Stroop Report

SS-Brigadeführer Jürgen Stroop and SS Officer Look Up during the Fighting

SS Officer Looks Up during the Fighting

As with many photos in the work, almost every SS officer has been identified. This study found that only a handful of Nazi personnel were ever tried after the war for their participation in the destruction of the Ghetto. After the war, American forces apprehended Stroop and tried him for war crimes. He was convicted, but before he could be executed at Landsberg Military Prison, Poland requested his extradition so he could be tried there. That guilty conviction led to his execution in Warsaw.

SS-Brigadeführer Jürgen Stroop and SS Officer Look Up during the FightingThe Fifth Field2016-02-28T18:26:59-06:00

Jürgen Stroop, the SS Commander at Warsaw

Jürgen Stroop, the SS commander at Warsaw

Jürgen Stroop is looking at a paper or a map. Soldiers around him stand at the ready, indicating that he is in or close to the Jewish Ghetto. Stroop was born at Detmold, North Rhine-Westphalia, on September 26, 1895. He fought as an enlisted man in World War I, winning the Iron Cross 2nd Class. Stroop joined the Nazi Party and SS in the 1930s. In 1941, Stroop fought on the Russian Front with the 3rd SS Totenkopf Division in the Waffen-SS. Jürgen Stroop then became the Inspector of the Security Police in South Russia and then the SS and Police Leader for Lemberg. He then assumed duties as the SS and Police Leader for Warsaw in April 1943, received the Iron Cross First Class and was apprehended after the war. Turned over to Poland, Jürgen Stroop was convicted by a Polish court of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death. The Poles hanged Jürgen Stroop on the site of the former Jewish Warsaw Ghetto on March 6, 1952.

Jürgen Stroop, the SS Commander at WarsawThe Fifth Field2016-02-28T18:27:54-06:00

German 20mm Cannon at the Warsaw Ghetto

German 20mm Cannon at the Ghetto

The round has just exploded against the building, near the roof, in front. These are German Army – not SS – troops, likely from the Light Alarm Flak Battery 3/VIII.

German 20mm Cannon at the Warsaw GhettoThe Fifth Field2016-02-28T18:28:10-06:00

German SS and Army officers in discussion in Warsaw

Given the stance of the SS soldier at left, the group is probably in the small factory area of the Ghetto. The SS wanted to liquidate the Ghetto; the German Army wanted the factories to continue production of small goods they needed.

German SS and Army officers in discussion in WarsawThe Fifth Field2016-02-28T18:28:25-06:00