VII Nazi ReportSeven Circles of Responsibility

English source-aligned edition

Ernst Damzog

died in 1945 and was never tried for his work in occupied Poland 1882–1945

Ernst Damzog served as commander of Einsatzgruppe V and later inspector of the Security Police and SD in Poznań. The profile reconstructs the person’s function in Greater Poland, central Poland and the Wartheland through documented office, decisions, supervision or operational conduct. It does not assign every crime committed by an institution or region to one individual.

Persecution and murder of elitesPolice repressionMass executions

Confirmed findings

  • Damzog commanded Einsatzgruppe V during the German invasion and occupation of Poland in autumn 1939.
  • The formation participated in Operation Tannenberg and the Intelligenzaktion against selected Polish groups.
  • He later served as inspector of the Security Police and SD in Poznań, linking the mobile-unit phase to a permanent regional police apparatus.

Place in the chain of responsibility

Damzog's two offices show institutional continuity from a mobile Einsatzgruppe to the consolidated security-police system in annexed territory. Responsibility for each phase must be evaluated separately and cannot encompass every crime committed in the Wartheland.

Key events and mechanisms

  • In autumn 1939 he led Einsatzgruppe V during its operations in occupied Poland.
  • After the mobile-unit phase he held the regional inspectorate of the Security Police and SD in Poznań.
  • He died in 1945 before any postwar trial.
No victim-count ranking

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

Damzog did not appear before a court for his role in the invasion-period Einsatzgruppe or the later Poznań police apparatus.

Limits of the evidence

The evidence must distinguish decisions made as Einsatzgruppe V commander from later official responsibility as inspector in Poznań. Formation-wide and regional crimes should not be collapsed into one personal attribution.

Sources

The source set combines institutional, archival, trial or scholarly material from at least two independent publishers.