In September 1939, during the
invasion of Poland, SS-
Standartenführer Damzog served as the commander of
Einsatzgruppe V (
EG V-Allenstein), deployed with the
3rd Army (Wehrmacht) in
Reichsgau Wartheland (Warthegau), which was carved out of the Polish lands annexed by Nazi Germany. He was responsible for the
mass executions of Polish citizens following the victorious
Battle of Grudziądz (Graudenz), practically eradicating the entire Jewish population of
the town. He was also in control of the execution of medical patients in order to empty state hospitals, which he entrusted to his subordinate officer
Herbert Lange. After the
annexation of western Poland, Damzog served in occupied
Poznań (Posen) as the
Inspekteur der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD, under the command of
Higher SS and Police Leader SS-
Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Koppe sent to Posen on 30 September 1939. While in Poznań, Damzog was actively involved in the mass
expulsions of Poles from
Reichsgau Wartheland to the
General Government. He personally selected staff for the killing centre in
Chełmno extermination camp and supervised its daily operation. The first victims there came from the local villages, and the mass killings with the use of
gas vans started on 8 December 1941. The murders at Chelmno were the precursor to the
Final Solution, because the idea of systematic genocide by gassing the able-bodied was not yet fully explored. Damzog is said to have related his 'experiments' to both
Wilhelm Koppe and
Arthur Greiser. Damzog was stationed in the
Reichsgau until 1945, and promoted to the rank of SS-
Brigadeführer as well as
Generalmajor in 1944 for his swift and police actions. Damzog was transferred back to Germany ahead of the Soviet offensive. Ernst Damzog died after the war in July 1945 in
Halle. ==See also==