Schimana was born in
Austrian Silesia, the son of a publisher of a pro-German newspaper. In 1915, after attending school, he went to a cadet school in
Prague. He then transferred to the
Theresian Military Academy in
Wiener-Neustadt, graduating in December 1918. He was assigned to Schützenregiment Nr. 1., a unit of the
Imperial-Royal Landwehr. Moving to
Bavaria, he joined the 3rd Battalion of the 2nd Bayerisches
Reichswehr-Infanterie-Regiment 44 in
Passau on 1 June 1919, and was promoted to
Fähnrich der Reserve (cadet officer of the reserves) on 15 July 1919. On 2 September 1919, Schimana joined the
Freikorps in the Baltic and served with the
Iron Division (
Eiserne Division) which, only shortly later, joined the
West Russian Volunteer Army. In mid-December 1919, the German troops were evacuated to
East Prussia and Schimana was released from service on 20 April 1920 as a
Leutnant of
reserves. He attended a business school from 1921 to 1922, then worked as a bookkeeper at a bank and as a commercial businessman.
SA, police and SS career Schimana joined the
Nazi Party (NSDAP) on 7 December 1926 (membership number 49,042) in
Munich. As an early Party member, he later would be awarded the
Golden Party Badge. He also became a member of the paramilitary
Sturmabteilung (SA) unit in Munich. Commissioned as an SA-
Sturmführer on 22 November 1930, he rose through the ranks and eventually became an SA-
Standartenführer in 1938. He was on the staff of SA-
Gruppe Donau from March 1934 to July 1939 as a special duties officer. He was the commander of the SA-
Feldgendarmerie in
Waldenburg from March 1934 to April 1935. That month, he joined the uniformed Protection Police (
Schutzpolizei) with the rank of
Hauptmann. In April 1936, Schimana was transferred to the
Gendarmerie as a
Major. From then until April 1938, he was on the staff of the chief of the
Ordnungspolizei. After the
Anschluss with Austria, he was assigned to the staff of the police president of
Vienna as commander of the motorized
Gendarmerie for Austria. On 15 August 1939, he left the SA and transferred to the SS with the rank of SS-
Standartenführer.
World War II and atrocities unit under Schimana's command attacking a village in the Soviet Union, 1942. At the outbreak of the war in Europe, Schimana took over command of a
Feldgendarmerie battalion in Poland, France then the
General Government up to 1940. He also served as the commandant of the
Gendarmerie school in
Suhl until November 1940, and the motorized
Gendarmerie school in
Deggingen until September 1941. On 4 September 1941, Schimana was appointed
SS and Police Leader (SSPF) for the
Saratov area, and later attached to the staff of the Higher SS and Police Leader (HSSPF) for Central Russia until July 1942, taking part in
rear-security operations. From 21 July 1942 to 15 July 1943, he was SSPF of
Belarus, with headquarters at
Minsk. Reporting to
Friedrich Jeckeln, he was responsible for the formation of the
Schutzmannschaft (collaborationist police) battalions. Subsequently, he underwent training as a divisional commander and served as the first commander of the newly formed
SS Division Galicia from July to October 1943. On 18 October, Schimana was appointed HSSPF for Greece, in place of
Jürgen Stroop, a position he held until the withdrawal of German forces from the country in September–October 1944. On 20 April 1944, he was promoted to SS-
Gruppenführer and, on 20 June 1944, to
Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS und Polizei (Lieutenant General of the Waffen-SS and police). Schimana became actively engaged in carrying out the
persecution of Greek Jews and the campaign against the
Greek Resistance movement. In this capacity, he was instrumental in the formation of the infamous "
Security Battalions". After the German withdrawal, in October 1944 he was appointed HSSPF of the SS-
Oberabschnitt Donau (Main District Danube), which had its headquarters in Vienna. He remained in that position until the German surrender. == Arrest and suicide ==