Editing Heinz Reinefarth

{{Short description|German SS general (1903–1979)}}
{{refimprove|date=November 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2015}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix=
| name          = Heinz Reinefarth
| image         = Heinz Reinefarth.jpg
| image_size    = 
| caption       = 
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1903|12|26|df=yes}}
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1979|5|7|1903|12|26}}
| birth_place   = [[Gniezno|Gnesen]], [[Kingdom of Prussia]], [[German Empire]]
| death_place   = [[Westerland, Germany|Westerland]], [[Schleswig-Holstein]], [[West Germany]]
| nickname      = 
| allegiance    = [[Nazi Germany]]
| branch        = [[Waffen-SS]]
| serviceyears  = 1933–45
| rank          = SS-''[[Gruppenführer]]'' and ''Generalleutnant'' of the Waffen-SS and Police
| unit          = ''Kampfgruppe Reinefarth''
| commands      = [[XIV SS Corps]]<br/ >[[XVIII SS Corps]]
| battles       = [[World War II]]
*[[Operation Barbarossa]]
*[[Battle of France]]
*[[Warsaw Uprising]]
| awards        = [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves]]
| relations     = 
| laterwork     = Politician and judge
}}

'''Heinz Reinefarth''' (26 December 1903 – 7 May 1979) was a German [[SS]] commander during [[World War II]] and government official in [[West Germany]] after the war. During the [[Warsaw Uprising]] of August 1944 his troops committed numerous [[World War II atrocities in Poland#Warsaw Uprising atrocities|atrocities]]. After the war, Reinefarth became the mayor of the town of [[Westerland, Germany|Westerland]], on the isle of [[Sylt]], and member of the [[Schleswig-Holstein]] [[Landtag]]. Polish demands for [[extradition]] were never accepted, and Reinefarth was never convicted of any [[war crime]].

==Early years==
Reinefarth was born in [[Gniezno|Gnesen (Gniezno)]], [[Province of Posen]]. After finishing the [[gymnasium (school)|gymnasium]] in 1922, he studied law at the [[University of Jena]]. He became a member of the student fraternity<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.saxo-suevia-erlangen.de/saxo-suevia/?wpfb_dl=6 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101070605/http://www.saxo-suevia-erlangen.de/saxo-suevia/?wpfb_dl=6 |access-date=6 August 2024|archive-date=1 November 2020 }}</ref> (this was the origin of the "Schmiss" – German for "dueling scar" – on his left cheek). He graduated in 1927 and passed the 1st degree state exams. Until 1930 he completed his [[Application for employment|application]] at the local court in [[Jena]] and was promoted to [[judge]]. On 1 August 1932, he joined the [[Nazi Party]] and received party identification card 1,268,933. In December of the same year, he joined the [[SS]].

==World War II==
Shortly before the outbreak of [[World War II]], Reinefarth was conscripted as a reserve ''[[Non-commissioned officer|Feldwebel]]''. For his actions during the [[invasion of Poland]] he received the 2nd Class [[Iron Cross]]. He took part in the 1940 [[Battle of France|campaign against France]], for which he was awarded the [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross]]. On 20 April 1942, he was promoted to SS-''[[Brigadeführer]]'', the equivalent of Generalmajor in the [[Wehrmacht]].

After promotion to brigadier, Reinefarth was appointed as General Inspector of SS in the [[Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia]]. In September 1943, he was transferred to [[Berlin]] where he served in the Ministry of [[Order Police]] (''Hauptamt Ordnungspolizei''). On 29 January 1944, Reinefarth was assigned to be [[SS and Police Leader]] in [[Reichsgau Wartheland]] (Polish [[Poznań Voivodeship (1921–39)|Poznań Voivodeship]] annexed by Germany in 1939).

===Warsaw Uprising===
After the outbreak of the [[Warsaw Uprising]], Reinefarth was ordered to organise a military unit consisting of personnel from various security units and head for [[Warsaw]]. Upon arrival, his forces ([[Kampfgruppe]] Reinefarth) were included in the Korpsgruppe von dem Bach of General [[Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski]] who was ordered by [[Heinrich Himmler]] to quell the rebellion. From 5 August 1944, Reinefarth's group took part in mass murders in the undefended [[Wola]] area.

====Murder of civilians====
[[File:Victims of Wola Massacre.jpg|thumb|Polish civilians murdered in the [[Wola massacre]]. Warsaw, August 1944.]]
In two days, the units of Reinefarth, which included the notorious [[Dirlewanger Brigade|SS-Sonderregiment Dirlewanger]] under SS-Oberführer [[Oskar Dirlewanger]], murdered approximately 60,000 civilian inhabitants of Warsaw in what is known as the [[Wola massacre]]. In one of his reports to the commander of the German 9th Army Reinefarth stated that ''"we have more prisoners than ammunition to kill them"''.<ref name="Jacek Tebinka, ibidem">Jacek Tebinka, ''ibidem''.</ref> After securing the Wola area, his troops took part in heavy fighting against the [[Armia Krajowa]] in the Old Town. In September, his forces were transferred to attack the boroughs of [[Powiśle, Warsaw|Powiśle]] and [[Czerniaków]], where they committed further atrocities, including killing of POWs and wounded found in military hospitals. In all 150,000–200,000 Polish civilians were killed during the uprising. For his actions during the Warsaw Uprising Reinefarth was awarded the [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross|Oak Leaves]] to his Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 30 September 1944.

===Later war activity===
In November 1944, Reinefarth was given command over the [[XIV SS Corps (Germany)|XIV SS Corps]] on the Upper-Rhine and in December 1944 over the [[XVIII SS Corps (Germany)|XVIII SS Corps]] in the central [[Oder]] river area. Between January and March 1945, he commanded the defence of "Festung Küstrin" ([[Kostrzyn nad Odrą]]). He declined to defend it to the last man and Hitler found fault with the way he withdrew his troops. Himmler, acting on Hitler's order, had Reinefarth arrested at the end of March 1945. Later he was sentenced to death by a military court. However, the sentence was not carried out, and he continued to command those of his troops that managed to leave the fortress. He moved his troops to the west and surrendered to the British.

==Postwar==
After World War II, the Polish communist authorities demanded Reinefarth's [[extradition]]. However, the British and American authorities of occupied West Germany repeatedly refused extraditing him on grounds of security reasons. Reinefarth had by then secretly been recruited by the CIC, the Intelligence Service of the US Army, for consultation on Soviet military tactics.<ref>National Archives, RG 319, IRR Personal Files, File Heinz Reinefarth</ref> After Nuremberg trials, he was arrested for war crimes, but the local court in [[Hamburg]] released him shortly afterwards on the grounds of lack of evidence.<ref name="preventgenocide">{{cite web | url=http://www.preventgenocide.org/punish/domestic/ | title=Paragraph §220a (genocide) of Germany's Strafgesetzbuch | publisher=Prevent Genocide International | work=Genocide and international crimes in domestic courts. Chapter: Germany | year=2013 | access-date=2013-05-20 | author=PGI}}</ref> Reinefarth went on to live a normal life. In December 1951, he was elected mayor of the town of [[Westerland, Germany|Westerland]], the main town on the island of [[Sylt]]. 
[[File:Gedenktafel Warschauer Aufstand am Rathaus Westerland.jpg|thumb| Memorial plaque commemorating the Warsaw Uprising at Westerland Town Hall on Sylt (inaugurated in 2014) ]]
In 1962, he was elected to the parliament (''[[Landtag]]'') of [[Schleswig-Holstein]].<ref name="Epstein">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Caa4rl8SHHwC&q=%22Reinefarth+evaded+justice.%22&pg=PA338 | title=Model Nazi | publisher=Oxford University Press | work=Model Nazi: Arthur Greiser and the Occupation of Western Poland | date=Mar 22, 2012 | access-date=May 26, 2013 | author=Catherine Epstein | page=338 | format=Google Books | isbn=978-0199646531}}</ref> After his term ended in 1967, he worked as a lawyer. Despite numerous demands by [[Communist]] Poland, he was not extradited as the German courts had ruled that there was no evidence of him committing any crimes. He was considered not guilty in the eyes of the law and the federal government. He received a general's pension upon retirement.<ref name="Zasada">Marcin Zasada (2009-07-31), [http://www.polskatimes.pl/artykul/147513,syn-warszawskiej-niobe,id,t.html ''Syn Warszawskiej Niobe'' (The son of Warsaw ''Niobe'').] ''Polska: Magazyn'', pp. 1–5. Polskapresse 2013. Retrieved May 26, 2013.</ref> He died on 7 May 1979 in his mansion on Sylt.

==Legacy==
In 2014, the local authorities of Westerland raised a memorial table remembering Polish victims of Reinefarth. A local SPD member, Ernst Wilhelm Sojan, who was present at the ceremony had campaigned since the 1960s to raise awareness of acts committed by Reinefarth but said that he was always met with a "wall of silence". The regional Schleswig-Holstein government issued a special statement expressing regret that Heinz Reinefarth had been allowed to work as politician in the region. Polish President [[Bronislaw Komorowski]] praised the authorities of Sylt for attempting to deal with its past.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dzieje.pl/aktualnosci/gmina-sylt-zlozyla-hold-polakom-pomordowanym-przez-reinefartha|title = Gmina Sylt złożyła hołd Polakom pomordowanym przez Reinefartha|website=dzieje.pl|language=Polish}}</ref>

==Awards==
* [[Iron Cross]] (1939) 2nd Class (25 September 1939) & 1st Class (28 May 1940)<ref name="Thomas p190">Thomas 1998, p. 190.</ref>
* [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves]]
** Knight's Cross on 25 June 1940<ref name="Scherzer p620">Scherzer 2007, p. 620.</ref>
** 608th Oak Leaves on 30 September 1944 as SS-Gruppenführer and Generalleutnant of the Police, and commander of a Kampfgruppe in the Korpsgruppe von dem Bach<ref name="Scherzer p620"/>

==Films==
"Holiday on Sylt" 1957 by the Eastern German film director [[Andrew Thorndike]]

==See also==

*[[Register of SS-Leaders in general’s rank#List SS-Gruppenführer|List SS-Gruppenführer]]
*[[Planned destruction of Warsaw]]

==References==

===Citations===
{{Reflist|25em}}

===Bibliography===
{{Refbegin}}
* {{Cite book
  |last=Scherzer
  |first=Veit
  |year=2007
  |title=Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives
  |trans-title=The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives
  |language=de
  |location=Jena, Germany
  |publisher=Scherzers Militaer-Verlag
  |isbn=978-3-938845-17-2
}}
* {{Cite book
  |last=Sennerteg
  |first=Niclas
  |year=2003
  |title=Warszawas bödel: Ett tyskt öde.
  |trans-title=Warsaw's Executioner: A German destiny
  |language=sv
  |location=Lund, Sweden
  |publisher=Historiska Media
  |isbn=91-89442-95-4
}}
*Tebinka, Jacek. "Ciche lata kata",  [[Polityka]] - nr 32 (2362),  2002-08-10; page 66.
* {{Cite book
  |last=Thomas
  |first=Franz
  |year=1998
  |title=Die Eichenlaubträger 1939–1945 Band 2: L–Z
  |trans-title=The Oak Leaves Bearers 1939–1945 Volume 2: L–Z
  |language=de
  |location=Osnabrück, Germany
  |publisher=Biblio-Verlag
  |isbn=978-3-7648-2300-9
}}
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commonscatinline}}
* [http://www.chroniclesofterror.pl/dlibra/results?action=AdvancedSearchAction&type=-3&search_attid1=62&search_value1=Wola%20%2744%20%E2%80%93%20genocide%20in%20Warsaw&p=0 Wola '44 – genocide in Warsaw] - collection of civilian testimonies concerning Reinefarth's group activity during Warsaw Uprising 
{{Holocaust Poland}}
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{{Subject bar
| portal1=Biography
| commons=y
}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reinefarth, Heinz}}
[[Category:1903 births]]
[[Category:1979 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Gniezno]]
[[Category:Nazi Party politicians]]
[[Category:All-German Bloc/League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights politicians]]
[[Category:Holocaust perpetrators in Poland]]
[[Category:People from the Province of Posen]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves]]
[[Category:SS and police leaders]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Jena]]
[[Category:Warsaw Uprising German forces]]
[[Category:Waffen-SS personnel]]
[[Category:SS-Gruppenführer]]
[[Category:Members of the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein]]
[[Category:20th-century Freikorps personnel]]
[[Category:People condemned by Nazi courts]]