Richard Glücks

Richard Glücks April 22nd, 1889 May 1st, 10th and th 1945 1 was a offficel Nazi of high ranking. S Gruppenführer and Generalleutnant of the Waffen S, it was, of 1939 at the end of the end of the Second world war to the head of the Amt D: Konzentrationslagerwesen of the " SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt" , or WVHA (Central Office of the Administration and the Economy S, as a Inspekteur of Konzentrationslager . Near to Heinrich Himmler, he was the direct person in charge of the forced labor of the deportees; it is also of its authority which raised the medical experiments undertaken by doctors Nazis on the prisoners of the camps and the installation of the final solution, in particular executions of mass in the gas chambers. With the fall of the Nazi regime and after the capitulation, it committed suicide by swallowing a cyanide capsule.

Before engagement Nazi

Glücks is born on April 22nd, 1889 1 with Odenkirchen, in the the Rhine, close to Mönchengladbach. After having finished its secondary studies with Düsseldorf, he works in the company of his father, an agency of insurances against the fire. In 1909, it engages like volunteer in the army and is used during one year in a unit as artillery. In 1913, it leaves the Germany for the Great Britain, then emigrates in Argentine where it is commercial.

After the release of the First World War, it returns to Germany, in January 1915, under a false identity, like team member of a Norwegian vessel. It takes part in the conflict, probably as commander of a unit of motorized artillery and it is decorated with the Croix of Iron of first and second class. After the war, he is liaison officer between the German forces and the military Commission interallied, charged to make respect by Germany the restrictions imposed by the Traité of Versailles with regard to his rearmament and his military power. In 1924, it joined the state major of the 6th Prussian division . During this period, it also engages in the Freikorps.

The rise within the Nazi regime

Glücks is affiliated with the Nazi party in 1930 then with the S in 1932. In this one, he is member of the staff of the group Western of September 6th, 1933 from June 1st to 20th 1935 1 and reached the rank of S Sturmbannführer . He becomes then ordering 77e S Standarte of the Allgemeine-SS , with the rank of S Obersturmbannführer . April 1st, 1936 1, it is named Head of State major of Theodor Eicke, inspector of the concentration camps and ordering units Totenkopf ( Inspekteur of Konzentrationslager und Fürer of the S Totenkopfverbände ), first of all like Standartenführer then like Oberführer . When Eicke takes the command of the 3 {{E}} panzerdivision S Totenkopf, Glücks named with its succession by Himmler on November 18th, 1939 1. April 20th, 1941 1, it is promoted S Brigadeführer , and on March 29th, 1942 1, he becomes the person in charge of the Amt D: Konzentrationslagerwesen of SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptam , or WVHA (Central Office of the Administration and the Economy S), directed by Oswald Pohl. July 23rd, 1943 1, it is named S Gruppenführer and Generalleutnant of the Waffen S.

Inspector of the concentration camps

Glücks is described by Rudolf Höss like pure administrative and a bureaucrat, fearing Himmler, and wishing above all to maintain the system concentrationnaire in the state where its predecessor had left, Theodor Eicke. Höss affirms that Glücks is unable to include/understand the consequences of its kinds and that it owes its access to its high position and its maintenance with this one only to the protection of Eicke and Pohl.

Initially, Glücks is especially responsible for the exploitation of the forced labor of the deportees. He asks for to the commanders camps of lower the death rate of the prisoners in order to achieve the economic goals laid down at his department. At the same time, on February 21st, 1940 1, it is Glücks which suggests with Himmler, Pohl and Heydrich to establish a new camp with Auschwitz in old barracks. The camp (Auschwitz I) is open on June 14th, 1940 1 and Glücks hastens to use it as tank of workers forced for the factory of IG Farben established with its vicinity, on the site of Buna-Monowitz (Auschwitz III).

From 1942, in collaboration with Pohl, Glücks is implied more and more in the implementation of the final solution. In July, it takes part, with Himmler, with a meeting to plan the subjects of the medical experiments which will be practiced on prisoners. Having visited this camp of Auschwitz on several occasions, it cannot be unaware of the atrocious conditions which there reign, the executions of masses and the atrocities which are made there. The orders for the extermination of the Jews pass by his office and it gives the authorization of purchase of Zyklon B for the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau (Auschwitz II).

End

April 16th, 1945 1, the offices of the WVHA with Berlin are destroyed by a allied bombardment and are moved on the edges of the Baltic. At the end of April, with the projection of the Russian troops, Glücks and his wife flee with Flensburg at the end of the month. It is there that it meets Himmler for the last time. After the capitulation of Germany, it commits suicide by swallowing a cyanide capsule on May 10th, 1945 1 in the naval base of Mürwik with Flensburg.

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