Arthur Nebe
- Category : 1894-births
- Type : PSE
- Profile : 3/5 - Martyr / Heretic
- Definition : Single
- Incarnation Cross : RAX Explanation 4
Biography
German key functionary in the security and police apparatus of the Nazi Reich and a Holocaust perpetrator.
Nebe rose through the ranks of the Berlin and Prussian police forces to become head of Nazi Germany's Criminal Police (Kripo) in 1936, which was folded into the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA) in 1939. Prior to the 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union, Nebe volunteered to serve as commanding officer of Einsatzgruppe B. The killing unit was deployed in the Army Group Centre Rear Area, in modern-day Belarus, and reported over 45,000 victims by November 1941. In late 1941, Nebe was posted back to Berlin and resumed his career within the RSHA. Nebe commanded the Kripo until he was denounced and executed on 21 March 1945 after the failed attempt to kill Adolf Hitler on 20 July 1944.
Following the war, Nebe's career and involvement with the 20 July plot were the subject of several apologetic accounts by the members of the plot, who portrayed him as a professional policeman and a dedicated anti-Nazi. The notions that Nebe's motivations were anything other than Nazi ideology have since been discredited by historians who describe him as an opportunist and an "energetic", "enthusiastic" and "notorious" mass murderer driven by racism and careerism.