Curt von Gottberg Curt von Gottberg ( February 11 , 1896 - 31 May 1945 ) was a Nazi official and military commander . Beginning in October 1942 , within a few years he had personally combined the highest civil and military powers in occupied Belarus : from March 1943 as representative of the HSSPF for central Russia , and from October 1943 as the acting Commissioner - General ( ) of the occupied Belorussian SSR ( ) . Only a few days before the collapse of the German Army Group Centre , in early July 1944 , he was promoted to HSSPF of Belarus and central Russia . Gottberg is known to have personally ordered many actions resulting in war crimes , and commanded units that committed atrocities against the civilian population of occupied territories . Early life . Gottberg was born in Preussisch Wilten , East Prussia , to an old Farther Pomerania n aristocratic family . After a training in agricultural management , from 1912 , he fought in World War I , serving from 2 August 1914 . He served through nearly the entire war , receiving numerous bullet and shell wounds , and was decorated with the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class . Along with other demobilised officers , he then joined the " Marinebrigade Ehrhardt " ( a " Freikorps " ) . Gottberg returned to East Prussia in 1924 , finished his agricultural training and until the end of the 1920s managed personal estates near Königsberg . Early SS career . Following a common route for former " Freikorps " members , Gottberg joined the SA in 1931 , and the NDSAP in February 1932 . In September 1932 he joined the SS . By the end of 1933 , as an " SS - Sturmbannführer " , he was head of a " Verfügungstruppe " in Ellwangen : the desire to construct a military force ( the basis for the " Waffen - SS " ) compelled the SS leadership to rely on trained military personnel from World War I . In 1936 , Gottberg assumed leadership of the 49th " SS - Standarte " in Brunswick . In January 1936 Gottberg was involved in a car accident , and his left leg was amputated below the knee . Heinrich Himmler personally intervened on his behalf : the cost of medical care and of the damaged car ( which was not Gottberg ' s ) was covered . Himmler also intervened so that Gottberg was promoted to head of the Office of Race and Settlement ( RuSHA ) in July 1937 . However , Gottberg became overwhelmed by his duties ; by summer 1939 he was also the acting Commissar of Land Management for Prague . Gottberg ' s financial mismanagement in these roles ( dubious transactions , " donations " , loans to private individuals , lack of supervision of subordinates , losses running into the millions ) led to a scandal within the SS administration . In November 1939 his superior at RuSHA , Günther Pancke , called for Gottberg ' s resignation , even threatening him with dispatch to a concentration camp . His suspension and ' house arrest ' lasted until November 1940 , after interventions on his behalf . The long - delayed disciplinary proceedings at an internal SS court took place in April 1942 , ending with Gottberg ' s rehabilitation . It was decided that " factual errors " had led him to make " inappropriate " decisions , but that he had also conducted himself with " remarkable " persistence , intelligence and " personal devotion " . Later SS career and war crimes . Gottberg was successively promoted as the head of SS and police for Belarus between October 1942 and June 1944 due to Himmler ' s sponsorship . He was delegated with the duties of the " Generalkommissar " for Belarus on 27 October 1943 after Wilhelm Kube was killed by a bomb in Minsk on 23 October . Gottberg developed a new ' strategy ' in the fight against partisans on the occupied territory of the Soviet Union , mounting aggressive operations against suspected ' partisan bases ' ( generally ordinary villages ; Gottberg ' s strategy seems to have largely involved terrorising the civilian population ) . Whole regions were classified as " gangster territory " ( ) : residents were expelled or murdered and dwellings destroyed . " In the evacuated areas , " said Gottberg in an order , " all people are in future fair game " . An order of Gottberg ' s of December 7 , 1942 stated : " Each bandit , Jew , gypsy , is to be regarded as an enemy " . After his first operation , " Nürnberg " , Gottberg reported on 5 December 1942 : " Enemy dead : 799 bandits , over 300 suspected gangsters and over 1800 Jews [ . . . ] Our losses : 2 dead and 10 wounded . One must have luck " . As a result , " Kampfgruppe " von Gottberg , along with the Dirlewanger and Kaminski Brigade s , under the coordination of Erich von dem Bach - Zelewski , were responsible for the organised mass murder of countless civilians in Belarus . Within a short time Gottberg had received the highest military awards , and a few days before the collapse of the front in June 1944 was promoted to HSSPF for Central Russia and Belarus , and on 30 June to the rank of " Obergruppenführer " . The defeat of Army Group Centre saw " Kampfgruppe " von Gottberg thrown into front - line service against the Red Army ' s Minsk , Vilnius and Belostock Offensive Operation s , all part of the strategic offensive Operation Bagration . His forces were tasked with helping to defend Minsk and subsequently Lida , though in both cases they withdrew ( contrary to " Wehrmacht " orders ) when faced with Soviet attack . Gottberg was made the head of anti - partisan activity in occupied France , but because of the rapid German retreat was not employed in this role . Shortly before the war ' s end he commanded the XII SS Corps . In March 1945 , Himmler put Gottberg in charge of screening the railroad system for soldiers who were traveling away from fighting fronts . Joseph Goebbels also directed Gottberg that spring as desperate efforts were made to send men who had been released from the Wehrmacht back to combat . Arrest and death . Gottberg was arrested by the Allies after the war ' s end . He committed suicide on 31 May 1945 while in British captivity in Flensburg .