Paul Blobel

Paul Blobel
Blobel in U.S. custody (1948)
Born	(1894-08-13)13 August 1894 Potsdam, Prussia, German Empire
Died	7 June 1951(1951-06-07) (aged 56) Landsberg Prison, Landsberg am Lech, West Germany
Cause of death	Execution by hanging
Known for	Bila Tserkva massacre Babi Yar massacre Sonderaktion 1005
Criminal status	Executed
Motive	Nazism
Conviction(s)	Crimes against humanity War crimes Membership in a criminal organization
Trial	Einsatzgruppen Trial
Criminal penalty	Death
Details
Victims	60,000+
Span of crimes	June 1941 – 1944
Country	Poland, Ukraine, and Yugoslavia
SS career
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Schutzstaffel
Rank	SS-Standartenführer
Unit	Einsatzgruppe C
Commands held	Sonderkommando 4a Sonderaktion 1005

Paul Blobel (13 August 1894 – 7 June 1951) was a German Sicherheitsdienst (SD) commander and convicted war criminal who played a leading role in the Holocaust. He organised the Babi Yar massacre, the largest massacre of the Second World War at Babi Yar ravine in September 1941, pioneered the use of the gas van, and, following re-assignment, developed the gas chambers for the extermination camps. From late 1942 onwards, he led Sonderaktion 1005, wherein millions of bodies were exhumed at sites across Eastern Europe in an effort to erase all evidence of the Holocaust and specifically of Operation Reinhard. After the war, Blobel was tried at the Einsatzgruppen Trial and sentenced to death. He was executed in 1951.