Emil Mazuw

Emil Mazuw

Emil Mazuw, formerly Emil Maschuw, (born September 21, 1900 - December 11, 1987) was Landeshauptmann (nominal governor) of the Province of Pomerania from 1940 to 1945. He was a member of the SS since 1933. He held the ranks of SS-Obergruppenführer, General of the Waffen-SS (1944), General of Police (1942) and Ostsee Higher SS and Police leader (1939–1945). He was engaged in euthanasia during the Second World War. He was convicted after the war of crimes associated with abuses of political prisoners and Jews. He was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment.

Life

Mazuw, the son of a factory worker, was a trained metal worker. In 1918 he voluntarily joined the Navy, and saw service in the First World War. After the armistice, his ship along with the rest of the German High Seas Fleet was interned by the British at Scapa Flow. After the German Sailors scuttled their ships, they were held in English prisoner of war camps. Mazuw was returned to Germany in 1920.

He remained in the Reichsmarine until 1921, then worked as a factory worker until 1925. He remained unemployed until 1932, when he worked as a truck driver in Coburg. His 1932 marriage granted him three children. In 1928 he joined the Sturmabteilung and the Nazi Party (member number: 85231),^[1] changing to join the SS in 1930 (member number: 2556).

He was head of SS-Abschnitt XVIII from November 1933 until the beginning of September 1934, when he subsequently became leader of SS-Abschnitt XIII until April 1936.^[2] From 1936, Mazuw was a member of the Reichstag of the Nazi Party from the tenth to the eleventh electoral period for the 6th constituency, Pommern. From April 1936 until the beginning of May 1945, Mazuw was leader of the Ostsee SS-Oberabschnitt, and from August 1938 to the end of the same period, he was Higher SS and Police leader (HSSPF) in the district Nord ("North"), in 1940 renamed Ostsee ("Baltic Sea"), with his office in Stettin.^[3] Of eighteen HSSPFs in Nazi Germany, Mazuw was the only one who held this position more than five years.^[4]

From 1940 to 1945 he was Landeshauptmann (nominal governor) of the Province of Pomerania.^[3] In this position, together with Pomeranian Gauleiter Franz Schwede-Coburg, he was engaged in the "Aktion T4" euthanasia action, aiding the dispatchment of some 1,400 mental care clients from Pomeranian sanatories in Stralsund, Ueckermünde, Treptow an der Rega, Lauenburg and Meseritz-Obrawalde to an execution site in Piasnitz, Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia, where they were shot.^[5]

Himmler, however, thought that Mazuw was not active enough, and in December 1944 sent him a letter of reprimand (..."you are a representative of the SS and not that of the local mayor or of the local party offices working against the SS"...).^[6]

Writer Igor Witkowski has speculated that Mazuw was involved in secret programs to develop a Wunderwaffe, a new type of weapon supposed to change the course of the second world war.^[7]

After the war, Mazuw was held captive. In 1948 he was prosecuted relating to denazification proceedings, and was sentenced to eight years in prison. On the basis of severely abusing political prisoners and Jews in 1933, he received another  8 ¹⁄₂-year prison sentence in 1951.^[8] He later found employment after his sentence. He died in December 1987 in Karlsruhe.^[9]

Decorations

German Equestrian Badge in Bronze Golden Party Badge Iron Cross (1939) 2nd class War Merit Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st class with Swords SS Service Awards Honorary Sabre of the Reichsführer-SS SS-Ehrenring

SS and Police ranks[2] Date Rank April 1932 SS-Sturmbannführer January 1933 SS-Standartenführer March 1934 SS-Oberführer January 1936 SS-Brigadeführer September 1936 SS-Gruppenführer SS-Hauptsturmführer of the Reserve (Waffen-SS) April 1941 SS-Gruppenführer and Lieutenant General of the Police April 1942 SS-Obergruppenführer and General of the Police July 1944 General of the Waffen-SS

References

1. "Digitale Bibliothek - Münchener Digitalisierungszentrum" (in German). Bavarian State Library. Retrieved 2009-09-22.
2. "Emil Mazuw" (in Polish). www.dws-xip.pl. Retrieved 2009-09-22.
3. "Provinz Pommern" (in German). territorial.de. Retrieved 2009-09-22.
4. Koehl (1983), p.354
5. Browning (2007), p.187
6. Longerich (2012), p.337
7. Farell (2006), pp.145-147, citing and referring to Witkowski (2003), pp.236-237
8. Birn. Die Höheren SS- und Polizeiführer. p.340.
9. Klee. Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich p. 398.

Bibliography

• Klee, Ernst. Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich, Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8. (Revised 2nd edition)
• Birn, Ruth Bettina. Die Höheren SS- und Polizeiführer. Himmlers Vertreter im Reich und in den besetzten Gebieten. Droste Verlag, Düsseldorf 1986, ISBN 3-7700-0710-7
• Farrell, Joseph P. (2006). The SS Brotherhood of the Bell: Nasa's Nazis, JFK, And Majic-12. Adventures Unlimited Press. ISBN 1931882614.
• Browning, Christopher R. (2007). The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939-March 1942. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-5979-4.
• Witkowski, Igor (2003). Truth about the Wunderwaffe. European History Press. ISBN 83-88259-16-4.
• Koehl, Robert Lewis (1983). The Black Corps: the structure and power struggles of the Nazi SS. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 0-299-09190-2.
• Pfeiffer, Roland (2003). "Lexikon der Wehrmacht. Zur Geschichte der Ordnungspolizei.IV. Höhere SS- und Polizeiführer HSSPF und Befehlshaber der Ordnungspolizei BdO im Reichsgebiet." (in German). Volksbund Deutscher Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V. Retrieved 2009-09-29.
• Longerich, Peter (2012). Heinrich Himmler. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-965174-0.

External links

• Literature about Emil Mazuw in the catalogue of the German National Library