English source-aligned edition
Rolf Günther
Rolf Günther served as Eichmann's permanent deputy in RSHA Section IV B4. The profile reconstructs the person’s function in Berlin, Theresienstadt, Greece and occupied Europe 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
- Günther worked in the Vienna Central Office for Jewish Emigration and from 1941 served as Adolf Eichmann's permanent deputy in Department IV B4.
- He managed deportation correspondence and approvals and took part in creating the Theresienstadt transit ghetto and organising deportations from Salonika.
- He visited the Bełżec killing centre in August 1942 as part of an inspection concerned with the killing process.
Place in the chain of responsibility
Günther occupied a central position in the office that coordinated deportations from across occupied Europe and also took part in specific operations. The total activity of IV B4 cannot, however, be converted into an individual count or attributed solely to Eichmann's deputy.
Key events and mechanisms
- the operation of Theresienstadt as a transit ghetto for further deportations
- the 1943 deportation of the Jewish community of Salonika to Auschwitz
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
Günther was interned by United States forces at Ebensee and was reported to have killed himself with poison in August 1945. He was never tried or convicted.
Limits of the evidence
His death was attested by another RSHA official, but later rumours claimed he had escaped; the Polish profile treats suicide at Ebensee as the best-supported account while retaining the uncertainty. His departmental position establishes shared responsibility, not sole authorship of all IV B4 deportations.
Sources
The source set combines institutional, archival, trial or scholarly material from at least two independent publishers.