The Einsatzkommando Reinhard

The SS were in charge of Police control within the Adriatisches Küstenland as well as supervising political, racial and anti-partisan repression. The Commander of the SS was the Triestino-born Odilo Lotario Globocnik. Bound in friendship to Himmler, Globocnik had already been responsible for the Polish massacre in the notorious "Aktion Reinhard", which cost the lives of about 2.5 million Polish Jews. In order to carry out his "task", Globocnik settled in Trieste with a heavy contingent of "professionals" – a death squad that had already gained notoriety in extermination activity in the USSR, Poland and the Polish death camps of Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka.
Altogether, there were 92 members of the Einsatzkommando Reinhard in Trieste. They included both men and women, and a large SS Ukrainian contingent.
The Einsatzkommando were special units designed to "lead the struggle against enemies of the Reich and support the fighting troops". They reported directly to the Head Office of the Reich Security Police (RSHA, Reichssicherheitshauptampt), in turn answerable to Heinrich Himmler’s Internal Ministry.
The first Commander of the Einsatzkommando in Trieste was Cristian Wirth, who arrived after 8 September 1943, after his previous involvement in the infamous "Aktion T4" programme. This notorious "mission", a wish of Hitler himself, involved the extermination of tens of thousands of mentally and physically handicapped citizens, as well as those classified as "incurably" sick. It was known as the "Euthanasia" programme. After Wirth was killed during by partisans in Erpelle on 26 May 1944, his command was taken over by August Dietrich Allers. The Commander of the San Sabba Rice Mill was Allers' right-hand man, Joseph Oberhauser.
The city of Trieste thus witnessed the passing through of many notable members of the upper ranks of the Nazi death squads. One of the most famous was SS Commandant Franz Stangl, the "Treblinka executioner", who was convicted by a German court in 1970 of the murders of 900,000 people. This concentration of top Nazi officials demonstrates the importance of the "Adriatic coast" for Hitler’s Third Reich.
Thanks to a courageous initiative by a group of ex-prisoners at the Risiera di San Sabba and by ANED, it was possible to organise a trial after the War, bringing those with the greatest responsibility to court. Some of those indicted received heavy sentences but under the protection of the Federal German Republic were able to escape punishment.

(Translation by Corey Dimarco)

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