pencil sketch of a Nazi by Dr K Prabhakar Rao

RICHARD  WENDLER

Richard Wendler (22 January 1898, Oberndorf bei Salzburg – 24 August 1972, Prien am Chiemsee) was a high-ranking Nazi official during World War II. During the occupation of Poland, he was the Governor of new District Lublin in the General Government, in charge of Lublin concentration camp and the creation of the Częstochowa Ghetto, among others. Before his deployment to Poland, he was the mayor of the city Hof between 1933 and 1941 and became an SS-Gruppenführer in 1942 during the murderous Operation Reinhard.Wendler was Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler's brother-in-law; his sister was married to a brother of Himmler.After the beginning of World War II, Wendler was the city commissioner in Kielce. From early November 1939, he was Stadthauptmann in Częstochowa.[4] In 1940, he took over the same position in Radom, and in this capacity, ordered, among other things, the installation of a ghetto in Częstochowa. From 31 January 1942 to 26 May 1943, he was the governor of the district of Kraków. Thereafter, until 22 July 1944, he was governor of the Lublin district, after which he fled from the advancing Red Army.In May 1945, he fell into American captivity and went by the false name Kummermehr while there. For this reason, Wendler was not transferred to Poland, but rather released from Allied internment in September 1945. Afterwards, he worked as a construction worker. On 3 August 1948, he was arrested and imprisoned by a Denazification court. On 22 December 1948, as a "Hauptschuldige" (Group I - Major Offender), he was sentenced to four years in a labor camp. In April 1949, the sentence was reduced to three years in prison. During the process, Wendler denied any knowledge of the deportations of Jews. On 12 September 1952, he was classified as "Belastete" (Group 2 - Offender). He was classified as a "Mitläufer" (Group 4 - Follower) by pardon of Bavarian Minister-President Wilhelm Hoegner on 28 October 1955, and thereby was able to again obtain admission to the bar in Munich in 1955. He died in August 1972.