English source-aligned edition
August Meyszner
August Meyszner served as Higher SS and Police Leader in occupied Serbia. The profile reconstructs the person’s function in Belgrade · Kruševac · occupied Serbia through documented office, decisions, supervision or operational conduct. It does not assign every crime committed by an institution or region to one individual.
Confirmed findings
- From January 1942 to March 1944 he was Higher SS and Police Leader in occupied Serbia. (Source: History of the 20th Century — Institute for Contemporary History, Radosav Tucovic, vol. 41/2 (2023), PDF pp. 2–6 (article pp. 348–351), especially note 23 citing IAB 1919-V-159 and 1919-V-162)
- The police apparatus under him carried out arrests, shootings and reprisals, while Meyszner issued direct repression orders. (Source: Djordje N. Lopicic — German war-crimes judgments source edition, Section on mass shootings and the defendant/judgment list; notice of the 29 June 1943 shooting of 575 people; Belgrade Military Court, case 725/46, judgment of 22 December 1946)
- In June 1943 he ordered the shooting of 575 people near Kruševac. (Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Section “Postwar Justice”, paragraph naming Higher SS and Police Leader August Meyszner)
- A Belgrade military court sentenced him to death; he was executed on 24 January 1947. (Source: History of the 20th Century — Institute for Contemporary History, Radosav Tucovic, vol. 41/2 (2023), PDF pp. 2–6 (article pp. 348–351), especially note 23 citing IAB 1919-V-159 and 1919-V-162)
Place in the chain of responsibility
Meyszner’s responsibility rests both on command of the regional SS and police apparatus and on a documented personal order for a mass hostage execution. (Source: History of the 20th Century — Institute for Contemporary History, Radosav Tucovic, vol. 41/2 (2023), PDF pp. 2–6 (article pp. 348–351), especially note 23 citing IAB 1919-V-159 and 1919-V-162; Source: Djordje N. Lopicic — German war-crimes judgments source edition, Section on mass shootings and the defendant/judgment list; notice of the 29 June 1943 shooting of 575 people; Belgrade Military Court, case 725/46, judgment of 22 December 1946; Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Section “Postwar Justice”, paragraph naming Higher SS and Police Leader August Meyszner)
Key events and mechanisms
- Took office as Higher SS and Police Leader in occupied Serbia in January 1942. (Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Section “Postwar Justice”, paragraph naming Higher SS and Police Leader August Meyszner)
- Ordered 575 people shot in June 1943 in retaliation for an attack on German auxiliary police. (Source: Djordje N. Lopicic — German war-crimes judgments source edition, Section on mass shootings and the defendant/judgment list; notice of the 29 June 1943 shooting of 575 people; Belgrade Military Court, case 725/46, judgment of 22 December 1946)
- Was sentenced to death on 22 December 1946 and executed on 24 January 1947. (Source: History of the 20th Century — Institute for Contemporary History, Radosav Tucovic, vol. 41/2 (2023), PDF pp. 2–6 (article pp. 348–351), especially note 23 citing IAB 1919-V-159 and 1919-V-162)
The circle records authority, function and agency. Several profiles may describe different parts of the same persecution chain, so profile-level totals must not be added together.
Postwar accountability
After extradition to Yugoslavia, a Belgrade military court sentenced him to death; he was hanged on 24 January 1947. (Source: Djordje N. Lopicic — German war-crimes judgments source edition, Section on mass shootings and the defendant/judgment list; notice of the 29 June 1943 shooting of 575 people; Belgrade Military Court, case 725/46, judgment of 22 December 1946)
Limits of the evidence
Meyszner’s role in the gas-van murder of Jewish women and children from Sajmište is disputed because BdS Emanuel Schäfer also operated through an independent RSHA chain. The profile does not attribute personal control of the gas van or every police victim to Meyszner. His Belgrade trial concerned occupation crimes more broadly, not only the Holocaust. (Source: History of the 20th Century — Institute for Contemporary History, Radosav Tucovic, vol. 41/2 (2023), PDF pp. 2–6 (article pp. 348–351), especially note 23 citing IAB 1919-V-159 and 1919-V-162; Source: Djordje N. Lopicic — German war-crimes judgments source edition, Section on mass shootings and the defendant/judgment list; notice of the 29 June 1943 shooting of 575 people; Belgrade Military Court, case 725/46, judgment of 22 December 1946; Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Section “Postwar Justice”, paragraph naming Higher SS and Police Leader August Meyszner)
Sources
The source set combines institutional, archival, trial or scholarly material from at least two independent publishers.