Rudolf Lange
| Rudolf Lange | |
|---|---|
Rudolf Lange
|
|
| Born | 18 November 1910 Weißwasser, Prussian Silesia |
| Died | 23 February 1945 (aged 34) uncertain, but said to be Posen, Warthegau |
| Allegiance |
 Nazi Germany
|
| Service/branch |
 Schutzstaffel and Sicherheitsdienst
|
| Years of service | 1932–1945 |
| Rank | Standartenführer (Colonel) |
| Unit | Einsatzgruppe A, Einsatzkommando 2 |
| Battles/wars | Battle of Poznań (1945) |
| Awards | German Cross in Gold |
| Other work | One of the persons most responsible for carrying out The Holocaust in Latvia. Representative of Einsatzgruppe A and Einsatzkommando 2 to The Wannsee Conference, 20 January 1942 and 6 March 1942 |
Rudolf Lange (18 April 1910 – 23 February 1945?) was a prominent Nazi police official. He served as commander of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) and Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo) in Riga, Latvia. He attended the Wannsee Conference, and was largely responsible for implementing the extermination of Latvia's Jewish population. Einsatzgruppe A killed over 250,000 people in less than six months.
Lange was born in Weißwasser, Prussian Silesia, a town in present-day Saxony. His father was a railway construction supervisor. Lange finished high school in Staßfurt in 1928 and studied law in the University of Jena. He received a doctorate in law in 1933, and was recruited by the Gestapo office of Halle. He joined the Sturmabteilung (SA) in November 1933, but soon felt that this had been a bad career move. Thus, in 1936 Lange joined the Schutzstaffel (SS) (member number 290,308).
As a mid-level Gestapo official, Lange rose rapidly. He adopted the SS ideology wholeheartedly, and resigned from the church in 1937. From 1936 he worked in the Gestapo office in Berlin. In May 1938, Lange was transferred to Vienna to supervise the annexation of the Austrian police system. There, he met and worked with Franz Walter Stahlecker, who later became his superior in Riga. In June 1939 Lange was transferred to Stuttgart.
In September 1939 the security and police agencies of Nazi Germany (with the exception of the Orpo) were consolidated into the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA) of the SS, headed by Reinhard Heydrich. The Gestapo became Amt IV (Department IV) of the RSHA and Heinrich Müller became the Gestapo Chief, with Heydrich as his immediate superior. From May to July 1940, Lange ran the Gestapo offices of Weimar and Erfurt, while working as the deputy head of the office of the Inspector of the SiPo in Kassel. In September 1940, Lange was promoted as the deputy head of police for Berlin. In April 1941, he was promoted to SS-Sturmbannführer (major).
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