Kurt Daluege

Kurt Daluege
Orpo Chief SS-Oberstgruppenführer Kurt Daluege, shown here in February 1936 as an Obergruppenfuhrer.
Chief of the Ordnungspolizei (All uniformed Police within the German Reich)
In office June 26, 1936 – August 31, 1943
Preceded by	Post Created
Succeeded by	Alfred Wünnenberg
Deputy Protector of Bohemia and Moravia (Acting Protector) (Konstantin von Neurath was titular Protector)
In office June 5, 1942 – August 24, 1943
Preceded by	Reinhard Heydrich (as Acting Protector)
Succeeded by	Wilhelm Frick (as Protector)
Born	September 15, 1897(1897-09-15) Kreuzburg, Upper Silesia, German Empire (now Kluczbork, Poland)
Died	October 24, 1946 (aged 49) Prague, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic)
Nationality	German
Political party	National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP)
Spouse(s)	Käthe Schwarz (married 1926)

Kurt Daluege (September 15, 1897 – October 24, 1946) was an SS-Oberstgruppenführer and Generaloberst der Polizei, officer of the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA) and ruled the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia as Deputy Protector.

Early life and career

Kurt Daluege, a son of a Prussian state official, was born in small Upper Silesian town Kreuzburg (now Kluczbork) on September 15, 1897. He entered the Imperial German Army in 1916 and served with the 7.Garde Regiment West. During his service on the Western Front Daluege was severely wounded a number of times (declared 25% disabled) and also decorated for bravery.

1920s

After the war Daluege became leader of Selbstschutz Oberschlesien (SSOS) - Upper Silesian Self Defense — an Upper Silesian veterans’ organization, which was engaged in combat with the Poles in that region. In 1921 he became also active in the Freikorps Roßbach while studying engineering at the Technical University in Berlin. Two years later, Daluege joined the National Socialist German Workers Party, NSDAP and in 1926 the Sturmabteilung (SA) eventually becoming the leader of Berlin's SA and Goebbels' deputy gauleiter, a deputy party-leader, in Berlin.

SS and Police Leader

Memorial in the Czech Republic to the children of Lidice murdered on the orders of Daluege.

In July 1930, Daluege in accordance with Hitler's wishes resigned from SA and joined the Schutzstaffel SS with the rank of SS-Oberführer. His main responsibility was to spy on the SA and political opponents of NSDAP. Soon thereafter, Adolf Hitler promoted both Daluege and Heinrich Himmler to the rank of SS-Obergruppenführer with Daulege the SS leader of Northern Germany while Himmler controlled southern SS units out of Munich as well as serving as the National Leader for the entire SS as a whole. In 1932 Daluege became an NSDAP delegate in the Prussian state parliament and in November 1932 was elected to the Reichstag for Electoral District Berlin-Ost, a seat he retained until 1945. At the same time, Hermann Göring moved him to the Prussian Ministry of the Interior, where he took over the police force. In 1936, the entire German police force was reorganized and administrative functions previously exercised by the now largely defunct federal states were reassigned to the Ministry of Interior. The same year, Daluege was appointed, by Wilhelm Frick, the chief of the Ordnungspolizei, Orpo, which gave him administrative, though not executive, authority over most of the uniformed police in Nazi Germany. He commanded the Ordnungspolizei for the rest of the war reaching the rank of SS-Oberstgruppenführer und Generaloberst der Polizei. Following the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Daluege also served as the Deputy Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, ordering among other things, the destruction of villages Lidice and Ležáky in Bohemia.

Daluege in 1939

Illness, arrest and execution

In May 1943 Daluege suffered a massive heart attack and became seriously ill. In August, he was relieved of all of his daily duties and spent the rest of the war living on a property given to him by Hitler. In May 1945, Daluege was arrested by U.S. troops in Lübeck and interned at Nuremberg until September 1946 when he was extradited to Czechoslovakia. Kurt Daluege was hanged at Pankrác prison in Prague on October 24, 1946 after having been found guilty by a Czech court of war crimes in the Czechoslovakian states. He was buried in an anonymous pit at Prague's Ďáblice cemetery.

Personal life

In 1926, Daluege married Käthe Schwarz (born November 23, 1901) and had four children. Of the four, three were sons (b. 1937, 1938, 1940) and the fourth was a daughter (born. 1942).

Summary of SS career

Dates of rank

• SS-Oberführer: July 25, 1930
• SS-Gruppenführer: July 1, 1932
• SS-Obergruppenführer: September 9, 1934
• Generalleutnant der Landespolizei: April 20, 1935
• General der Polizei: June 17, 1936
• SS-Oberstgruppenführer und Generaloberst der Polizei: April 20, 1942

Notable decorations

• Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross with swords (1943)
• German Cross in Silver (?)
• Golden Nazi Party Badge (1933)
• Iron Cross Second (1918) Class
• War Merit Cross with Swords Second (1941) and First (1941) Classes
• Wound Badge in Black (1918)
• Anschluss Medal (1938)
• Sudetenland Medal (1939) with Prague Castle Bar (1939)
• Memel Medal (1939)
• NSDAP-Long Service Award in Bronze (1940) and in Silver (1941)
• Cross of Honor (1929)
• SS-Honour Ring (1933)
• Danzig Cross (1939)
• Order of the Crown of Italy Grand Cross (1938)

Trivia

When Stalin's son, Lt. Yakov Dzhugashvili, was captured by the Wehrmacht, Daluege is credited with the idea of offering POW Dzhugashvili back to the Red Army in exchange for the release of Field Marshall Paulus. Joseph Stalin turned down the offer, allegedly stating that "a Lieutenant was not worth a General." Daluege then arranged for Dzhugashvili to be interned at Sachsenhausen concentration camp where he died at the age of 36. The Germans stated officially that Yakov died by running into an electric fence. Some have contended that he committed suicide at the camp while others have suggested that he was murdered.

References

• Michael D. Miller - Leaders of the SS & German Police, Volume I: Ahrens to Gutenberg (Bender Publishing, (2007), ISBN 9329700373).

• Gordon Williamson - The SS: Hitler's Instrument of Terror: The Full Story From Street Fighters to the Waffen-SS (Motorbooks International, (March 1994), ISBN 0879389052, ISBN 978-0879389055).

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