Fritz Dietrich (Nazi)

Nazi police warning issued by Fritz Dietrich to the Jews of Liepāja to remain in their houses on December 15 and 16, 1941 (this was preparatory to their murder on those dates.)

Dietrich's warning (in Latvian)

Fritz Dietrich (August 6, 1898 – October 22, 1948) was a German SS officer who held a doctoral degree (Ph.D.). His name is also seen as Emil Diedrich.

Career summary

Dietrich held the rank of SS-Obersturmbannführer. From September 1941 to November 1943 he served as the SS police chief (SS und PolizeiStandortführer ) in Liepāja (German:Libau), Latvia. Police units under his command carried out a number of massacres of Jews and other people in Liepāja. The largest of the Liepāja massacres took place on three days from Monday, December 15 to Wednesday, December 17, 1941. On December 13, Karzemes Vārds published an order by Dietrich which required all Jews in the city to remain in their residences on Monday, December 15 and December 16, 1941.

War crimes trial

After World War II he was tried, convicted and sentenced to death for war crimes, but not for his actions in Latvia. Dietrich had ordered the shooting of seven Allied prisoners of war who had parachuted from disabled airplanes. In 1948 Dietrich was hanged, at Landsberg Prison. The trials of Dietrich and others were known as the "Flyers Cases" and were part of what has since become known as the Dachau Trials for war crimes.

References

• Ezergailis, Andrew, The Holocaust in Latvia 1941-1944—The Missing Center, Historical Institute of Latvia (in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) Riga 1996 ISBN 9984-9054-3-8
• Klee, Ernst, Dressen, Willi, and Riess, Volker, eds. "The Good Old Days" -- The Holocaust as Seen by its Perpetrators and Bystanders, MacMillan, New York 1991 (translation by Deborah Burnstone) ISBN 0-02-917425-2