Helmut Knochen | |
|---|---|
 Knochen c. 1942 | |
| Born | 14 March 1910 |
| Died | April 4, 2003 (aged 93) |
| Criminal status | Deceased |
| Conviction(s) | British Military War crimes French Military War crimes |
| Criminal penalty | British Military Death; commuted to life imprisonment; further commuted to 21 years imprisonment French Military Death; commuted to life imprisonment |
| SS service | |
| Allegiance |  Nazi Germany |
| Service/ |  Schutzstaffel |
| Years of service | 1936–1945 |
| Rank | SS-Standartenführer |
| Commands held | Security Police (Paris) Sicherheitspolizei Sicherheitsdienst |
Helmut Herbert Christian Heinrich Knochen (March 14, 1910 – April 4, 2003) was the senior commander of the Sicherheitspolizei (Security Police) and Sicherheitsdienst in Paris during the Nazi occupation of France in World War II. He was sentenced to death first by a British military court in 1947, and then a French military court in 1954. After his sentences were commuted and reduced a few times, he was pardoned by President de Gaulle and released in 1962.[1]
He was born in Magdeburg, Germany. Before joining the Nazi Party in 1932, he worked as a teacher and editor.
Knochen joined the SS in 1936 and became involved in the SD. By 1940, he was the senior commander of security in Paris. In 1942, the jurisdiction under his control stretched from northern France to Belgium and he was promoted to the rank of Standartenführer. Knochen was involved in deporting French Jews to concentration camps and was responsible for the execution of thousands of Frenchmen. He was also responsible for the arrest and torture of SOE agents.[2]
During the plot to assassinate Hitler of July 20, 1944, together with the top security man in Paris, SS-Gruppenführer Carl Oberg, he was arrested by Army troops under the command of Paris military governor, General Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel. He was released after the coup collapsed. Following the liberation of Paris, Knochen was transferred to the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler and he was degraded to the rank of SS-Grenadier.
In March 1947, a British Military Court sentenced Knochen, alongside Hans Kieffer, to death for the murder of a number of British parachute troops on or around 9 August 1944. However, in 1947, he was extradited to France. There, in 1954, he was sentenced to death. The sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. After he obtained a presidential pardon in 1958, Knochen was released on November 28, 1962, by President Charles de Gaulle, simultaneously with his former chief Carl Oberg. Back in Germany, he retired to Baden-Baden and died a free man in 2003.
