroop, was Lippe's chief of police. His mother, Katherine Stroop, was a full-time homemaker. In conversation with Kazimierz Moczarski, Stroop recalled his devoutly religious mother as, "a near fanatic," who subjected him to childhood physical abuse. Both of his parents were enthusiastic monarchists. During parades in Detmold Konrad Stroop often pointed out Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe and said, "Remember this always. This is our Prince. Obey him and serve him as I have."

Stroop's sense of German patriotism was fostered by growing up in the shadow of the Hermannsdenkmal. After receiving an elementary education, he became an apprentice with the land register in Detmold, where he worked until the outbreak of World War I. He joined the Imperial German Army in 1914 as a volunteer, served in several infantry regiments at the Western Front. Stroop was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class and was wounded in action. Decades later, Stroop disgustedly recalled, "Judging from what I saw, French women are mostly whores."

Stroop subsequently served on the Eastern Front and in Romania. While stationed in Russian Poland, Stroop became engaged to a Polish woman named Lona. He later recalled, "My Lona was so good, so feminine, so wise. I wanted to marry her. Maybe even settle in Poland." Despite the opposition of Stroop's family and friends in Detmold, he remained engaged to Lona until 1922.

At the end of the war, Stroop's regiment was addressed by Field Marshal August von Mackensen. Stroop later recalled, "He spelled out our military and political goals and warned that we must work to preserve order in the homeland until our national strength was fully restored. We bade him goodbye like sons. Then we board the train in an orderly way with our weapons. We didn't disperse like some of the other units, we went back to Germany like soldiers. My war, Herr Moczarski ended on December 21, 1918, not November 11th. I barely made it home in time for Christmas."

Due to his lack of an education Stroop held only the rank of a vice-Feldwebel (Sergeant). After being demobilized, Stroop returned to work at the land register, while remaining active in a veterans' organization.

Conversion

During the 1920s, Stroop embraced Germanic neo-paganism under the influence of General Erich Ludendorff and his wife Mathilde. He later recalled that Mathilde Ludendorff, "revealed the truth about the Catholic Church in Germany and returned us to the true Germanic gods. By recalling the pure, pre-Germanic ways, she pointed out the rottenness of the Judeo-Christian ethic and showed how the organized Church had been strangling the Reich for twelve hundred years." Stroop further recalled, "It was thanks to what I was lucky enough to learn from her books that I was able to rid myself of religious prejudice and mark Gottgläubig in the column concerning belief."

In another conversation with Moczarski, Stroop called Catholicism, "a catch-all of religions, infected with Judaism." He further claimed that Christianity was created as a Jewish conspiracy for, "the weakening and debasement of man through guilt."

SS career

Stroop joined the NSDAP and SS in 1932. In 1933, he was appointed leader of the state auxiliary police. One year later, he was promoted from the rank of SS-Oberscharführer to the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer. Subsequently he worked for the SS administration in Münster and Hamburg.

Bishop Clemens von Galen

In 1934, Bishop Clemens von Galen of Münster began to attack the racial ideologies of the new regime, partly poking fun at it, partly critiquing its ideological basis as published by Alfred Rosenberg. He declared it as unacceptable to refuse the Old Testament because of its Jewish authorship, and to limit morality and virtue to the perceived usefulness of a particular race.

In retaliation, the Bishop was visited by Stroop and a male relative who had joined the SS. Both were instructed to pressure the Bishop into openly expressing approval of Rosenberg's doctrines. If he refused to do so, they were ordered to threaten him with the confiscation of Church property and an Anti-Catholic propaganda campaign.

Stroop later recalled, "Bishop von Galen was a great gentleman, a true aristocrat, a Renaissance prince of the Church. He welcomed us politely but with reserve."

The visit began well, with Bishop von Galen commending Stroop's mother for her devout Catholicism. Then, however, the Bishop turned the table on his two visitors. He categorically refused to accept or praise Rosenberg's doctrines of euthanising or forcibly stetilizing the disabled. To Stroop's further shock, the Bishop then denounced the Nazis for trying to introduce Germanic neo-paganism into his diocese. He scoffed at marriage ceremonies and funerals conducted before altars dedicated to Wotan. Stroop, who had attended such a ceremony only days before, was stunned that the Bishop had learned of it so quickly. At the end of the meeting, the Bishop stated that the Church would remain loyal to the State in all lawful matters. He expressed his deep love for Germany and reminded them that he had been the first Bishop to publically acknowledge the new regime.

Stroop later lamented the fact that Bishop von Galen's German patriotism, "was tainted by Papist ideals, which have been harmful to Germany for centuries. Besides, the Archbishop's orders came from outside the Fatherland, a fact which disturbed us. We all know that despite its diverse factions, the Catholic Church is a world community, which sticks together when the chips are down."

Occupied Europe

In the autumn of 1938, he was promoted again, this time to the rank of SS-Standartenführer (colonel) and served in the Sudetenland. After the invasion of Poland, he served as commander of the SS-section in Gnesen (Gniezno). During the occupation of Poland, Stroop was transferred to Poznan as head of Selbstschutz, the notorious "self-defense" formation of the local ethnic Germans.

In May 1941, Stroop changed his name from Josef to Jürgen for ideological reasons and in honor of his deceased son. From 7 July to 15 September 1941, Stroop served in combat on the eastern front with the infantry regiment of the 3rd SS Division Totenkopf. He was awarded a Clasp to the Iron Cross 2nd Class and an Infantry Assault Badge in Bronze. On 16 September 1942, he was promoted to SS-Brigadeführer and assigned as an Inspector of the SiPo and SD of the Higher SS and Police Leader for Russia South. In this position Stroop worked to help secure a key logistical route for German forces on the Eastern Front. Beginning in October 1942, Stroop commanded an SS garrison at Kherson, before becoming the SS and Police Leader (SSPF) for Lemberg (Lviv) in February 1943.

Destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto

Stroop's most historically prominent role was the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, an action which cost the lives of over 50,000 people. He was sent to Warsaw on 17 April 1943 by Heinrich Himmler, as a replacement for SS-Oberführer Ferdinand von Sammern-Frankenegg, who was relieved of duty. Stroop took over from Sammern-Frankenegg following the latter's failure to suppress the uprising at the onset:

I had two battalions of Waffen-SS, one hundred army men, units of Order Police, and seventy-five to a hundred Security Police people. The Security Police had been active in the Warsaw ghetto for some time, and during this program it was their function to accompany SS units in groups of six or eight, as guides and experts in ghetto matters.

Stroop had recently been involved in operations against Soviet partisans in Ukraine and was familiar with the latest German counter-insurgency tactics. He ordered the entire ghetto to be systematically burned down and blown up building by building. All of the survivors, including men, women, and children were either killed on the spot or deported to extermination camps.

In conversation with Moczarski, Stroop described the destruction of the Ghetto in great detail. He expressed pride mixed with confusion that the Ghetto's Jewish combatants, whom he had been taught to view as untermenschen, had fought so effectively against his men.

He later recalled, "The Jews surprised me and my officers, and even Dr. Hahn, with their determination in battle. And believe me, as veterans of World War I and SS members, we knew what determination in battle was all about. The tenacity of your Warsaw Jews took us completely by surprise. That's the real reason the Grossaktion lasted as long as it did."

After the uprising was suppressed, Stroop ordered the destruction of Warsaw's Great Synagogue:

"What a marvelous sight it was. A fantastic piece of theater. My staff and I stood at a distance. I held the electrical device which would detonate all the charges simultaneously. Jesuiter called for silence. I glanced over at my brave officers and men, tired and dirty, silhouetted against the glow of the burning buildings. After prolonging the suspense for a moment, I shouted: Heil Hitler and pressed the button. With a thunderous, deafening bang and a rainbow burst of colors, the fiery explosion soared toward the clouds, an unforgettable tribute to our triumph over the Jews. The Warsaw Ghetto was no more. The will of Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler had been done."

— Jürgen Stroop, Conversations with an Executioner

Stroop then prepared a detailed 75-page report, bound in black leather and including copies of all communiqués sent to SS Police Leader East Friedrich-Wilhelm Kruger and photographs. Originally titled "The Jewish Quarter of Warsaw is no more!", it is commonly referred to as "The Stroop Report" and would later be used as evidence at the Nuremberg Trials. Stroop then formally assumed the position of SS and Police Leader of Warsaw. Kruger presented an Iron Cross 1st Class to him on 18 June 1943 for the Warsaw Ghetto "action" at a gala reception in Warsaw’s Lazienki Park.

Stroop was subsequently named the Higher SS and Police Leader (HSSPF) in Greece on 8 September 1943. The local civilian administration found his methods and behaviour unacceptable and withdrew cooperation, forbidding the local Order Police from having anything to do with him, which made his position untenable. Consequently, he was removed and on 9 November was appointed Commander of SS-Oberabschnitt Rhein-Westmark (an SS administrative district named for the Rhine and Gau Westmark) in Wiesbaden, serving there until the close of the war.

July 20th plot

According to Moczarski, there was never any subject that enraged Stroop more than the July 20th Plot against the life of Adolf Hitler. Whenever the subject came up, Stroop would curse those involved, "in unprintable terms," as a "murderous band of generals and Jew-ridden civilians." He exclaimed, "How could they consider harming their Fuehrer? Adolf Hitler was placed on earth by a higher power, perhaps Wotan himself, to fulfill a sacred mission. The July conspiracy was an example of the moral decay that proved to be our undoing. It would have been impossible to defeat Germany without German participation, Herr Moczarski. If it hadn't been for negligence disguised as tolerance, we could have held off the whole world. Instead, we allowed degenerate forces to pollute our healthy masses. A few weaklings poisoned by enemy agents and infected with subversive ideologies were all it took to undermine us. The minute we suffered military defeats, the cancerous elements in our society swung into action, organizing Mafias and creating 'patriotic discussion groups.' In the end, they destroyed our nation."

Stroop proudly related his involvement in the purge of Anti-Nazi Germans which followed the Plot's failure. He expressed annoyance that Field Marshal Erwin Rommel had been allowed to commit suicide rather than being hanged from a meat hook. He also praised Roland Freisler as, "a fine judge."

Stroop also boasted of his involvement in investigating Field Marshal Gunther von Kluge for involvement in the Plot. He claimed to have offered the Field Marshal the opportunity to commit suicide, but that Kluge refused. He then claimed to have personally shot him and that Himmler had ordered him to announce that Field Marshal von Kluge had committed suicide.

Years later, when Stroop was asked for the reasons for the Third Reich's collapse, he said, "We lost the war for one reason only! The plotting of internationalist factions. The Communists, Socialists, Jews, Reactionaries, Anglo-Saxons, Freemasons, and Catholic elements tore our nation apart. What's more, the Reich could never have been defeated without the help of traitors like Canaris, Goerdeler, Stauffenberg, Thalmann, Schumacher, Niemöller, Kluge, Paulus, Pieck, and scum like that Norwegian Willy Brandt. History proves that we were too liberal, Herr Moczarski. We should have muzzled those scoundrels more tightly."

Postwar

In early May 1945, Stroop was captured by American forces in the town of Rottau in Bavaria. He later told Moczarski that he had been given a cyanide tablet which he had been planning to take if captured. When Moczarski asked him why he didn't take it, Stroop responded, "It's really quite simple. I was afraid."

When he was taken prisoner, Stroop was wearing the uniform of an infantry officer, he bore false discharge papers made out to a Wehrmacht Captain of Reserve Josef Straup. He kept to this story for nearly two months, before admitting to his actual identity on 2 July.

Trial and extradition

Stroop was then put on trial by the U.S. Military Tribunal at Dachau for ordering the summary executions of American pilots (Fliegermorde), who had been shot down over his field of command. In conversation with Moczarski, Stroop insisted that his subordinates had murdered the American pilots without his knowledge or permission. He expressed disgust that, "Nearly all of those judges were Jews or Freemasons." He further lamented that one of his U.S. Army defense lawyers was wearing a Masonic ring in court. He cited the prevalence of Old Testament names among them as proof that, "the English and Americans have been infected with the Jewish virus."

When Moczarski pressed Stroop for information about the killings, Stroop finally admitted that the captured pilots had been taken to the forest and given, "a ration of lead for their American necks."

On 21 March 1947, the tribunal sentenced Stroop to death by hanging. In November 1947, a death warrant was signed by General Lucius D. Clay. By then, however, Stroop had been imprisoned in Warsaw for five months.

In late May 1947, Stroop had been flown to Berlin-Tempelhof Airport and handed over to the People's Republic of Poland. He later recalled, "My heart sank when I saw those Polish officers at Tempelhof. So the Americans were liars after all! They'd promised me time and again that I'd never be given to the Eastern Allies and that my death sentence for killing the U.S. airmen would be commuted to life imprisonment."

Imprisonment in Poland

While awaiting trial in Warsaw's Mokotów Prison, Stroop spent 255 days in the same cell with Kazimierz Moczarski, a former member of Poland's anti-Nazi Armia Krajowa. Ironically, Moczarski had been ordered to assassinate Stroop during his tenure in Warsaw. Following the transformation of Poland into a Pro-Soviet puppet state, Moczarski had been imprisoned and brutally tortured by the Ministry of Public Security, spending four years on death row.

Stroop routinely shared with Moczarski his letters from his mother, wife, and children in West Germany. Moczarski later recalled, "The letters from his mother that Stroop gave me to read... seemed to indicate that Frau Stroop did not view as crimes the acts for which Stroop had been jailed."

In conversation with Moczarski, Stroop opened up in detail about his life. He expressed no repentance over his involvement in the Nazi Party and the SS. He also expressed his continuing belief in Nazi race doctrine.

Once, when Moczarski expressed admiration for the Warsaw Ghetto combatants, Stroop indignantly responded, "Jews do not have, and are incapable of having, honor and dignity. Scientifically speaking, they are near-animals, not full-fledged men. According to Darwin, monkeys are embryonic humans, yet we hunt them and turn their fur into coats. We love dogs, but if a pet attacks us, we shoot it - like a dog not a human. Biologists and scientists have established that Jews, Gypsies, and other mongrels have different blood, different tissues, different bones, and different minds from us European Aryans, especially us Nordics. Aryans are the models of true man."

On November 11, 1949, Stroop and Moczarski were separated by prison authorities. Knowing that they would never meet again, Stroop reminded Moczarski that it was Poland's independence day and the thirty-first anniversary of the German Empire's defeat in World War I. Before their final parting, the two former enemies shook hands.

Trial and Execution in Warsaw

Stroop's trial began on July 18, 1951 at the Warsaw Criminal District Court and lasted three days. Stroop stood accused of four crimes:

1. Belonging to the S.S.-- a criminal organization. 2. Liquidating the Warsaw Ghetto, leading to the murder of more than 50,000 people. 3. Ordering the shooting of one hundred Poles on July 16, 1943. 4. Participating in the mass murder of Polish civilians in the Warthegau.

On 23 July 1951, the Court sentenced Stroop and Franz Konrad to death by hanging. In passing sentence, the Court declared, "Since the character and magnitude of Stroop's crimes, his attitude and his twisted explanations not only indicate a total lack of repentance but actually confirm that he retains his Nazi view of the world, the Court is unable to find the slightest attenuating circumstance in the accused Stroop's conduct. His actions show that he is a being devoid of human feeling, a Fascist hangman who tracked his victims with cold and relentless cruelty, an executioner who must be removed from the society of man."

Stroop was hanged at Mokotów Prison on 6 March 1952. In 1961, Moczarski wrote to the Procurator General of the Polish Republic and received a letter about Stroop's last moments. According to the Procurator, Stroop was surprised when told that he was about to be executed. Then, however, he smiled and said, "My soul will finally unite with my wife and daughter in the German Federal Republic."

Without making any further statement, Stroop walked to the gallows and was hanged.

Personal life

Despite the disapproval of his devoutly Catholic mother, Stroop married Katharina B., the daughter of a Protestant minister, on July 3, 1923. Katharina Stroop remained a loyal and obedient wife despite her husband's many infidelities and visits to Lebensborn brothels. Their marriage produced a daughter, Renate Stroop, who was born in February, 1928. Their first son, Jurgen Stroop, was born in 1934 and died soon after birth. Their second son, Olaf Stroop, was born in February, 1936.

Legacy

After his release in 1956, Moczarski wrote a memoir about his imprisonment with Stroop, titled Rozmowy z katem (Conversations with an Executioner). Portions of the book appeared in newspapers and magazines in parts while Moczarski was still alive. The entire manuscript was not published in its complete form until 1977, two years after Moczarski's death. An English translation was released in 1981, and it has since been translated into several languages.