Paul Blobel, commanding officer of Einsatzkommando 4a. Part One.
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Published 2024-01-05
On 10 August 1914 he joined the army as a war volunteer at the recruit depot of the reserve battalion of Pioneer Regiment No. 24 (Cologne). On 27 November 1914 he was at the front line.
.On 9 May 1918 he was taken to field hospital number 368, whether wounded or sick, the record does not say. On 28 November 1918 he was discharged from the military.
After being demobbed, Blobel found it difficult to get work and lived in Remscheid. He went back to the trade school for the construction industry in Barmen again. In 1921 he found work and for the next three years worked for various companies in the Solingen area. In 1924, he began to work as a self-employed architect. He became unemployed again in 1928 and following the 1929 crash had a longer period of unemployment from 1930 – 1933 when he lived off benefits. During this time, he joined the National Socialist party. Blobel became a member of the NSDAP on 1 December 1931 with the membership number 844662. He joined the SS in January 1932 with membership number is 29100. He was also a member of the Reichskolonialbund, Luftschutzbund, NSV and for a time was a member of the Reichsbund of the visual arts. He advanced as far as Scharfuehrer in the general SS, roughly equivalent of lieutenant and to Standartenfuehrer in the SD which is roughly equivalent of Colonel.
In 1933 he found office work in the city administration, although at his trial he claimed he was earning only a pittance. In 1935 he was doing some free lance work in the offices of the Dusseldorf SD when he came in contact with a National Socialist official who either suggested that he could get a better job by using his party contacts or Blobel seeing how well the other person was doing, decided to pull some party weight. Whatever the plan, it worked out well for him. In June 1935, he was employed by the SD security service in Dusseldorf. His job there was in intelligence gathering and administration. He must have been good at it as in May 1941 he was ordered to the Reich Security Main Office in Berlin and thus began his ten year journey of horror that would lead him to the execution chamber in Landsberg prison.
At his trial, Blobel stated that he was appointed head of Einsatzkommando 4a in June 1941, and in that month he went to the police border training facility at Pretzsch in Middle Saxony. This was the murder meeting of the heads of the Einsatzkommando just before the invasion of the Soviet Union. Einsatzkommando 4a was part of Einsatzgruppe C, the latter was under the command of Dr. dr Otto Rasch, the two doctors before his name indicating his qualifications. The area of operations assigned to Bobel’s Einsatzkommando was in the area of the 6th Army, which was commanded by Field Marshal von Reichenau.
Blobel participated in a number of mass killings during this time which were documented in situation reports sent to Berlin and later documented in both the International Military Tribunal and in the Einsatzgruppen trial. The mass killings started almost immediately. From 27 – 29 June 1941 Blobel killed what was termed as ‘300 Jews and 317 communists in the region of Sokal and Łuck in the part of Poland which had been occupied by the Soviet Union in September 1939 and then captured by Nazi Germany. Around 29 July 2,531 people were killed near Zhitomir and in July or August 1941 in Fastow, south west of Kyiv: "all Jews between the ages of 12 and 60". At his trial, Blobel confessed that in August or September 1941 an execution took place at Korosten, around 80km north of Zhitomir in which about 700 to 1000 men were shot and in which Dr. dr RASH was also present. Documents also show that this Einsatzkommando killed in September or October 1941 on the road between Wirna ( Вірна ) and Dederow ( Дедеров ): “32 Gypsies ”, at Kyiv on 29 – 30 September 1941 33,771 Jews, on 8 October 1941 in Jagotin : "125 Jews", on 16 October 1941 1,800 people in Lubny and on 23 November 1941 in Poltava : "1,538 Jews"
A summary report stated that between 22 June and 12 October in its area of operations more than 51,000 people had been killed.
All Comments (21)
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Excellent history and story telling. My father was a WW2 vet. He arrived in Europe in the last weeks of the war and was part of damage assessment by the Allies after the war ended. He was very fascinated by how Germany could have been overcome by these personalities who brought about such destruction. Every father around me had also been in the conflict. Discussion of what had occurred was a common topic. I believe parents wanted to make sure we children understood that it was a true horror and no society was immune to losing its moral compass. Thank you for detailing these ordinary people who acted out the worst of human instincts. We really must not forget this great human tragedy which sucked so much goodness out of life.
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The worst of the worst. The story of the babies infants ending up in a shed barn as like residue from the Kyiv babi yar round up and having their short lives ended there by Blobel & colleagues is haunting.
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I heard he was relieved because of "Nervous exhaustion" supposedly brought on by a combination of excessive drinking and the mass killing.
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I believe he had a few mental breakdowns it was quite common in the Einsatzgruppen.
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Hitler benefiseries. Unemployed to a good salary and all the booze you can drink. That said I can understand why the carrying out of the sentence was difficult and highlighting resentment to occupation. I'm sure the air war was seen as just by the Allies, especially as the magnitude of these crimes were revealed. That said, I'm also sure that view was not shared by the Germans complicating Post War prosecutions. Your videos deserve more recognition Alan, well done. But I disagree with you on Dresden. 🙏🇦🇺
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It was an informative and wonderful historical coverage video..about ( Paul Blobel ) executioner...who participated and ordered firing squads to murderers Nazism victims during WW2...thank you an excellent ( History on YouTube) channel and respectful 🙏 Sir Alan for sharing
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Paul Blobel did end the nazi career as quite high ranking officer due to his alcololism...the ironic in this that alcoholics in third reich ended up in either Aktion T4 or in a camp somewhere. I don't know who was the worst, he, Dirlwanger or Schhäfer. As a "mitgeleiter" of SS you probably needed to be quite unsympatchic person I belive.
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I often wondered when these men were walking to their death were they scared , did they ask for forgiveness, were they sorry for what they have done.
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Thank you for another amazing video. Thank you for your work...always looking forward to your presentations!
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Nearly fell asleep
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Surely he is better known for the brutality of Aktion 1005?
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Please put the identity unit before Einsatz Kommando as there were also Heer, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine Einsatz Kommandos.
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Ooo good choice of music. Fun song title!
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0:31 I could've sworn for a moment that this was Chairman Mao
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Another walk on the darkside from possibly the best historian on a public platform regarding this grim era in contemporary history. Yes, Blobel is associated with Babi Yar and Aktion 1005, he is also linked to cremation techniques at Chelmno and regarded as a 'specialist' in body disposal. For a pretty good job at dramatising his grisly activities see War and Remembrance, if you can with Robert Mitchum's huge gut squashing delicate flower Victoria Principal in the love scenes (yuk). He ended up hiding out in a monastery I believe after he'd been treated for alcoholism which was extremely common amongst the einsatzkommando. A pathetic creature really, just like most of them. Keep going we need you
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Good on you for taking the time to study this extraordinary period of #OurHistory, I wish you all the very best. ☘️ 📚
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Pail Blobel está revolcándose en el infierno 🔥
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10:50 Scharführer (meaning "squad leader") was the equivalent of sergeant, not lieutenant.
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Israel learned a lot from this.
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Wheres sonofyorks witty comments. Hecsure thinks he knows more than he actually knows.
