Friedrich Jeckeln Friedrich August Jeckeln ( 2 February 1895 , Hornberg , Baden – 3 February 1946 ) was an " SS - Obergruppenführer " who served as an SS and Police Leader in the occupied Soviet Union during World War II . Jeckeln was the commanding SS General over one of the largest collection of " Einsatzgruppen " and was personally responsible for ordering the deaths of over 100 , 000 Jews , Slavs , Roma , and other " undesirables " of the Third Reich . Early years . Jeckeln was born in Hornberg , Baden . Upon the outbreak of World War I , Jeckeln was commissioned a " Leutnant " , serving from 1914 to 1918 first as an artillery officer and then as a pilot trainee . During his World War I service , Jeckeln was awarded the Wound Badge and the Iron Cross 2nd Class . Joins Nazi party and becomes SS member . After being discharged following Germany ' s defeat , Jeckeln worked as an engineer before joining the Nazi Party on October 1 , 1929 . In December 1930 , Jeckeln applied to join the " Schutzstaffel " ( SS ) and was accepted as a member the following month . Jeckeln was promoted to the rank of " SS - Sturmbannführer " ( major ) in March 1931 and put in charge of the 1st " Sturmbann " ( Battalion ) of the " 12th SS - Standarte " ( Regiment ) in the " Allgemeine - SS " . By the end of 1931 , he had been promoted again and was the " Standartenführer " ( colonel ) in charge of the " 17th SS - Standarte " . Promotions following Nazi rise to power . By July 1932 , Jeckeln was serving as an " SS - Abschnitt " ( Brigade ) commander and had been promoted to the rank of " SS - Oberführer " . He was also elected as a member of the Reichstag that same year . In January 1933 , when the Nazis came to power in Germany , Jeckeln was put in charge of SS Group South . The next month , he was promoted to " SS - Gruppenführer " ( major general ) . Jeckeln spent the next three years as an SS Group Commander and Political Police Commissioner before being promoted to " SS - Obergruppenführer " ( Lt general ) in 1936 . He was then made the SS and Police Leader of Western Germany and also served as commander of " SS - Oberabschnitt " ( Division ) West . Jeckeln was known to be ruthless , brutal , self - indulgent and hard . Political opponents , especially members of the KPD , SPD and the unions , he pursued relentlessly until their death . Together with party member Friedrich Alpers , Jeckeln was primarily responsible for the Rieseberg murders in the summer of 1933 . In addition , he ordered the murder of a renegade SS man in Brunswick . World War II mass murderer . When World War II began , Jeckeln was called up to active duty in the " Waffen - SS " . As was the practice in the SS , Jeckeln took a lower rank from his Allgemeine position and served as an officer in Regiment 2 of the Totenkopf Division . In 1941 , however , his front line service was terminated and he was transferred by " Reichsführer - SS " Heinrich Himmler to serve as Higher SS and Police Leader ( HSSPF ) of Eastern Russia . In this role Jeckeln assumed direction and control of all SS - " Einsatzgruppen " mass executions and anti - partisan operations in his district . Jeckeln developed his own methods to kill large numbers of people , which became known as the " Jeckeln System " . Jeckeln had staff which specialized in each separate part of the process . As applied in the Rumbula massacre on November 30 and December 8 , 1941 , Jeckeln ' s system worked as follows : This system was called " sardine packing " ( " Sardinenpackung " ) . It was reported that even some of the experienced " Einsatzgruppen " killers were horrified by its cruelty . At Rumbula , Jeckeln watched on both days of the massacre as 25 , 000 people were killed before him . Jeckeln proved to be an effective killer who cared nothing about murdering huge numbers of unarmed and even naked men , women , children , and elderly . One of the three survivors of the Rumbala massacre , Frida Michelson , escaped by pretending to be dead as the victims heaped shoes ( later salvaged by Jeckeln ' s men ) upon her : On January 27 , 1942 , Jeckeln was awarded the " War Merit Cross ( " Kriegsverdienstkreuz " or KVK ) with Swords " for killing 25 , 000 at Rumbula . In February 1945 , now a " General der Waffen - SS und Polizei " , Jeckeln was appointed to command the " SS - Freiwilligen - Gebirgs - Korps " and also served as Commander of Replacement Troops and Higher SS and Police Leader in Southwest Germany . Execution . Jeckeln was captured by Soviet troops near Halbe , in the vicinity of Forsthaus Hammer , on April 28 , 1945 . Along with other Nazis who served in the Riga military district , he was tried before a Soviet military court in Riga , Latvia from January 26 , 1946 , to February 3 , 1946 . During the investigation , he was calm , answering questions from investigators in essence , on the dock looked dull and impartial . Jeckeln in his last word was restrained , he fully admitted his guilt and agreed to bear full responsibility for the activities of subordinate Police , SS and SD in Ostland . Concluding his speech , he said : " I have to take full responsibility for what happened in the borders of Ostland , within SS , SD and the Gestapo . Thereby increases much my fault . My fate is in the hands of the High Court , and so I ask only to pay attention to mitigating circumstances . I will accept a sentence in full repentance and I will consider as worthy punishment . " Jeckeln and the other defendants were found guilty , sentenced to death and hanged at Riga on February 3 , 1946 in front of some 4000 spectators . Against popular misconception , the execution did not happen in the territory of the former Riga ghetto , but in Victory square ( Uzvaras laukums ) .