Albert Forster

Albert Forster
As SS-Gruppenführer c. 1939
Gauleiter of the Free City of Danzig
In office 15 October 1930 – 26 October 1939
Preceded by	Arthur Greiser
Succeeded by	position abolished
Head of State of the Free City of Danzig
In office 23 August 1939 – 1 September 1939
Preceded by	Arthur Greiser
Succeeded by	position abolished
Reichsstatthalter and Gauleiter of Danzig-West Prussia
In office 26 October 1939 – 27 March 1945
Appointed by	Adolf Hitler
Preceded by	positions established
Succeeded by	positions abolished
Personal details
Born	26 July 1902 Fürth, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire
Died	28 February 1952 (aged 49) Mokotów Prison, Warsaw, Polish People's Republic
Cause of death	Execution by hanging
Political party	National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP)
Spouse	Gertrud Deetz
Military service
Rank	SS-Obergruppenführer

Albert Maria Forster (26 July 1902 – 28 February 1952) was a Nazi German politician, member of the SS and war criminal. Under his administration as the Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter of Danzig-West Prussia (the other German-annexed section of occupied Poland aside from the Warthegau) during the Second World War, the local non-German populations of Poles and Jews were classified as sub-human and subjected to extermination campaigns involving ethnic cleansing, mass murder, and in the case of some Poles with German ancestry, forceful Germanisation. Forster was directly responsible for the extermination of non-Germans and was a strong supporter of Polish genocide, which he had advocated before the war. Forster was tried, convicted and hanged in Warsaw for his crimes, after Germany was defeated.