English source-aligned edition
Rudolf Batz
Rudolf Batz served as commander of Einsatzkommando 2, subsequently KdS in Kraków and commander of the Security Police in Dortmund. The profile reconstructs the person’s function in Riga, Jelgava, Kraków and Dortmund 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
- A Yad Vashem collection publishes investigative material and Alfred Becu's testimony, according to which Batz formed a sub-unit and ordered it to murder the Jewish population of Jelgava in July 1941.
- Batz commanded Einsatzkommando 2 and later served as KdS in Kraków and commander of the Security Police and SD in western Germany; the Kraków post alone does not support attributing every execution in the region to him.
- Documentation from the Dortmund City Archives establishes that in March 1945 Batz took command of the Gestapo and criminal police and ordered a review of prisoner files before the series of end-of-war executions.
- In 1960 he was arrested in connection with the crimes of Einsatzkommando 2; he died by suicide in custody on 8 February 1961 before the case reached trial.
Place in the chain of responsibility
The dossier connects two individualised links: the order to send a unit to Jelgava and the initiation of the prisoner-review procedure in Dortmund. Command alone must not be used to infer responsibility for every execution by Einsatzkommando 2, KdS Kraków or the Dortmund Gestapo.
Key events and mechanisms
- taking command of Einsatzkommando 2 in summer 1941
- ordering a unit sent to Jelgava in July 1941
- service as KdS Kraków in 1943
- taking command of the Security Police in Dortmund and ordering a prisoner review in March 1945
- arrest in 1960 and suicide in custody on 8 February 1961
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 the war he lived under an assumed name. He was arrested on 11 November 1960 in connection with Einsatzkommando 2 and mass executions. On 8 February 1961 he died by suicide in custody; there was no trial or judgment.
Limits of the evidence
The Yad Vashem material links an executor's testimony to the contents of the indictment, but Batz died before the evidence could be assessed at his own trial. For Dortmund, his order to review prisoners and his place on the decision-making committee are documented; the profile does not automatically attribute every killing committed by personnel of the office to him.
Sources
The source set combines institutional, archival, trial or scholarly material from at least two independent publishers.