page_title: Franz Kutschera
section_title: Assassination
hierarchical_section_title: Franz Kutschera / Life / Assassination
caption_attribution_description: Polski: Pałac Leszczyńskich w Warszawie w Al. Ujazdowskich 23English: Leszczyński Palace at 23 Ujazdowskie Avenue in Warsaw This is a photo of a monument in Poland identified by the ID 625095
context_page_description: Franz Kutschera was an Austrian Nazi politician and government official. He held numerous political and military positions with the Nazi Party and the Schutzstaffel both before and after the German Anschluss of Austria in 1938. During World War II he served with the SS in France, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union.
  In 1943 he was appointed SS and Police Leader in German-occupied Warsaw, the capital of Poland. Due to his crimes against Poles - including Polish Jews - the Polish resistance Home Army, in agreement with the Polish government in exile, targeted him for assassination. He was gunned down by the Poles in front of the SS headquarters in Warsaw in a special operation by Kedyw, a dedicated Polish special operations unit.
  In reprisal, the Nazis murdered 300 Polish civilians.
context_section_description: Following his discovery by Rayski, Kutschera was tried in absentia by a secret Special Court of the Polish Underground State. He was charged with crimes against the Polish nation, in particular, the routine mass murder of Polish civilians in Warsaw. Kutschera was convicted and sentenced to death. In London the leadership of the Polish government-in-exile concurred with 
  the decision of the Special Court and approved Kutschera's death sentence. The execution order was soon drafted and relayed to the commander of Kedyw, Brigadier General Emil August Fieldorf (Nil), whose organization had been given the tasks of planning and performing the assassination.
  The execution was carried out by the combat-sabotage unit of Kedyw (the predecessor of Battalion Parasol). The assassination team consisted of 12 individual operatives, mostly members of the scouting and guiding Gray Ranks. It was planned to carry out the execution in front of the Warsaw SS Headquarters at 23 Ujazdów Avenue. On the morning of 1 February 1944 three Kedyw gunmen: Bronisław Pietraszewicz (Lot), who was armed with a German MP 40 submachine gun; Zdzisław Poradzki (Kruszynka), carrying a British Sten; and Michał Issajewicz (Miś), armed with a Luger pistol, ambushed Kutschera as his limousine approached SS Headquarters and opened fire directly into the car. Both Kutschera and his driver were shot multiple times and killed. An intense firefight ensued between nearby Germans troops and the other members of the assassination team in which four Poles and two Germans were killed.
  Kutschera's funeral ceremony was held by the Nazis at Brühl palace and his body was later transported to Berlin aboard a special train. On 2 February 1944 the German authorities in Warsaw staged a public execution of 300 Polish civilian hostages as a reprisal for the assassination. The Germans also imposed a crushing 100 million złoty tribute on the Polish residents of Warsaw and Warsaw County. Kutschera was succeeded as SS and Police leader by Paul Otto Geibel in March, 1944.
caption: Leszczyński Palace Ujazdowskie 23
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