Hanns Albin Rauter | |
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![]() SS-Brigadeführer Hanns Albin Rauter
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Born | 4 February 1895 Klagenfurt, Austro-Hungarian Empire |
Died |
24 March 1949 (aged 54) Near Scheveningen, Netherlands |
Allegiance |
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Service/branch |
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Years of service | 1914–1919, 1921, 1927–1945 |
Rank | SS-Obergruppenführer and General of Police |
Unit | Gestapo |
Commands held | Chief of the SS & Police of the Netherlands (1940–1945) |
Battles/wars |
World War I World War II |
Johann Baptist Albin Rauter (4 February 1895 – 24 March 1949) was a high-ranking Austrian-born Nazi war criminal. He was the highest SS and Police Leader in the occupied Netherlands and therefore the leading security and police officer there during the period of 1940–1945. He reported directly to the Nazi SS-chief, Heinrich Himmler, and in the second instance to the Nazi governor of the Netherlands, Arthur Seyss-Inquart. After World War II he was convicted in the Netherlands of crimes against humanity and executed by firing squad.
Born in Klagenfurt, Rauter graduated from High school in 1912 and started training as an Engineer at the Graz University of Technology. At the outbreak of World War I Rauter volunteered for service in the Austro-Hungarian Army. He served with a Gebirgsschützenregiment and was discharged in 1919, having reached the rank of Oberleutnant. Rauter took part in the Kärntner Freiheitskampf of 1919, and from May until July 1921 he fought in the Freikorps Oberland in Oberschlesien. For his service during the war, Rauter received several decorations including Austrian Military Merit Cross 3rd Class with War decoration, Silver Medal for Bravery, Wound Medal or Karl Troop Cross.
Rauter first met Adolf Hitler in 1929 and joined the National Socialist cause in Austria. His forays in Austria forced him to flee to Germany in 1933, where he became part of the NSDAP department for Austria. He joined the SA, and was active in planning illegal NSDAP activities in Austria. In 1935 he left the SA to become a member of the SS. Until 1940 he was the Leader of the SS Southeast department in Breslau.