28 Facts About Erwin Schulz

Erwin Wilhelm Schulz was a German member of the Gestapo and the SS in Nazi Germany.

Erwin Schulz was the leader of Einsatzkommando 5, part of Einsatzgruppe C, which was attached to the Army Group South during the planned invasion of Soviet Union in 1941, and operated in the occupied territories of south-eastern Poland and Ukrainian SSR committing mass killings of civilian population, mostly men of Jewish ethnicity, under the command of SS-Brigadefuhrer Otto Rasch.

Erwin Schulz did not volunteer for the job, nor did he turn it down.

Under orders, Erwin Schulz would participate in the mass executions of Jewish men despite "serious misgivings" about his actions.

The request was granted within days, with Erwin Schulz being discharged on the orders of Reinhard Heydrich himself.

Erwin Schulz participated in the suppression of the Spartacist uprising as a member of the 3rd Guards Regiment, and was discharged later that year.

Erwin Schulz never received a doctorate in law, albeit some called him Dr Erwin Schulz.

Erwin Schulz left his studies to join the Freikorps Oberland in the spring of 1921.

Erwin Schulz joined the uniformed police force in Bremen, and in 1926 was appointed a police lieutenant.

Erwin Schulz secretly helped the Nazis gradually take over the offices of the Bremen police.

In June 1933, the intelligence division was changed into the Gestapo, and in November, Erwin Schulz was appointed the deputy chief.

In March 1938, Erwin Schulz was promoted to Sturmbannfuhrer and became the state councilor for the state of Bremen.

Erwin Schulz was much less stringent with the use of protective custody and disciplined excesses by his subordinates.

In May 1941, Erwin Schulz was appointed chief of Einsatzkommando 5.

Erwin Schulz himself was later proven to have presided over the executions of at least 90 to 100 men by his unit.

When Erwin Schulz convened with Otto Rasch at Zhytomyr on 10 August 1941, Rasch informed him that on the orders of Adolf Hitler, more Jews needed to be shot.

Shortly thereafter, Erwin Schulz questioned both Bruno Streckenbach and Reinhard Heydrich on this point; it was confirmed that this order had come from Hitler.

Erwin Schulz asked to be relieved of his post, saying he could not handle this kind of job.

Erwin Schulz was promoted to SS-Oberfuhrer, and appointed deputy to Erwin Rosener, SS and Police Leader and commander of SS-Oberabschnitt Alpenland from 1 to 28 May 1944.

Erwin Schulz admitted that at the time, he'd tried to rationalize the orders to himself, despite personally refusing to carry them out.

At the Einsatzgruppen Trial, Erwin Schulz claimed that the Lviv executions carried out by his men were legal.

Erwin Schulz said he had been told that the Russians had massacred about 5000 Ukrainians and Poles before fleeing.

Erwin Schulz claimed that German soldiers had been murdered, but could not say how many.

Lastly, Erwin Schulz said he'd freed 2000 detainees held in a stadium in Lviv after witnessing them being abused by Wehrmacht troops.

The court pointed out that while Erwin Schulz was on duty in Russia on 9 August 1941, his men had shot 400 Jews, described as mostly "saboteurs and political functionaries".

Erwin Schulz's men shot another 74 Jews up until this date.

The judges acknowledged that Erwin Schulz had been in Berlin at the time of these shootings, but said he was still in command of the unit.

In testimony at the trial of Bruno Streckenbach in the 1970s, Erwin Schulz said serving in the Einsatzgruppen was entirely voluntary:.