Death in Poland
By 1942
Wolff was number 40 in seniority in the SS hierarchy[i]; the list did not take
note of the power of the individual within the SS and included the many
honorary members such as Walter Darré[ii] and Max Amann[iii].
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| Lidice massacre |
Wolff kept
his head down throughout the first half of 1942; he was not involved in the
search for Heydrich’s killers, nor the massacre at Lidice; he did of course attend the funeral service in Prague and the second
one in Berlin. And in July he was part of the group looking to create a
monument to the fallen SS hero.
But despite
his denials, Wolff did have knowledge of what was happening to Europe’s Jews. On
28th July Wolff was sent a letter from the Under Secretary of State
at the Transport Ministry, Ganzenmuller reported;
‘A train containing 5,000
Jews has been leaving Warsaw for Treblinka[iv] every
day since 22/7; in addition a train containing 5,000 Jews has been leaving Przemysl for
Belzec[v]
twice a week.’[vi]
Mass grave at Treblinka
The same day
Ganzenmuller informed the SS that the Warsaw-Lublin-Sobibor line would be out
of action until early October for repairs. All Jewish deportations were to be switched
to Treblinka, which would result in the overcrowding of trains. On 13th
August Wolff wrote to Ganzenmuller thanking him for his assistance in
organising the trains to Treblinka.
Wolff always
claimed that he knew nothing about the fate of the Jews in eastern Europe,
despite receiving letters referring to the execution of the Serbian Jews from a
colleague[vii]. Ganzenmuller had
already discussed the matter with Wolff on the phone earlier in the month.
Wolff was
often used by his colleagues as an intermediary in their correspondence with
Himmler and was seen as a man who could smooth matters out. At the same time
Wolff was acting as Himmler’s representative at the Fuhrer’s HQ (wherever that
happened to be currently situated).
Fritz Sauckel
Wolff was
expected to report back to Himmler particularly on matters pertaining to the
SS; as when on 22nd September Hitler ordered Fritz Sauckel[viii] to transport all the Jews in the Reich
working in the armaments industry to concentration camps in the General Government[ix] to continue working there. At the
same time Himmler and Albert Speer[x] were forbidden to import Jews into
the Reich to work. This order was a complete volte face to the agreement
already in place.
The Fate of the Workers
In autumn of
1942 the German army in Poland, in the shape of General Curt Freiherr von
Gienanth[xi], objected to the killing
of all the Jews on the grounds that it deprived the Wehrmacht of essential
labour to keep the armaments industry functioning in the east.
Keitel
When Himmler
saw the memo from von Gienanth he was livid and complained to Keitel[xii] who ordered that all Jews in the
armaments industry were to be replaced by Poles. Keitel also ordered that von
Gienanth be relieved of his post.
On the 9th
October Himmler wrote to Oswald Pohl, Wolff, Friedrich Kruger[xiii] and other of his
subordinates, ordering that the Jews be gathered together in a small number of
concentration camps, saying;
''The Jews should, in
accordance with the Fuhrer's wish, disappear some day'[xiv]
Yet another
clue to the ultimate fate of the Jews, that Wolff would appear to have
overlooked.
Domestic Affairs
Himmler and Wolff inspect Mauthausen
In
mid-February 1943 Wolff requested permission from Himmler to divorce his wife
Frieda and marry his mistress Countess Ingeborg. Ingeborg and her three
children lived in Berlin. Ingeborg had asked her brother-in-law, who had no
children, make her eldest son his heir. The Count refused and was arrested by
the SS and thrown into Dachau[xv]. It is more than likely that
Wolff was complicit in this arrest.
Wolff wanted
to raise more genetically perfect children with Ingeborg; something he was
clearly unable to do with Frieda, given her brown hair and eyes. Ingeborg
moreover was determined not to remain second fiddle to Frieda and eventually
Wolff gave way. Himmler refused the application on the grounds that it would
create a scandal telling Wolff;
‘Just wait! It is possible
for family affairs to disappear in the wake of a great victory.’[xvi]
Ingeborg was
not prepared to wait for a victory that appeared ever more chimerical and
apparently bearded Himmler in his office, but Himmler prevaricated. Eventually Wolff
went direct to Hitler who gave his permission; he had a letter from Frieda
saying that she loved her husband and did not want to stand in the way of his
happiness. 
Karl Gebhardt
Wolff was
due to have an operation on a kidney stone[xvii] at the SS hospital at Hohenlychen; the operation was performed by Karl
Gebhardt. The marriage took place before the operation which was risky; Wolff believed
that Himmler was arranging for him to be killed.
The Opposition
Johannes Popitz
Wolff was
still convalescing from his operation when Himmler sent for him after the
arrest of Mussolini in mid July. During his period of time away from work Wolff
had been acting as a go-between for Himmler and an old friend Carl Langbehn[xviii] who was desperate for Himmler to
meet Johannes Popitz[xix]; both men were members of the
growing opposition to Hitler and the Nazis.
Himmler
informed Wolff that he was being posted as Highest SS and Police Fuhrer in
Italy. Himmler required a memo on how Wolff would deal with the Italians.
Meanwhile Himmler instructed Ernst Kaltenbrunner[xx] to organise Mussolini’s rescue.
Kaltenbrunner chose Otto Skorzeny[xxi] for the task[xxii]. 
Otto Skorzeny
While
preparing his memo Wolff was once more involved in trying to get Popitz in to
see Himmler. It was not until late August that Himmler showed Wolff’s proposals
to Hitler; several days after Himmler’s meeting with Langbehn and Popitz on 24th
August.
Himmler met
the two men in his new office; having been very recently appointed Minister of
the Interior[xxiii].
Both men assured Himmler that the war was no longer winnable and the time had
come to think about a post Hitler Germany. Langbehn mentioned the need to
eliminate Hitler, which Hitler’s security chief did not blink at. The need for
further meetings was agreed[xxiv].
Italy Under the Wolff
Salo government poster announcing 'Germany is your friend'
By the end
of September Wolff had organised the puppet government, based at Salo and headed by the emasculated Mussolini. Mussolini was joined by his
mistress, Claretta Petacci and even the libidinous Goebbels was shocked by Mussolini’s
behaviour.
‘The personal conduct of the
Duce with his girlfriend…….is cause for much misgiving.’[xxv]
Herbert Kappler
Within the
area controlled by the Germans the removal of Jews from Italy proceeded apace[xxvi]. Adolf Eichmann[xxvii]’s senior assistant Theodor Dannecker, assisted by Herbert Kappler[xxviii], took personal control of the round up. The first
train left for the east on 18th October. The following day Himmler
and Wolff visited the Wolfschanze[xxix] to update Hitler on the developments
in Italy.
On 5th
December Wolff informed Himmler that mustard gas bombs had been found at Bari[xxx]. On 2nd December the
Germans bombed Bari sinking 27 ships, releasing the
mustard gas from the 2,000 bombs in the holds of one of the sunken ships. Himmler
did not pass the information on to the media and the Allies covered up the
accident until February 1944.
Bibliography
Belzec,
Sobibor, Treblinka – Yitzak Arad, Indiana University Press 1999
The
Architect of Genocide – Richard Breitman, Pimlico 1991
The
Destruction of the European Jews – Raoul Hilberg, Holmes and Meier 1985
Hitler –
Nemesis – Ian Kershaw, Penguin 2001
Anatomy of
the SS State – Helmut Krausnick & Martin Broszat, Paladin 1970
Top Nazi –
Jochen von Lang, Enigma Books 2005
Heinrich
Himmler – Peter Longerich, Oxford University Press 2012
Himmler –
Peter Padfield, Cassell & Co 2001
The Memoirs
of Hitler’s Spymaster – Walter Schellenberg, André Deutsch 2006
The Rise and
Fall of the Third Reich – William L Shirer, Book Club Associates 1985
www.wikipedia.en
[ii]
Reich Minister for Food and Agriculture
[iii]
Hitler’s former sergeant and head of the Nazi party publishing empire
[iv]
An extermination camp
[v]
Ibid
[vi]
Anatomy of the SS State – Krausnick & Broszat
[vii]
Harald Turner, SS
commander in Serbia, wrote to Wolff on 4th April and on 11th.
Wolff was also aware of proposals to use prisoners in concentration camps for experiments
using freezing water to see how long someone could survive in icy waters
[viii]
General Plenipotentiary for Labour Deployment
[ix]
A Gau in occupied Poland headed by Hans Frank
[x]
Another notable who had no knowledge
of the fate of the Jews
[xi]
Commander in Chief of the Polish Wehrkreis
[xii]
Head of the OKW and known as the Lackey (lakeitel in German) for his
subservience to Hitler
[xiii]
Who tipped Himmler off as to the Wehrmacht’s intentions
[xiv]
Anatomy of the SS State – Krausnick & Broszat
[xv]
He was executed by the SS in April 1945
[xvi]
Top Nazi- von Lang
[xvii]
He claimed that Himmler tried to have him killed by means of a massage by
Kersten, Himmler’s masseur; the massage allegedly grinding the stone against
the walls of the kidney and causing sepsis.
[xviii]
Langbehn’s daughter attended the same school as Gudrun Himmler
[xix]
One of the anti-Nazi conspirators
[xxi]
Head of a commando unit and one of Himmler’s favourites
[xxii]
The daring rescue took place on 12th September
[xxiii]
Hitler replaced Frick on 20th August; a tacit recognition that his
power relied on police repression
[xxiv]
Later to save himself Langbehn had to be arrested, but he was never tortured
and was held in a concentration camp, beyond the reach of the inimical
Kaltenbrunner who did not get on with his chief
[xxv]
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - Shirer
[xxvi]
The Italians had procrastinated when confronted with German demands for the
expulsion of the Italian Jews to the death camps in the east. The Italians had
opened their borders to Jews fleeing from the round ups; now all the Jews who
had thought to find a safe haven were once again at risk of deportation.
[xxvii]
In charge of the Holocaust
[xxviii]
Chief of the Security Police in Rome
[xxix]
Currently Hitler’s HQ
[xxx]
On the US naval vessel John Harvey; many of the sailors from the other ships
sunk in the raid were killed by the gas
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