36 Facts About Odilo Globocnik

Odilo Lothar Ludwig Globocnik was an Austrian Nazi and a perpetrator of the Holocaust.

Odilo Globocnik was an official of the Nazi Party and later a high-ranking leader of the SS.

Odilo Globocnik killed himself shortly after his capture and detention by British soldiers.

Odilo Lothar Ludwig Globocnik was born on 21 April 1904 in the Imperial Free City of Trieste, then the capital of the Austrian Littoral administrative region of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Odilo Globocnik was the second child of Franz Globocnik, a Slovene cavalry lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian Army.

Odilo Globocnik says that Globocnik was ridiculed by other Nazis for his surname, because the Nazis classified Slavs as sub-human.

Odilo Globocnik's father was unable to save enough money required to get an officer's marriage permission and had to leave the service.

Odilo Globocnik's mother Anna, nee Petschinka, was born in Versecz, Kingdom of Hungary ; she was half-Serbian and half-Croatian.

In 1914, the family left Trieste for Cseklesz, where Franz Odilo Globocnik was recalled to active duty after the outbreak of the First World War.

Odilo Globocnik later enrolled at the Hohere Staatsgewerbeschule, where he passed his Matura and graduated with honours.

Odilo Globocnik worked as a porter at the railway station, among other jobs, to help financially support his family.

Odilo Globocnik first became politically active in 1922, when he became a prominent member of pre-Nazi Carinthian paramilitary organisations and was seen wearing a swastika.

Odilo Globocnik said that his paternal grandfather was an "Aryan" who was culturally Slavicized, but maintained his Germanic blood.

Odilo Globocnik was arrested because of his public support for the Nazi Party, as he had become a member of the party in 1931 while he was in Carinthia.

Odilo Globocnik's first documented activity for the NSDAP occurred in 1931 when he was documented as distributing propaganda for the party.

Odilo Globocnik was assigned to develop a courier and intelligence service for the NSDAP, which channelled funds from the German Reich into Austria.

Odilo Globocnik became a Deputy Gauleiter briefly in Vienna and then in Carinthia between January and May 1933.

Odilo Globocnik was appointed as the head of the party intelligence apparatus in Carinthia, serving from 1934 to 1936.

Odilo Globocnik was a key player in the usurpation of the Austrian government by the Nazis.

Odilo Globocnik launched a crusade against the Church, and the Nazis confiscated property, closed Catholic organisations and sent many priests to Dachau.

Odilo Globocnik was relieved of his posts and stripped of his party honours on 30 January 1939, when it was discovered that he was involved in illegal foreign currency speculation.

Himmler liked Odilo Globocnik and recognised the value of the Austrian.

In late 1939, Odilo Globocnik was pardoned, promoted to SS-Brigadefuhrer, and assigned to Lublin province.

At a two-hour meeting with Himmler on 13 October 1941, Odilo Globocnik received verbal approval to begin construction of the Belzec extermination camp, the first such camp in the General Government.

Shortly beforehand, in September 1941, Odilo Globocnik had been visited by Philipp Bouhler and Viktor Brack, the top officials in the Fuhrer Chancellery responsible for the Aktion T4 "euthanasia" program, which had been using gas chambers disguised as shower rooms to execute many of its victims.

On or about 1 October 1941, Odilo Globocnik wrote a memorandum to Himmler containing proposals for actions against the Jews "of a security policy nature," and the 13 October meeting was held to discuss this memorandum and related subjects.

At the 13 October 1941 meeting with Himmler, Odilo Globocnik proposed exterminating the Jews in assembly-line fashion in a concentration camp, using gas chambers.

Odilo Globocnik was complicit in the extermination of more than 1.5 million Jews of Polish, Czech, Dutch, French, Russian, Slovak, German, Portuguese, Turkish, Spanish and Austrian origin, as well as a smaller number of non-Jews, in the death camps under his control.

Odilo Globocnik exploited Jews and non-Jews as slave labourers in his own forced labour camps.

Odilo Globocnik was responsible for seizing the properties and valuables of murdered inmates while in charge of Operation Reinhard.

On 9 November 1942, Odilo Globocnik was promoted to SS-Gruppenfuhrer and Generalleutnant der Polizei.

Odilo Globocnik was tracked down and captured by a British armoured cavalry unit on 31 May 1945 in Carinthia, Austria.

Odilo Globocnik was taken to Paternion in Villach-Land District to be interrogated.

However, before he was questioned, Odilo Globocnik committed suicide by biting on a cyanide capsule.

Odilo Globocnik's body was taken to be buried in a local churchyard, but the priest reportedly refused to have "the body of such a man" resting in consecrated ground.

Odilo Globocnik is a key antagonist in the Robert Harris alternative-history novel Fatherland; by 1964, he is still alive and a top SS official.