On the 24th October 1946 inside of a Prague Prison’s courtyard, one of the most brutal
war criminals of the Second World War was led to his execution post by prison guards.
He was a man who was responsible for the brutality of many evil guards and shocking actions that
led to the executions of thousands.
Kurt Daluege was the chief of the Ordnungspolizei, or the Order Police inside of Hitler’s Third
Reich, and he also served as the Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, a man who was responsible
for keeping the Czech people under submission and he arranged a number of public executions
to terrorise the population.
But he would be condemned for being a horrific sadist and a man who brought horror to thousands
of people in the lands that he oversaw.
Join us today as we look at the execution of Kurt Daluege and as always to support our
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Kurt Daluege was born on the 15th September 1897, and little is known about his early
life.
But when he was a young man he joined the Prussian Army and saw action in the First
World War.
He served on the Eastern Front and rose throughout the ranks quickly and he became an officer,
but then he was moved over to the Western Front.
However Daluege did sustain a bad injury to the shoulder and head, and it was claimed
in hospital that he was 25% disabled and at the end of the conflict he was decorated for
his bravery but he then found work as an engineer, but after his experiences in the war Kurt
Daluege then sought to join a number of political groups as he was not happy with the post war
Germany.
He joined the Upper Silesian Self Defence and was their leader, this being a group of
WW1 veterans who came into conflict with polish people, but he also was a member of the Freikorp
who were angry with the Weimar Republic government.
It was around this time that Adolf Hitler then began to conduct a number of speeches
for the Nazi Party, and he rose to gain more popularity.
But in 1923 Daluege joined the Nazi Party officially, but Daluege would not be put off
following the failed efforts of Hitler during the Munich Putsch.
He then joined the Berlin Frontbann which was a detachment of SA members who had been
outlawed following the failed revolution, however Daluege then rose to become the leader
of the SA detachments in Berlin after in 1926 the banning was over.
He began to rub shoulders with the Nazi hierarchy and he was a deputy for Joseph Goebbels the
Gauleiters of Berlin, and he also was seen as a reliable official and Hitler also valued
him.
He was advised to join the SS and to leave the SA behind him which was a good piece of
advice as the Night of the Long Knives would see a huge purge of the SA with leaders such
as Daluege executed.
But Daluege would also be involved in hostilities between the SA and SS, and he was seen as
a reliable man with inside knowledge who could help keep them into line.
Daluege helped to defend the Berlin Party Headquarters of the Nazis and Hitler even
celebrated Daluege’s efforts.
He wrote in an open letter saying ‘SS man your honour is loyalty, my honour is loyalty.’
But he was promoted and Heinrich Himmler was in control of the southern units of the SS
with Daluege in control of the northern units.
Himmler would rise to become the Reichsfuhrer SS, and the Head of the group and the most
powerful man in Germany behind Hitler, but Daluege is less known about.
He continued to establish his power and he became a member of the Reichstag and also
oversaw the non political police.
But Daluege during the Night of the Long Knives would also be ruthless against his former
friends and allies, and he helped the police to become a Nazi police with their ideology
and political beliefs instilled into the officers.
Furhter power and influence came, and then Himmler appointed Daluege as the Chief of
the Orpo, or the Order Police and he was now in control of all of the uniformed police
forces under the Nazi controlled lands.
Around 1939 with the outbreak of the Second World War, he had control of around 120,000
police officers, and many of these were virulent and brutal Nazis intent on keeping people
down and against dissenting in the Nazi regime.
But as the Second World War continued he was involved in some of the horrific war crimes
and executions inside of occupied lands.
He witnessed a number of mass shootings of Jews in Poland and Belarus, and he also helped
to organise large scale deportations.
Daluege’s signature was also present on a number of orders for people to be sent to
concentration camps and to be moved into ghettos and he also witnessed much of the senior Nazi
meetings in which they discussed the expansion of the holocaust.
But inside of Czechoslovakia Daluege became a brutal and barbaric overseer.
Following the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia,
Daluege was named Deputy Protector in 1942.
A state of emergency occurred following this, and dozens of people were executed in reprisals.
It was decided that the revenge attacks would be centred on a number of villages, and those
who were believed to have hidden the assassins of Heydrich.
The Nazis would execute all adult men, deport the women to concentration camps, and sent
those children they believed were suitable to SS families, and they would then burn the
villages to the ground.
Daluege was the man who ordered the SS officers to assault the villages of Lidice and Lezaky.
The chaos in this village that occurred was horrific, and all of the men of Lidice were
rounded up and taken to a farm.
Mattresses were taken from the homes and were put up against the wall of a barn to stop
bullets richocheting.
Then the shooting occurred at 7am on the 10th June 1942, and groups of 5 men were brought
in for their executions.
This was then said to have been too slow so groups of 10 were then executed.
Only 3 male villagers survived, and 203 women and 105 children were moved to a nearby school.
Children were ripped away from their mothers who were then placed on vehicles to take them
to concentration camps.
But a lot of the children who were not said to have been suitable to be germanised would
be sent to Chelmno extermination camp, where over 80 were slaughtered in the gas vans.
The villages were burned to the ground, and destroyed with explosives and all animals
were also slaughtered.
Gold teeth were ripped from the deceased also, and Lezaky experienced the same treatment
as Lidice weeks later after a radio transmitter was found nearby and this had been used by
Heydrich’s assassins.
Daluege though terrorised the Czech people and he was seen a man who could brutally carry
out the will of Hitler.
He continued in the roles he had until May 1943 but he then suffered a massive heart
attack, and he almost died.
He spent a long time recovering, and Hitler relieved him off his jobs, and he was even
given a large property by Hitler.
But at the end of the Second World War, Kurt Daluege was was arrested by British forces
in Lubeck.
He was then transported to Luxembourg and was then moved again to Czechoslovakia to
face up to the crimes that he had inflicted upon the Czech people when he served as the
protector of Bohemia and Moravia.
He was brought to trial for crimes against humanity, and at trial he was ignorant and
it was claimed that 3 millions police officers were loyal to him and saw him as a powerful
figure like Heinrich Himmler.
But Daluege when accused of the charges said he was just finding the orders given to him
from Hitler, and he was ignorant saying he committed no crimes.
But he was then sentenced to death, and he was convicted of all of the charges.
The day after he was found guilty, Kurt Daluege was executed.
He was taken and held inside of Pankrac Prison briefly in Prague, and during the war this
had been a Gestapo interrogation centre.
He was taken out of his prison cell and into a courtyard, and there were hundreds of people
who had gathered in the prison courtyard to witness the death and execution of Daluege.
The crowd was made up of many other guards too, and Daluege was led out by guards to
the execution post or pole, and he was to be executed using the pole hanging method.
He did not die on a gallows of a trapdoor, and the method would see Daluege secured to
the post using ropes which were passed through a pulley at the bottom of the pole.
Daluege was then hoisted to the top of the pole by a sling across his chest, and a noose
was then placed around his neck.
Then the chest sling was released from around Daluege’s body, and he then plunged and
jerked downwards and his head was guided down by the executioner’s hands, and then he
dislocated Daluege’s neck.
There was a huge crowd that witnessed Daluege’s execution, and his death was performed very
efficiently and within minutes of being handed over to the executioner he was pronounced
death.
Kurt Daluege was one of the most brutal and ruthless Nazis of the Second World War, and
he was a man who was well thought of by Adolf Hitler.
He had a huge amount of power as he presided over more than 100,000 police officers as
the Head of the Order Police.
But inside of Czechoslovakia he reigned over the lands with brutality and terror and he
was responsible for a number of horrific war crimes, and for these actions he would be
executed inside the courtyard of Pankrac Prison.
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