SS officer who never stood on trial
1948 post-war issued passport to a former SS Standartenführer.
Today it has become a known fact that many former SS and Nazi party members avoided trial and imprisonment after the war. Majority of them lived in relatively safe and calm conditions around the world: Canada, US, Australia, South America and even in the Middle East.
One of those individuals was Karl von Krempler (May 26th 1896 – April 17th 1971) who was a high ranking SS & Police official who during the war recruited and ran Muslim Bosnian units for the SS.
His served during World War One in the K.u.K Austro-Hungarian army, being released from active duty in 1920 at the rank of Lieutenant (Oberleutnant).
Being fluent in several languages, such as German, Turkish & Serbian, put him in a position of being recruited to the SS by Heinrich Himmler himself in 1942. He was seen as an expert on Islam and was assigned to form the 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian), also known as the Bosniak Handschar Division.
One of his war time duties was the coordination of security for the visit of Mohammad Amin al-Husayni (Grand Mufti of Jerusalem) in Bosnia. This visit took place during March 30th to April 14th of 1942.
In September of 1943 he was also appointed to the highest Police & SS position possible for Serbia and Montenegro (an area also called Sandžak) and formed what was then called Kampfgruppe Krempler or the “Muselmanengruppe von Krempler“. He was replaced in June 1944 by SS Oberführer Richard Kaaserer, commanding the Sandschak Regiment until November 28th. January 1945 saw his last appointment to the administrative staff of the 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian).
13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar
After the war Karl von Krempler managed to escape Tito’s Yugoslavia to the west, to Austria, and thus avoid the probable war-crimes trial and execution that awaited him. He passed away in Salzburg on April 17th 1972, never standing trial.
Thank you for reading “Our Passports”.
Neil
Could be. But if they only research individuals who committed crimes against the Jews, then they may have not been interested. I d not think they could go after every one at the end.