Otto-Heinrich Drechsler

Otto-Heinrich Drechsler (1 April 1895 – 5 May 1945) was a prominent German dentist, mayor of Lübeck, and during the Second World War from 1941 through 1944 he resided in Riga as the General Commissioner of Latvia for the Nazi occupation regime (Reichskommissariat Ostland).

Early life
Drechsler originally intended a career as professional military officer. In 1914 he became an officer cadet (Fahnenjunker) in the Lübeck infantry regiment of the German Army. As company leader he was severely wounded and as a result, he lost a leg. He was mustered out of the Reichswehr in 1920. During the Weimar Republic Drechsler began the study of dentistry, and obtained the degree of Doctor of Dental Arts. In this time, he became a member of the Nordic Union.

Nazi career
In 1925 Drechsler joined the Nazi party; later, he would become supervisor ("Oberstaffelführer") of an SA motor pool.

From 1 August 1932 through 31 May 1933, Drechsler was acting Gauleiter (a high rank in the Nazi party) for the party district ("Gau") encompassing Mecklenburg and Lübeck. On 26 May 1933, Lübeck together with both Mecklenburgs was placed under the authority of a National Governor (Reichsstathalter) named Friedrich Hildebrandt. He assumed office Lübeck on 8 June 1933 with great pomp and promoted his fellow veteran Drechsler as mayor (Bürgermeister) and Friedrich Völtzer as Senator for Finance and the economy. Additional senators included the Nazis Emil Bannemann (Labor and Welfare), Walther Schröder (Interior), Ulrich Burgstaller (Education and Theater) and Hans Böhmcker (Justice).

Between 1933 and 1937, Drechsler was mayor of Lübeck. In addition to his position as mayor, at the same time he was President of the Senate of Lübeck as in the Prussian state council. Starting 1 April 1937 he was the first "Senior Mayor of the Prussian Hansa City Lübeck Metropolitan Area ("Oberbürgermeister des preußischen Stadtkreises Hansestadt Lübeck"), and simultaneously from 17 July 1941 through 1944, as Commissioner General (Generalkommissar) for the Nazi occupation authority Reichskommissariat Ostland, he was responsible for the concentration camps in Latvia.

Actions during World War II
As territorial commissioner for Latvia, Dreschler took up quarters in Riga at the beginning of August, 1941. At that point in time the military administration had not yet handed over authority to the civil administration. A leading co-worker in the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories (Reichsministerium für die besetzen Ostegebiete or RMfdbO), Otto Bräutigam, noted in his diary of having had a conflict with the military authorities. These disputes, particularly those involving Drechsler's administrative superior, Hinrich Lohse, were never fully resolved. Based on a settlement with RMfdbO, formal assignment of authority over the administration of Latvian territory, including Riga, was effected on September 1, 1941. One historian, Lumans, states that like Lohse, Drechsler was sympathetic to a limited autonomy for Latvians, but unlike Lohse, he worked well with the SS, except for Friedrich Jeckeln, the organizer of huge massacres of Jews at Babi Yar, Rumbula and many other places. In addition to his other positions, Drechsler was a member of the board of overseers of an industrial firm called Hochofenwerkes Lübeck AG.

Involvement in The Holocaust
Throughout the time that Drechsler was in Latvia, large numbers of massacres, particularly of Jews, were carried out by the Germans, together with substantial assistance from Latvian collaborators. In addition, the Jews of Latvia were confined to ghettos, which facilitated their enslavement and murder. As early as July, 1941, Drechsler was informed, by his subordinate Gebietskommissar Alnor, of the massacres of the Jews in Ventspils. By October, 1941, Heinrich Himmler developed a plan (later abandoned) for establishing, near Riga, an extermination camp, of a type that was later developed at Auschwitz concentration camp and other places in Poland. Jews from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia (the so-called "Reich Jews") were to be deported to this camp and then murdered. In late October, Himmler informed Lohse and Drechsler of this plan. Also in October, 1941, Drechsler received another report from Alnor, this one concerning the ongoing massacres of the Jews in Liepāja. In the fall of 1941, Drechsler was closely involved in setting up the Riga ghetto as a confinement zone for Jews. Historian Ezergailis states that Drechsler may have been present at the largest massacre, at Rumbula, on November 30, 1941. The great majority of the victims at Rumbula were from the Riga ghetto.

Capture and suicide
Drechsler was captured by the British Army after the occupation of Lübeck. Shortly thereafter, on 5 May 1945, he committed suicide.