Hans-Joachim Riecke or Hans-Joachim Ernst Riecke was a German Nazi politician and Gruppenfuhrer in the SS.
10 Facts About Hans-Joachim Riecke
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Hans-Joachim Riecke was Backe's accomplice in planning and implementing the Hunger Plan which resulted in the death by starvation of millions of people in the Soviet Union.
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Hans-Joachim Riecke studied agriculture at the University of Leipzig and graduated in 1925 with a degree in farming.
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From 1925 Hans-Joachim Riecke worked in the Chamber of Agriculture of Westphalia in Munster, most recently as head of the Department of Agriculture.
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Hans-Joachim Riecke headed the agricultural section of the Economic Staff East of the Four Year Plan, whose guidelines appeared on 23 May 1941 and acknowledged that mass starvation would occur among the Slavic civilian populations under German occupation by directing all food supplies to the German home front and the Wehrmacht deployed on the Eastern Front.
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Hans-Joachim Riecke simultaneously served as head of the "Chief Group for Agriculture" in the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories to better coordinate agricultural policies in the East.
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On 1 June 1942, Hans-Joachim Riecke was named acting State Secretary in the Agriculture Ministry; on 17 July 1944 he became permanent State Secretary.
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Hans-Joachim Riecke was arrested on 23 May 1945 and interned until March 1949.
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In denazification proceedings, Hans-Joachim Riecke was classified as "Group II" and on 30 October 1950 was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment but was released on the basis of time served.
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From 1952 to 1970 Riecke was an official and head of the Economics Department of the Alfred C Toepfer Company, which operated, among other areas, in global trade in agricultural products, particularly grain.