Erich Ehrlinger Erich Ehrlinger ( born 14 October 1910 , Giengen an der Brenz , Kingdom of Württemberg — d . 31 July 2004 , Karlsruhe , Baden - Württemberg ) was a member of the Nazi Party ( number : 541 , 195 ) and SS ( number : 107 , 493 ) . As commander of Special Detachment ( " Sonderkommando " , also known as " Einsatzkommando " or EK ) 1b , he was responsible for mass murder in the Baltic states and Belarus . He was also the commander of the Security Police ( SiPo ) and the Security Service ( SD ) for central Russia as well as a department chief in the Reich Main Security Office ( " Reichssicherheitshauptamt " or RSHA ) . He did not hold a doctorate degree , as is sometimes reported . He would eventually rise to the rank of SS - " Standartenführer " . Youth and education . Ehrlinger was the son of the mayor of Giengen an der Brenz , a small town in southwestern Germany , in what is now the state of Baden - Württemberg . In 1928 he completed high school ( " Abitur " ) in Heidenheim , then studied law in Tübingen , Kiel , Berlin ( where in 1931 he joined the SA ) and then back at Tübingen . The nationalist and xenophobic atmosphere at the University of Tübingen ( already by 1931 there were no longer any Jewish professors there ) fit in well with his later legal career in the SD , the RSHA , and the " Einsatzgruppen " . Ehrlinger was not only active at the university . According to his SA certificate of good conduct , " Ehrlinger was one of the few Tübingen - connected students , who even before the seizure of power put himself regularly where he was needed with the propaganda or other service . " Nazi career . After he completed an SA leadership training course in 1934 , Ehrlinger gave up his legal career and became a full - time SA functionary . He was the leader of an SA sport school at Rieneck Castle and then a " Training Chief " ( " Chef AW " for " SA - Ausbildungswesen " ) . In May 1935 , Ehrlinger was accepted into the SD . By September 1935 , he had been assigned to the main office of the Berlin SD . Ehrlinger was with the SD in 1938 during the Nazi takeovers in Austria and in April 1939 in Prague . Crimes during World War II . Ehrlinger was with the headquarters staff of " Einsatzgruppe IV " during the German attack on Poland in September 1939 . In August 1940 he went to Norway for the build up of the " Waffen - SS " there under his later chief , Franz Walter Stahlecker . In April 1941 , he took over leadership of Special Commando ( " Sonderkommando " ) 1b , which was part of " Einsatzgruppe A " , of which Stahlecker was overall commander . After the beginning of the German invasion of the Soviet Union , on June 22 , 1941 , Ehrlinger ' s unit , 70 to 80 men strong , followed behind Army Group North in the Baltic states and the area south of Leningrad . Ehrlinger led the mass murder of Jews behind the front , in particular in the ghettos of Kovno , Dünaburg and Rositten . For example , on 16 July 1941 , the SD entered Dünaburg . Ehrlinger reported that " [ a ] s of now the EK 1b has killed 1 , 150 Jews in Dünaburg . " Ehrlinger himself oversaw these shootings , euphemistically called " actions " , as a " hardened SS perpetrator who stood at the shoot pit and led the killers in the shooting . " In December 1941 , after the completion of the work of " Einsatzkommando 1b " , Ehrlinger was promoted to commandant of the Security Police and SD ( " Kommandeur der Sicherheitspolize und des SD " or KdS ) for central Russia and Belarus , where under his orders many executions were carried out . In September 1943 Ehrlinger was promoted to SS - " Standartenführer " ( colonel ) and went to Minsk where he became the liaison man of then SD chief Ernst Kaltenbrunner to the commanding generals of the security troops of Army Group Center , as well as taking over the offices of " Einsatzgruppe B " chief and Commander of the Security Police and the SD ( " Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD " or BdS ) for central Russia and Belarus . There he was involved with the murder of the remaining Jews of Minsk . In 1944 , Ehrlinger returned to Berlin . On 1 April 1944 , he became chief of the Reich Main Security Office ( Reichssicherheitshauptamt or RSHA ) , Department I ( Personnel ) , replacing Bruno Streckenbach . In November 1944 Ehrlinger also became a special delegate from Ernst Kaltenbrunner to Heinrich Himmler . Post - war . After the end of the war Ehrlinger went into hiding in Schleswig - Holstein under the alias of Erich Fröscher . In October 1945 he went to Roth , near Nuremberg . In 1950 , he moved with his family to Konstanz and worked under a false name as a host in the local casino . In 1952 , he married for the second time , and started using his real name , and by 1954 worked as a foreman in Volkswagen in Karlsruhe . In December 1958 , he was arrested . Two years later Ehrlinger was sentenced by the State Court of Karlsruhe ( " Landsgericht Karlsruhe " ) to twelve years imprisonment . The case was appealed and eventually returned to the public prosecutor ' s office . Due to disability , his sentence was officially remitted in 1969 , four years after he was released from prison .