English source-aligned edition
Franz Alfred Six
Franz Alfred Six served as commander of Vorkommando Moscow in Einsatzgruppe B and senior RSHA official. The profile reconstructs the person’s function in Smolensk · occupied Soviet Union · Berlin 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
- Franz Alfred Six was born in Mannheim on 12 August 1909 and died in Bolzano on 9 July 1975. He joined the Nazi Party in 1930 and held senior posts in the SD and RSHA, including leadership of Amt VII for ideological research. (Source: Deutsche Biographie — biographical entry “Six, Franz Alfred”, life dates and career section)
- He was appointed chief of Vorkommando Moscow within Einsatzgruppe B on 20 June 1941. The judgment records that he reached Smolensk on 25 July and remained with the unit until the latter part of August 1941. (Source: Harvard Law School Library — Nuremberg Trials Project — HLSL sequences 6802–6808; judgment findings concerning Franz Six)
- The tribunal discussed reports of 144 “liquidations” from the unit’s period of activity but expressly said it could not conclude with scientific certainty that Six actively participated in the murder program. It nevertheless found that he formed part of an organization engaged in atrocities and inhumane acts. (Source: Harvard Law School Library — Nuremberg Trials Project — HLSL sequences 6802–6808; judgment findings concerning Franz Six)
- The Einsatzgruppen tribunal found him guilty on Counts I and II and on Count III through membership in the SS and SD. He received a twenty-year sentence; the NARA report records his early release in 1952. (Source: Harvard Law School Library — Nuremberg Trials Project — HLSL sequences 6802–6808; judgment findings concerning Franz Six; Source: Harvard Law School Library — Nuremberg Trials Project — defendant table and verdict table for the Einsatzgruppen Case; Source: United States National Archives and Records Administration — Interagency Working Group — section “Franz Six” in the report on CIA Record Group 263)
Place in the chain of responsibility
Six’s responsibility is presented through his command role, his position in the RSHA apparatus and the adjudicated findings. The figure of 144, which belongs to unit reports, is not converted into a number of killings personally committed by Six. (Source: Harvard Law School Library — Nuremberg Trials Project — HLSL sequences 6802–6808; judgment findings concerning Franz Six; Source: Harvard Law School Library — Nuremberg Trials Project — defendant table and verdict table for the Einsatzgruppen Case)
Key events and mechanisms
- 20 June 1941 – appointment as chief of Vorkommando Moscow within Einsatzgruppe B (Source: Harvard Law School Library — Nuremberg Trials Project — HLSL sequences 6802–6808; judgment findings concerning Franz Six)
- 25 July to late August 1941 – presence with the unit at Smolensk as described in the judgment (Source: Harvard Law School Library — Nuremberg Trials Project — HLSL sequences 6802–6808; judgment findings concerning Franz Six)
- 10 April 1948 – guilty findings on Counts I–III and a twenty-year prison sentence (Source: Harvard Law School Library — Nuremberg Trials Project — HLSL sequences 6802–6808; judgment findings concerning Franz Six; Source: Harvard Law School Library — Nuremberg Trials Project — defendant table and verdict table for the Einsatzgruppen Case)
- 1952 – early release from prison (Source: United States National Archives and Records Administration — Interagency Working Group — section “Franz Six” in the report on CIA Record Group 263)
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
The Einsatzgruppen tribunal found Six guilty on all three counts and sentenced him to twenty years. NARA records that he was released early in 1952 and later appeared in records concerning former Nazi officials in postwar intelligence circles. (Source: Harvard Law School Library — Nuremberg Trials Project — defendant table and verdict table for the Einsatzgruppen Case; Source: United States National Archives and Records Administration — Interagency Working Group — section “Franz Six” in the report on CIA Record Group 263)
Limits of the evidence
The judgment itself left active participation in the murder program unproved to the stated standard; that evidentiary boundary must remain visible. The unit’s reported killings cannot be attributed to Six as personal acts without further evidence. No portrait is included because this review did not verify a specific file together with publication-ready licensing and attribution. (Source: Harvard Law School Library — Nuremberg Trials Project — HLSL sequences 6802–6808; judgment findings concerning Franz Six; Source: Deutsche Biographie — biographical entry “Six, Franz Alfred”, life dates and career section; Source: United States National Archives and Records Administration — Interagency Working Group — section “Franz Six” in the report on CIA Record Group 263)
Sources
The source set combines institutional, archival, trial or scholarly material from at least two independent publishers.