Carl Oberg

General Carl Albrecht Oberg (27 January 1897 – 3 June 1965) was the Higher SS and Police Leader (HSSPF) of France during the Second World War. Oberg deported well over 40,000 Jews from France. After the war he was twice sentenced to death by two different courts. However, in 1958 the death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and later reduced to 20 years hard labor. Thereafter, Oberg was pardoned and released on 28 November 1962.

Nazi career
He joined the NSDAP (Nazi Party) on 1 April 1931 and the SS on 7 April 1932. After meeting Reinhard Heydrich in May, 1933, he asked Heydrich for a job and joined the SD. Oberg was later promoted to an SS-Oberführer and made the police administrator for Hanover. He served in that capacity from September, 1938 until January 1939. Next, Oberg served as Police President of Zwickau until late 1941. He served as SS-und Polizeiführer (SS and Police Leader - SSPF), "Radom" from August 1941 to May, 1942. Oberg was promoted to SS-Brigadeführer on 20 April 1942.

From May 1942 to November 1944, Oberg served as Higher SS and Police Leader (Höherer SS-und Polizeiführer, HSSPF) "Frankreich" (France) over all German police forces in France, including the SD and Gestapo. He was the supreme authority in France for managing anti-Jewish policy and the battle against the French Resistance. He thus drove the rounding up of Jews in the Paris Velodrome d'Hiver ("la rafle du Vel d'hiv") in 1942. On Heydrich's orders, Oberg deported over 40,000 Jews from the country.

Post-war trial, sentence, and reprieve
Oberg was arrested by the US military in June, 1945 and sentenced to death by a British court before receiving another death sentence from the French in October, 1954. In 1958, the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by French President René Coty, and later reduced to 20 years hard labor. Oberg was pardoned and released on 28 November 1962.

Ranks and positions

 * June 1935 - promoted to SS-Standartenführer.
 * November 1935 - January 1937. Commander for 22.SS-Standarte, "Mecklenburg", in Schwerin.
 * January 1937 - December 1938. Stabsführer for SS-Abschnitt IV, Hannover.
 * September 1938 - January 1939. Police administrator for Hannover.
 * January 1939 - September 1941. Police President for Zwickau.
 * Spring 1942 - promoted to SS-Brigadeführer and Generalmajor der Polizei.
 * August 1941 - May 1942. SS and Police Leader "Radom".
 * May 1942 - November 1944. Higher SS and Police Leader "Frankreich".
 * April 1943 - promoted to SS-Gruppenführer and Generalleutnant der Polizei.
 * September 1944 - promoted to SS-Obergruppenführer.
 * March 1945 - promoted to General der Waffen-SS.