Wilhelm Koppe Wilhelm Koppe ( 15 June 1896 – 2 July 1975 ) was a German Nazi commander ( " Höhere SS und Polizeiführer , HSSP , SS - Obergruppenführer " ) who was responsible for numerous atrocities against Poles and Jews in Reichsgau Wartheland and the General Government during the German occupation of Poland in World War II . Biography . Koppe was born in Hildesheim near Hanover . He fought in the First World War . During the interwar period , he pursued a career in trade and wholesale . He joined the Nazi Party in 1930 , then the Storm Detachment ( Sturmabteilung , SA ) in 1931 , and the Schutzstaffel ( SS ) in 1932 . Prior to World War II , he was a regional SS and SD commander first in Münster , then in the Free City of Danzig , Dresden and Leipzig . The German invasion of Poland took place in September 1939 , and in October Koppe became the SS and Police Leader in " Reichsgau Wartheland " under the command of " Gauleiter " Arthur Greiser . However , because of the confusing power struggle – with Hitler dividing and ruling via his constantly changing favourites – Koppe had the same power and responsibilities as Greiser . He had a good working relationship with Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler . Occupied Poland . The newly appointed police commander was an active participant in the implementation of Nazi racial ideals , and in November 1939 he declared that he would make Poznań ( Posen ) ' free from Jews ' ( " judenrein " ) , after which he ordered numerous executions and deportations of Poles and Polish Jews . He also participated in the Nazi ' s euthanasia program as the overall commander of ' Special Detachment ( Sonderkommando ) Lange ' , an SS squad which gassed 1 , 558 patients from mental asylums at the Soldau concentration camp in the nearby Gau of East Prussia during May and June 1940 . On 30 January 1942 he was promoted to SS - Obergruppenführer , and in October 1943 he replaced Friedrich Wilhelm Krüger as Höhere SS und Polizeiführer in the General Government with headquarters in Kraków . He also held the position of state secretary on the issues of security ( " Staatssekretär für das Sicherheitswesen " ) in the General Government , and was involved in the operations of Chelmno extermination camp and Warsaw concentration camp as well as operations against the Polish resistance . He organized the execution of more than 30 , 000 Polish patients suffering from tuberculosis , and ordered that all male relatives of identified resistance fighters should be executed , and the rest of their family sent to concentration camps . The Polish Secret State ordered his death , but an assassination attempt failed . He was wounded by Kedyw unit - Batalion Parasol in " Operation Koppe " ( Akcja Koppe ) part of " Operation Heads " on 11 July 1944 in Kraków . With the Eastern Front approaching Poland , Koppe ordered all prisoners to be executed rather than freed by the Soviets . In 1945 Koppe went underground and assumed an alias ( Lohmann , his wife ' s surname ) and became a director of a chocolate factory in Bonn , Germany . In 1960 he was arrested but released on bail on 19 April 1962 . His trial opened in 1964 in Bonn . He was accused of being accessory to the mass murder of 145 , 000 people . The trial was adjourned due to Koppe ' s ill health and in 1966 the Bonn court decided not to prosecute and Koppe was released for medical reasons . The German government refused a Polish request for extradition . Koppe died in 1975 in Bonn .