Odilo "Globus" Globocnik (1904-1945)

Member of the Austrian Nazi party from 1931 and of the SS from 1934. Following the Anschluss (Germany’s annexation of Austria) in 1938, Globocnik was appointed head of the Nazi Party in Vienna (Gauleiter), but had to resign because of a corruption scandal. In November 1940 he was appointed SS- and Police Chief in the Lublin District of the General Government.
In 1942 Heinrich Himmler gave him orders to carry out ‘Operation Reinhard’ (the extermination of the Polish Jews). Globocnik thus became the man responsible for the murder of the Jews in the General Government. During this action, he attended to four main tasks: the exploitation of Jewish labour, the extermination of the Jews, confiscation of Jewish fortunes, and seizure of property from murdered Jews. It has been estimated that goods worth 178 million Reichsmark were confiscated from the Jews. During Operation Reinhard at least 1,7 million Jews were murdered in the three Operation Reinhard extermination camps: Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka. Besides this task, Globocnik had the responsibility for the extermination camp Majdanek, which was located close to his headquarters in Lublin. Here, between 60,000 and 80,000 Jews were gassed to death.
After being sent to Trieste at the Adriatic Sea as SS- and Police Chief in August 1943, Globocnik was caught by British troops. He committed suicide in May 1945.