Erich Koch

Erich Koch (June 19th 1896, November 12th 1986) was a Gauleiter for NSDAP in Eastern Prussia of 1928 with 1945 and police chief of Reich in Ukraine of 1941 with 1944.

Youth and First World War

Born with Elberfeld, incorporated today in the town of Wuppertal, he is the son of a foreman. Skilful trading, Koch is engaged by the railway service as an intermediate candidate of the public office. During the First World War, he is soldier of 1915 until 1918 and fights, later, as a member of the Freikorps in High-Silesia.

NSDAP

Erich Koch joint with the NSDAP in 1922. During the occupation of the Ruhr, he is member of the group of Albert Leo Schlageter and is imprisoned several times by the French authorities. In 1927, it becomes Bezirksführer of the NSDAP with Essen and later, assistant of Gauleiter of the Gau of the Ruhr.

Gauleiter of Eastern Prussia

In 1928, it becomes Gauleiter of the province of Eastern Prussia and he is member of the Reichstag as from September 1930. After the seizure of power by the Nazi party, it becomes Oberpräsident of Eastern Prussia. In 1938, Koch is named Obergruppenführer in SA.

Second world war

At the beginning of the Second world war, Koch is named Reichsverteidigungskommissar of Eastern Prussia. After the end of the countryside of Poland, it must yield the Western district of Prussia, the October 26th 1939, in new Reichsgau Westpreußen, renamed later Western-Gdansk Prussia. These new areas roughly cover the zone between the rivers the Vistula and Narew. As soon as the invasion of the Soviet Union started, Koch is named Zivilkommissar on August 1st, 1941 and later, chief of the public administration of the district of Bialystok. September 1st, he becomes police chief of Reich of the Ukraine. Its field goes from the Baltic to the Black Sea and includes German, Polish and Ukrainian areas.

Whereas the Russian troops advance in this zone in 1945, Koch escapes by the Baltic, between the April 23rd 1945 and the May 7th 1945, on the ice-breaker Ostpreußen . It arrives at Flensbourg and hides there. It is captured by the British troops with Hamburg in May 1949.

Lawsuit and judgment

The Soviet Union asks for the extradition of Koch, but the British government decides to rather give it to the Polish government. He is extradited in Poland and is condemned there to died the March 9th 1959 for war crimes against the Poles. He is not judged for the crimes committed in Ukraine. The sentence of dead was never carried out and several people believe that it exchanged its life against information on the works of art plundered by the Nazis during the war, but no proof exists for this purpose. He dies of natural causes in prison with Barczewo (Wartenburg), close to Olsztyn (Allenstein), in the middle of old Eastern Prussia.

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