View source for Dieter Wisliceny

{{Short description|German Nazi officer and war criminal (1911–1948)}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name              = Dieter Wisliceny
| birth_name        =Dietrich Wisliceny
| image             = File:Dieter Wisliceny.jpg
| birth_date        = {{birth-date|13 January 1911}}
| birth_place       = Estate Regulowken near [[Możdżany|Mosdzehnen]], Kreis Angerburg, Kingdom of Prussia
| death_date        = {{death-date and age|4 May 1948|13 January 1911}}
| death_place       = [[Bratislava]], Czechoslovakia
| criminal charge   = 
| criminal penalty  = [[Capital punishment|Death]]
| module            = {{infobox military person|embed=yes|
|allegiance=[[Nazi Germany]]
|serviceyears=1931–1945
|branch=''[[Sturmabteilung]]''<br> ''[[Schutzstaffel]]''
|rank=SS-''[[Hauptsturmführer]]''
|unit=''[[SS-Totenkopfverbände]]''
|relations=[[Günther-Eberhardt Wisliceny]] (brother)
|width_style= person
}}
| conviction        = [[Crimes against humanity]]
| conviction_status = [[Execution by hanging|Executed by hanging]]
}}

'''Dietrich "Dieter" Wisliceny''' (13 January 1911 – 4 May 1948) was a member of the ''[[Schutzstaffel]]'' (SS) and one of the deputies of [[Adolf Eichmann]], helping to organise and coordinate the large-scale deportations of the [[Jews]] across Europe during the [[Holocaust]].

==Life==
<!---- [[File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-N0827-318,_KZ_Auschwitz,_Ankunft_ungarischer_Juden.jpg|thumb|left|[[Hungarian Jewish]] women and children
from [[Carpatho-Ruthenia]] after their arrival at the [[Auschwitz]] death camp (May/June 1944). Photo from the [[Auschwitz Album]].]]
[[File:Adolf Eichmann at Trial1961.jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[Adolf Eichmann]] on trial in 1961]]---->
Dieter was born in 1911 as the son of the [[lord of the manor]] (''Rittergut Regulowken'') Erich Wisliceny (d. 1928) and his wife Wally, née Paul, in East Prussia. In 1919, after losing the estate, the family moved to [[Silesia]]. 

After graduating from [[Gymnasium (Germany)|Gymnasium]] in [[Breslau]], Wisliceny began studying theology in 1930 at the [[University of Breslau]], but dropped out after one semester. 

On 1 October 1931, Wisliceny became a member of the [[Nazi Party]] and of a formation of the ''[[Sturmabteilung]]'' (SA). In 1934, he switched from the SA to the SS and became a member of the [[Sicherheitsdienst|SD]]. Wisliceny eventually rose to the rank of SS-''[[Hauptsturmführer]]'' (captain) in 1940; he worked in the [[Reich Security Main Office Referat IV B4]] under [[Adolf Eichmann]].<ref name="ess.uwe.ac.uk">{{cite journal|url=http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/Wisliceny.htm  |author=Prof. Stuart Stein|title=Affidavit of Dieter Wisliceny|journal=Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression|volume =VIII|publisher= [[United States Government Publishing Office]]|year= 1946| pages= 606–619|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070810065326/http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/Wisliceny.htm|archive-date=2007-08-10|quote= Dieter Wisliceny in his testimony given before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, 3 January 1946, erroneously identifies the [[Auschwitz concentration camp]] as the concentration area [[Sosnowitz]] (which was one of its dozens of subcamps)}}.</ref> 

During implementation of the [[Final Solution]], his task was the [[ghetto]]ization and liquidation of several important [[Jewish]] communities in [[Nazism|Nazi]]-occupied Europe, including those of [[Hellenic State (1941–1944)|Greece]], [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Hungary]] and [[Slovak Republic (1939–1945)|Slovakia]]. Wisliceny also re-introduced the [[yellow badge|yellow star]] in occupied countries; the yellow star being used to distinguish Jews from non-Jews. 

Wisliceny was an important witness at the [[Nuremberg trials]]. His testimony would later prove important in the successful [[prosecution of Adolf Eichmann|prosecution of Eichmann]] for his complicity in the Holocaust in [[Israel]] in 1961.

==Death==
Wisliceny was extradited to [[Czechoslovakia]], where he was tried and hanged for [[war crime]]s in 1948.

==Awards and decorations (excerpt)==
* [[Honour Chevron for the Old Guard]] 
* [[SS Honour Sword|Honour Sword of the Reichsführers-SS]]
* [[Danzig Cross]], 2nd Class 
* [[Nazi Party Long Service Award]] in Bronze (10 years) 
* [[SS Long Service Award]], 3rd Grade (8 years) in 1942
* [[War Merit Cross]] (1939), 2nd Class with Swords

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{cite web|url=https://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/01-03-46.asp |title=Nuremberg testimony of Dieter Wisliceny |publisher=Nizkor Project |date=2012 |access-date= 3 September 2016}}

{{Holocaust Slovakia}}
{{Holocaust Ukraine}}
{{Holocaust Poland}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wisliceny, Dieter}}
[[Category:1911 births]]
[[Category:1948 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Giżycko County]]
[[Category:People from East Prussia]]
[[Category:SS-Hauptsturmführer]]
[[Category:Reich Security Main Office personnel]]
[[Category:Holocaust perpetrators in Greece]]
[[Category:Holocaust perpetrators in Poland]]
[[Category:Holocaust perpetrators in Slovakia]]
[[Category:Holocaust perpetrators in Ukraine]]
[[Category:People extradited to Czechoslovakia]]
[[Category:Nazis executed by Czechoslovakia by hanging]]
[[Category:Nazis executed for war crimes]]
[[Category:Executed German mass murderers]]
[[Category:Witnesses to the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg]]