Arthur Nebe had a high rank of SS-Gruppenführer, and was also the general of the German police. The reason for the execution was his alleged involvement in the assassination attempt on Hitler’s life, specifically in the famous conspiracy by Claus von Stauffenberg in 1944.
On this day in Hitler’s Germany, the high-ranking SS officer Arthur Nebe was executed. The reason for the execution was his alleged involvement in the assassination attempt on Hitler’s life, specifically in the famous conspiracy by Claus von Stauffenberg in 1944. This attempt of Hitler’s assassination and taking over the power in Germany was put on screen in the 2008 film “Valkyrie”, with Tom Cruise as Count Claus von Stauffenberg.
Arthur Nebe held the high rank of SS-Gruppenführer, and was also a general of the German police. By profession, Nebe was indeed a professional police officer. In fact, long before the Nazis came to power, Nebe was already employed in the German criminal police (Kriminalpolizei – abbreviation Kripo). There he had the rank of Commissioner (Kriminalkommissar). He joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP) and the infamous SS (Schutzstaffel) in 1931.
During World War II Nebe, as an experienced policeman, was appointed to high functions. During the attack on the Soviet Union he was at the forefront of the famous Einsatzgruppe B. It was an SS unit which had the task of destroying undesirable elements in the occupied territory – the Jews, Roma, communists, etc.
Eventually, Nebe became President of Interpol and the entire German Criminal Police (Kripo). When the conspiracy against Hilter’s life, in which Nebe apparently participated, was discovered, he was arrested and brought before the infamous “Volksgerichtshof” – a special court where those who the Nazi regime resented ended up. He was sentenced to death, and executed on this day, allegedly by hanging him with a piano wire from a meat hook.
