Arpad Wigand
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Mannheim, Grand Duchy of Baden, German Empire
Mannheim, West Germany
Nazi GermanyWaffen-SS
Arpad Wigand | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 13 January 1906 Mannheim, Grand Duchy of Baden, German Empire |
| Died | 26 July 1983 (aged 77) Mannheim, West Germany |
| Allegiance | Nazi Germany |
| Branch | Allgemeine-SS Waffen-SS |
| Years of service | 1930–1945 |
| Rank | SS-Oberführer |
| Unit | Reich Security Main Office |
| Commands | Inspekteur der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD, Breslau SS and Police Leader, Warsaw |
| Battles / wars | World War II |
| Awards | Iron Cross, 1st and 2nd class War Merit Cross, 2nd class |
Arpad Jakob Valentin Wigand (13 January 1906 – 26 July 1983) was a German Nazi officer with the rank of SS-Oberführer who served as the SS and Police Leader (SSPF) in Warsaw from 4 August 1941 until 23 April 1943 during the occupation of Poland in World War II. He was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to prison.
Wigand was born the son of a railwayman in Mannheim. After completing secondary school, he began an apprenticeship with the Deutsche Reichsbahn in 1922. However, after completing his training, he was not hired due to austerity measures at the railway. From 1925 onward, he earned his living as a commercial clerk in Düsseldorf. He lost this job in 1931 as a result of the Great Depression.[1]
Peacetime SS career
Wigand became a member of the Nazi Party in 1926 (membership number 30,682) and of the Schutzstaffel (SS number 2,999) in 1930. As an early Party member, he would later be awarded the Golden Party Badge.[2] From 1931, he served in several SS-Standarte as an adjutant and staff officer. He commanded the 70th SS-Standarte from September 1935 to the beginning of July 1936 and then the 16th SS-Standarte. He was posted to the SD-Hauptamt under Reinhard Heydrich in 1937 and became the SD commander in SD-Oberabschnitt (main district) "Ost" in Berlin. From 1 September 1937, to July 1941, he was the Inspekteur der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD for Wehrkreis (military district) VIII, headquartered in Breslau (today, Wrocław), Silesia. While in this post, he attained his last promotion in the Allgemeine-SS to SS-Oberführer on 20 April 1938.[3]
SS and police leader in Poland and Waffen-SS service
Following the start of the Second World War, as an aide to Erich von dem Bach Zelewski, Wigand first suggested the site in Upper Silesia of the former Austrian and later Polish artillery barracks[4] in the Zasole suburb of Oswiecim for a concentration camp in January 1940. This site would evolve into the Auschwitz concentration camp which went on to become a major site of the Nazi "Final Solution to the Jewish question" resulting in the death of up to 1,000,000 Jews.[5]
On 4 August 1941, Wigand was appointed SS and Police Leader (SSPF) in Warsaw. In mid-October 1941, at a meeting in Warsaw, he expressed the opinion that the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto were incapable of resistance due to their poor nutritional status.[6] Wigand was entrusted by Heinrich Himmler on 17 April 1942, with the construction of the Treblinka extermination camp.[7]
In July 1942, Wigand transferred to the Waffen-SS and his duties as SSPF in Warsaw were assumed by Ferdinand von Sammern-Frankenegg in an acting capacity, until he was formally replaced as SSPF by Jürgen Stroop on 23 April 1943. In the Waffen-SS, Wigand served as a platoon leader with the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen from September 1942, then as an adjutant with the same division from spring 1943, and finally as commander of the 3rd battalion of the 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian) until February 1945. During his war service, Wigand was awarded the Iron Cross, 1st and 2nd class and the War Merit Cross, 2nd class.[8]
