View source for Helmut Knochen

{{short description|SS officer and Holocaust perpetrator}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=July 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name              = Helmut Knochen
| image_name        = Bundesarchiv Bild 101III-Alber-096-10, Helmut Knochen (3x4 cropped).jpg
| image_size        = 
| image_caption     = Knochen, {{circa|1942}}
| birth_date        = {{Birth-date|14 March 1910|14 March 1910}}
| birth_place       = [[Magdeburg]], [[Province of Saxony]], [[Kingdom of Prussia]], [[German Empire]]
| death_date        = {{death date and age|mf=yes|2003|4|4|1910|3|14}}
| death_place       = [[Offenbach am Main]], [[Hesse]], [[Germany]]
| education         = [[PhD]]
| alma_mater        = [[University of Göttingen]]
| cause             = 
| conviction        = '''British Military'''<br>[[War crimes]]<br>'''French Military'''<br>[[War crimes]]
| conviction_penalty = '''British Military'''<br>[[Capital punishment in the United Kingdom|Death]]; commuted to [[life imprisonment]]; further commuted to 21 years imprisonment<br>'''French Military'''<br>[[Capital punishment in France|Death]]; commuted to [[life imprisonment]]
| criminal_status   = [[Deceased]]
| module            = {{Infobox military person |embed=yes|embed_title=SS service
| serviceyears      = 1936–1945
| nickname          =
| allegiance        = [[Nazi Germany]]
| rank              = SS-''[[Standartenführer]]''
| branch            = ''[[Schutzstaffel]]''<br />''[[Waffen-SS]]''
| unit              = [[Reich Security Main Office]]
| commands          = Commander of SiPo and SD, France
| awards            = [[Iron Cross]], 1st and 2nd class
}}
}}

'''Helmut Herbert Christian Heinrich Knochen''' (March 14, 1910 – April 4, 2003) was the senior commander of the ''[[Sicherheitspolizei]]'' (Security Police; SiPo) and ''[[Sicherheitsdienst]]'' (SD) in [[German military administration in occupied France during World War II|occupied France]] during [[World War II]]. He was sentenced to death for [[war crimes]] by a British military court in 1946, and by a French military court in 1954. His sentences were commuted and reduced, and he was pardoned and released by French President [[Charles de Gaulle]] in 1962.

== Early life ==
Knochen was born in [[Magdeburg]], the son of a school teacher. At age sixteen, his father enrolled him in ''[[Der Stahlhelm]]'' a right-wing [[paramilitary]] group. Knochen excelled academically, and he attended [[Leipzig University]], the [[University of Halle]] and the [[University of Göttingen]], earning a [[doctorate]] in medieval English literature in 1935.{{sfn|Kershaw|2015|p=25}} Even before the [[Nazi seizure of power]], he joined the ''[[Sturmabteilung]]'' (SA) and the [[Nazi Party]] (membership number 1,430,331) on 1 January 1933.<ref>Bundesarchiv R 9361-IX KARTEI/21301024</ref> He also became head of the [[National Socialist German Students' League]] in Göttingen in the same year, and worked as an editor in the Party's press agency.{{sfn|Wistrich|2013|p=152}}

== Career in the SS ==
Knochen joined the ''[[Schultzstaffel]]'' (SS) (member number 280,350) on 1 September 1936 and was assigned to its intelligence service, the ''[[Sicherheitsdienst]]'' (SD). For the next 3 years, he was assigned to its office for foreign intelligence, where he studied the refugee press of France, Belgium and the Netherlands. In November 1939, he was involved in the [[Venlo incident]] in which 2 British intelligence agents were kidnapped, and for which he was awarded the [[Iron Cross]]. During the [[Battle of France]], Knochen led a special commando unit in June 1940. After France's defeat, he stayed on as the SD representative in Paris to maintain surveillance on Communists, Jews, Freemasons and other perceived enemies of the Nazi regime.{{sfn|Wistrich|2013|p=152}} However, he ran into opposition from the military administration of General [[Otto von Stülpnagel]]. In command of his own 2,500 [[Feldgendarmerie|field military police]], Stülpnagel resented the SD intrusion into his jurisdiction and severely limited its freedom of action.{{sfn|Höhne|1971|p=465}}

Knochen returned to Germany at the beginning of 1941 as head of the department for reconnaissance of ideological opponents abroad (IV E) in  Amt VI of the [[Reich Security Main Office]] (RSHA). In May 1942, he was promoted to the rank of SS-''[[Standartenführer]]'' and he returned to France as the ''[[Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD]]''.{{sfn|Klee|2007|p=320}} He was involved in combating partisans and in hunting down and destroying [[French resistance|resistance]] groups. He was responsible for the execution of hundreds of French resistance fighters and the arrest and torture of dozens of British [[Special Operations Executive|SOE]] agents.{{sfn|Kershaw|2015|p=91}} Knochen also was involved in deporting [[French Jews]] to [[Nazi concentration camps]]. In this, he encountered opposition from the Italian troops occupying southern France. On 2 occasions in February and March 1943, they prevented the deportation to Germany of Jews in [[Lyon]] and [[Annecy]]. Knochen complained that: "Throughout France, the 'Final Solution of the Jewish question' decreed for the whole of Europe is being seriously hampered by the Italian position." He appealed to the ''[[Wehrmacht]]'' authorities, including ''[[Generalleutnant]]'' [[Günther Blumentritt]], the chief of staff to the [[OB West]] (Commander-in-Chief, West) who refused to intervene.{{sfn|Höhne|1971|pp=447–448}}

During the [[July 20 Plot|20 July 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler]], Knochen and his superior, the [[SS and Police Leader|Higher SS and Police Leader]] of France SS-''[[Gruppenführer]]'' [[Carl Oberg]], were arrested by army troops under the command of General [[Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel]], a supporter of the conspirators. After the coup collapsed, they were released from custody. Just before the liberation of Paris by the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]], Knochen was removed from his post on 18 August by RSHA Chief [[Ernst Kaltenbrunner]], and he was transferred to the [[Waffen-SS]].{{sfn|Zentner|Bedürftig|1997|p=506}} He was demoted to the rank of SS-''Grenadier'' and assigned to the [[1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler]].

== Post-war trials, sentences, and reprieve ==
After Germany's surrender in May 1945, Knochen went into hiding. He was discovered and arrested at [[Kronach]] in [[Bavaria]] in January 1946. He was incarcerated at [[Dachau]] and testified as a witness at the [[Nuremberg trials]].{{sfn|Kershaw|2015|p=217}} In June 1946, a British [[Court-martial|military court]] sentenced Knochen, alongside [[Josef Kieffer|Hans Kieffer]], to death for the murder of a number of British parachute troops on or about 9 August 1944. In 1947, he was [[extradition|extradited]] to France where, in October 1954, he was sentenced to death by a military tribunal. The sentence was [[Commutation of sentence|commuted]] to life imprisonment in April 1958 and further reduced to 20 years at hard labor in December 1959. A pardon was issued by French President [[Charles de Gaulle]] and Knochen was released on 28 November 1962, together with his former chief Carl Oberg.{{sfn|Wistrich|2013|pp=152–153}} Repatriated to Germany, he retired to [[Baden-Baden]] where he worked in the insurance industry. He died in 2003, at age 93, in [[Offenbach am Main]].

== In popular culture ==
* [[The Eye of Vichy]], a French documentary film directed by [[Claude Chabrol]] where Knochen himself appeared
* [[The Kindly Ones (Littell novel)|Les Bienveillantes]], a 2006 historical fiction novel written in French by [[Jonathan Littell]], where Helmut Knochen is featured meeting the main character Maximilian Aue.
* Field Gray, a 2010 fiction novel by [[Philip Kerr]] where Knochen featured.
*93 Rue Lauriston, a 2003 TV Film about French Gestapo.
*The Great Arrangement, a 2007 TV Film about the collaborator Rene Bouquet.

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|2}}

== References ==
* Brunner, Bernhard, ''Der Frankreich-Komplex. Die nationalsozialistischen Verbrechen in Frankreich und die Justiz der Bundesrepublik Deutschland''. Wallstein, Göttingen 2004, {{ISBN|3-89244-693-8}}
* Delarue, Jacques, ''SS et Gestapo s'imposent à la Wehrmacht'', in ''Le Journal de la France de l'occupation à la libération, les années 40'', Historia-Tallandier, n° 47, p.&nbsp;1289-1290.
* {{cite book |last=Höhne |first=Heinz |title=The Order of the Death's Head: The Story of Hitler's SS |publisher=Ballantine Books |location=New York |year=1971 |isbn=0-345-28333-3}}
* {{cite book|author=Josephs, Jeremy|title=Swastika Over Paris|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IVuktcb7uMQC|date=2012|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-4088-3448-0}}
* {{cite book|last=Kershaw |first=Alex |title=Avenue of Spies: A True Story of Terror, Espionage, and One American Family's Heroic Resistance in Nazi-Occupied Paris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IjtEBQAAQBAJ|date=2015 |publisher=Crown/Archetype |isbn=978-0-8041-4004-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Klee |first=Ernst |author-link=Ernst Klee |title=Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945 |publisher=Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag |location=Frankfurt-am-Main |year=2007 |isbn=978-3-596-16048-8}}
* Moisel, Claudia, ''La France et les criminels de guerre allemands. Politique et pratique de la poursuite pénale après la deuxième guerre mondiale'', Éd. Norbert, 2004, {{ISBN|3-89244-749-7}}.
* {{cite book |last=Wistrich |first=R.S. |title=Who's Who in Nazi Germany |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-136-41381-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nT-psA9fj_AC&pg=PA65}}
*{{cite book |editor-last1=Zentner |editor-first1=Christian |editor-last2=Bedürftig |editor-first2=Friedemann |year=1997 |orig-date=1991 |title= [[The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich]] |publisher=Da Capo Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-306-80793-0}}

* Magazine ''Historia'', N° 337, décembre 1974 par Philippe Aziz.
* Magazine ''Historia'', Hors Série N° 20, 1971, ''Les SS. 1 - L'ordre noir''.
* Magazine ''Historia'', Hors Série N° 26, 1972, par [[Serge Klarsfeld]].
* Magazine ''Historia'', Hors Série N° 27, 1972, ''La Gestapo en France. 2''.
* ''L'oeil de Vichy'', (''The Eyes of Vichy''), documentary film directed by Claude Chabrol, {{IMDb title|qid=Q1169110|title=L'oeil de Vichy}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Knochen.html Bibliothèque virtuelle juive du nazi Helmut Knochen]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070929120835/http://www.arte.tv/fr/histoire-societe/les-mercredis-de-l-histoire/Cette_20semaine/1113498,CmC=1113492.html ARTE-Interview 2004]{{in lang|fr}} 
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928144638/http://www.infolinks.de/geheim/1999/04/018.htm Celui qui parle d'Europol, ne peut pas oublier le RSHA]
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20120225173627/http://livreblanc.maurice-papon.net/interv-knochen.htm Une interview auto-réparatrice trois ans avant sa mort]}}

{{Holocaust France}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knochen, Helmut}}
[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:2003 deaths]]
[[Category:German people imprisoned abroad]]
[[Category:German prisoners sentenced to death]]
[[Category:Holocaust perpetrators in France]]
[[Category:Leipzig University alumni]]
[[Category:Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg alumni]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Magdeburg]]
[[Category:Nazis convicted of war crimes]]
[[Category:People extradited from the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:People extradited to France]]
[[Category:People from the Province of Saxony]]
[[Category:People of Vichy France]]
[[Category:Prisoners sentenced to death by the British military]]
[[Category:Prisoners sentenced to death by the French military]]
[[Category:Recipients of French presidential pardons]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Iron Cross (1939), 1st class]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Iron Cross (1939), 2nd class]]
[[Category:Reich Security Main Office personnel]]
[[Category:SS-Standartenführer]]
[[Category:Stahlhelm members]]
[[Category:University of Göttingen alumni]]
[[Category:Waffen-SS personnel]]
[[Category:Witnesses to the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg]]