Ernst Damzog

SS-Standartenführer Ernst Damzog (Strassburg, 1882 – 1945, Halle) was a Nazi German policeman, Generalmajor, SS-Brigadeführer, member of Gestapo and war criminal responsible for the mass murder of Poles and Jews committed in the territory of occupied Poland during World War II. Damzog joined the SS on June 15, 1933 with the card number 36,157; and became the member of NSDAP on May 1, 1937 with the number 5,081,001.

Invasion of Poland
In September 1939, during the invasion of Poland, Damzog served as colonel (SS-Standartenführer) of Einsatzgruppe V (EG V-Allenstein) deployed with the 3rd Army (Wehrmacht) in Reichsgau Wartheland (Warthegau) carved out of the Polish lands annexed by Nazi Germany. He was responsible for the mass executions of Polish citizens following the victorious Battle of Grudziądz (Graudenz) practically eradicating the entire Jewish population of the town. He was also in control of execution of medical patients in order to empty state hospitals, which he entrusted to his subordinate officer Herbert Lange. After the annexation of western Poland, Damzog served in occupied Poznań (Posen) as the police inspector for both Sicherheitspolizei and Sicherheitsdienst (SD), under the command of (SS-Obergruppenführer) Wilhelm Koppe sent to Posen on 30 September 1939.

While in Poznań, Damzog was actively involved in the mass expulsions of Poles from Reichsgau Wartheland to General Government, including after the 1941 German attack across the Soviet zone of occupation. He personally selected staff for the killing centre in Chełmno extermination camp and supervised its daily operation. The first victims there came from the local villages, and the mass killings with the use of gas vans started on December 8, 1941. It was the precursor to the Final Solution, because the idea of systematic genocide by gassing of the able bodies was not yet fully explored. Damzog is said to have related his 'experiments' to both Koppe and Greiser.

Damzog was stationed in the Gau until 1945, and promoted to the rank of SS-Brigadeführer as well as Generalmajor in 1944 for his swift and  police actions. Damzog was transferred back to Germany ahead of the Soviet offensive. He died in Halle in Saxony during the Allied military campaign of 1945.