Joachim Hamann (18 May 1913 in Kiel – 13 July 1945 in Heikendorf) was an officer of the Einsatzkommando 3, a killing unit of Einsatzgruppe A, responsible for tens of thousands of Jewish deaths in Lithuania.[1][2] Hamann organized and commanded Rollkommando Hamann, a small mobile killing unit composed of 8–10 Germans and several dozen local Lithuanian collaborators.[2]
Hamann was of Baltic German parentage.[3] Trained as a chemist, he had difficulties finding a job due to the Great Depression. He joined the SA in August 1931, the Nazi Party in December 1932, and the SS in July 1938.[4] He served in the Luftwaffe during the invasion of Poland and Battle of France as a paratrooper (Fallschirmjäger).[5] He returned to Berlin where he joined the SS and completed training courses. In March 1941, he was promoted to SS-Obersturmführer (first lieutenant).[4]
After the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, Hamann organized and commanded Rollkommando Hamann which killed at least 39,000 Jews in various locations across Lithuania[2] and 9,102 people, almost all of whom were Jews, from the Daugavpils Ghetto.[6] Hamann's superior Karl Jäger documented these killings in the Jäger Report. Nevertheless, Martin C. Dean estimates the death toll of Rollkommando Hamann as 60,000 Jews in Lithuania alone.[7]
Hamann left Lithuania in October 1941 and continued his SS career.[8] In 1942, Hamann participated in Operation Zeppelin, a scheme to recruit Soviet POWs for espionage behind Russian lines.[9] From 1943 he worked at Amt IV of RSHA (Gestapo). He was involved in apprehending and executing suspected members of the 20 July plot to assassinate Hitler.[8] He was appointed aide to Ernst Kaltenbrunner, director of the Reich Security Main Office.[5] After the war, Hamann committed suicide.[5]
The case of the Rollkommando Hamann, which murdered some 60,000 Jews mostly in the small towns of Lithuania between July and September 1941,....