Rudolf Lange Dr . Martin Franz Erwin Rudolf Lange ( 18 April 1910 – 23 February 1945 ? ) was a prominent Nazi police official . He served as commander of the " Sicherheitsdienst " ( SD ) and " Sicherheitspolizei " ( SiPo ) in Riga , Latvia . He attended the Wannsee Conference , and was largely responsible for implementing the extermination of Latvia ' s Jewish population . " Einsatzgruppe A " killed over 250 , 000 people in little less than six months . Early life and career . Lange was born in Weißwasser , Prussian Silesia , a town in present - day Saxony . His father was a railway construction supervisor . Lange finished high school in Staßfurt in 1928 and studied law in the University of Jena . He received a doctorate in law in 1933 , and was recruited by the Gestapo office of Halle . He joined the " Sturmabteilung " ( SA ) in November 1933 , but soon felt that this had been a bad career move . Thus , in 1936 Lange joined the " Schutzstaffel " ( SS ) ( member number 290 , 308 ) . As a mid - level Gestapo official , Lange rose rapidly . He adopted the SS ideology wholeheartedly , and resigned from the church in 1937 . From 1936 he worked in the Gestapo office in Berlin . In May 1938 , Lange was transferred to Vienna to supervise the annexation of the Austrian police system . There , he met and worked with Franz Walter Stahlecker , who later became his superior in Riga . In June 1939 Lange was transferred to Stuttgart . In September 1939 the security and police agencies of Nazi Germany ( with the exception of the Orpo ) were consolidated into the Reich Main Security Office ( RSHA ) of the SS , headed by Reinhard Heydrich . The Gestapo became " Amt IV " ( Department IV ) of the RSHA and Heinrich Müller became the Gestapo Chief , with Heydrich as his immediate superior . From May to July 1940 , Lange ran the Gestapo offices of Weimar and Erfurt , while working as the deputy head of the office of the Inspector of the SiPo in Kassel . In September 1940 , Lange was promoted as the deputy head of police for Berlin . In April 1941 , he was promoted to SS - " Sturmbannführer " ( major ) . Mass murder in Latvia . On 5 June 1941 Lange was ordered to Pretzsch and the command staff of " Einsatzgruppe A " , headed by SS - " Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Polizei " Dr . Franz Walter Stahlecker . Lange was a " Teilkommando " ( detachment ) leader in " Einsatzkommando 2 " , or EK2 . He was one of the few people aware of the " Führerbefehl " or " fundamental orders " for the so - called " Jewish problem " in Latvia . According to Lange himself : On 3 December 1941 , he was promoted as commander of EK2 , replacing Eduard Strauch . Lange was also the area chief of the " Sicherheitsdienst " ( SD ) , the Nazi Security Service , with the title " Kommandant des Sicherheitsdienst " . He was in charge of Department IV of the SD in Latvia . The department was the " hub of the whole SD organization in Latvia , the other departments served it . " Matters of formal rank and titles were never clear in the Nazi occupation regime for Latvia , as the lines of authority within agencies and the relationship between one agency and others were " ambiguous , overlapping , and unclear " . Nevertheless , Lange is widely recognized as one of the primary perpetrators of the Holocaust in Latvia . His headquarters was in Riga , on Reimersa street . From the beginning of his involvement in Latvia , Lange gave orders to squads of Latvians , such as the Arajs Kommando , that the Germans had organized to carry out massacres in the smaller cities . According to one historian , Victors Arājs was " held on a short leash " by Lange . Another local organization receiving orders from Lange was the Vagulāns Kommando , which was responsible for the Jelgava massacres in July and August 1941 . Lange also personally supervised executions conducted by the Arājs commando . He appears to have ordered that all the SD officers should personally participate in the killings . Lange was responsible for the Latvian part of the decision by the Nazi regime to deport Jews from Germany , Austria , and Czechoslovakia to Riga . In this connection , on 8 November 1941 , he issued detailed orders to Hinrich Lohse , who was " Reichskommissar Ostland " , regarding the transport of 50 , 000 Jews to the East , with 25 , 000 going to Riga and 25 , 000 to Belarus . At the same time , Lange was organizing the construction of the Salaspils concentration camp , originally intended to accommodate these deportees . Because the Salaspils camp would not be ready by the time the Jews would arrive , Lange decided to send the transports to an abandoned estate near Riga called Jungfernhof or Jumpravmuiza , which would be set up as Jungfernhof concentration camp . In November 1941 Lange was involved in the planning and carrying out the murder of 24 , 000 Latvian Jews from the Riga ghetto which occurred on 30 November and 8 December 1941 . This crime has come to be known as the Rumbula massacre . In addition to the Latvian Jews , another 1 , 000 Jews from Germany were also murdered . They had been brought to Latvia on the first train of deportees , which arrived on 29 November 1941 . Following the 29 November train , more rail transports of Jews began arriving in Riga from Germany , starting on 3 December 1941 . The Jews on the first few transports were not immediately housed in the ghetto , but were left at Jungfernhof concentration camp . In May 1942 , Lange issued orders to SS - " Obersturmführer " Günter Tabbert to kill the surviving Jews in the Daugavpils ghetto . Only about 450 Jews survived in Daugavpils after this action , which involved killing of the sick , children , infants , and hospital workers . In addition to Tabbert , the Arajs Kommando of native Latvians was responsible for a major part of these killings . In 1942 , Lange became an SS - " Obersturmbannführer " ( lieutenant colonel ) in the head office in Riga until 1945 , when he became Head of Reichsgau Wartheland ' s SD and SiPo . He was promoted to SS - " Standartenführer " ( colonel ) in 1945 . Wannsee conference . Lange was called to the Wannsee Conference by Heydrich in January 1942 . Along with Adolf Eichmann , the recording secretary of the conference , Lange ( an SS major ) was the lowest ranking officer present . Heydrich viewed Lange ' s first - hand experience in conducting the mass murder of deported Jews as valuable for the conference . Instead of Lange , Heydrich could have invited either Karl Jäger or Erich Ehrlinger , who commanded the SiPo and SD in Lithuania and Belarus respectively , and were responsible for similar massacres . He chose Lange because Riga was the main deportation destination , and because Lange ' s doctorate made him seem more intellectual than the other two men . Lange ' s superior , Franz Walter Stahlecker , was not invited , as he was not familiar with the realities of the Jewish deportations and was not located in Riga . Disappearance . Early in 1945 Lange was appointed head of the SD and the SS in Posen , Warthegau . Soon after he reached the city , Posen was surrounded by the Soviet Red Army and was declared a fortified city ( " Festung " ) . Lange , who could not have any doubts about his destiny as a prisoner , directed the police under his command with fanaticism . He was wounded during the Battle of Poznan and the siege by Russian forces and was promoted SS - " Standartenführer " ( 30 January 1945 ) . At Hitler ' s behest , on 6 February 1945 he received the German Cross in gold . Lange may have died or committed suicide when the Red Army seized Posen 23 February 1945 after a last - ditch defence of the city by the remnants of the German garrison . Character . Lange was said to have been a favorite student of Reinhard Heydrich and Heinrich Himmler . He demanded unconditional obedience from his subordinates . Joseph Berman , a survivor of one of the concentration camps administered by Lange , described him as follows : Lange made himself one of the most feared officials among those responsible for the Riga ghetto . He supervised the arrival of the transports , aided by SS - " Obersturmbannführer " Gerhard Maywald , whom historian Gertrude Schneider , a survivor of the Riga ghetto , describes as Lange ' s " sidekick " . Lange personally shot a young man , Werner Koppel , whom he felt was not opening a rail car door fast enough . Schneider described Lange ' s appearance :