Hermann Senkowsky

Hermann Senkowsky
Finance Minister of the General Government
In office
25 January 1942 – January 1945
Personal details
Born Hermann Robert Josef Senkowsky
(1897-07-31)31 July 1897
Scheibbs, Lower Austria, Austria-Hungary
Died 5 April 1965(1965-04-05) (aged 67)
Innsbruck, Austria
Nationality German
Political party National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP)
Religion Roman Catholic

Hermann Robert Josef Senkowsky (July 31, 1897 in Scheibbs – April 5, 1965 in Innsbruck) was an Austrian customs officer and SS-Führer. He also was chief president finance of the General Government, which would correlate to finance minister of occupied Poland in World War II. He is also known in Austria for his 1928 customs instructions for Austria, which are, in a modified version, still in use today.

Life

Senkowsky went to school in St. Pölten, where he finished secondary school in 1915. He then joined the armed forces of Austria-Hungary as a volunteer in the k.u.k. Feldkanonen-Regiment 5, Brünn. He was transferred to the front in Volhynia. He reached the rank of Oberleutnant and was an artillery battery commander at the end of World War I.

From 1919 to 1922 he studied jurisprudence in Innsbruck and Vienna. During this time he joined the Greater German People's Party. After his doctorate in 1922 he became a civil servant in the finance administration and in 1928 published his Zollwachvorschrift, customs instructions for Austria, which are, in a modified version, still in use today. In January 1930 he was promoted to Ministerialsekretär.

Senkowsky was a member of the NSDAP (#1,089,376) since May 20, 1932 and member of the SS (#310,369) since November 9, 1934. He was relieved of his office in 1934 for his membership in the NSDAP, which was an illegal party in Austria at the time. In November 1934 he was arrested for participating in the July Putsch, but was released due to lack of evidence. In May 1935 he was arrested for being a member of the NSDAP and was kept in jail until March 1936. Shortly after his release he fled to Nazi Germany because he was supposed to be arrested again for his activities as a National Socialist.

In May 1936 he became a German citizen and worked for the finance ministry under SS-Gruppenführer Wilhelm Keppler.[1] After the Anschluss he was president finance (customs) in Upper Austria, chief president finance in Linz and Vienna.[1]

After the occupation of Poland he was transferred to the General Government, where he was president finance and director of the monopolies, until he became SS-Oberführer and chief president finance in January 1942, which correlates to finance minister of occupied Poland.

After the end of World War II, Senkowsky was arrested by allied forces. He was released in 1947, because Poland did not ask for his extradition as a war criminal. After that he lived and worked in Innsbruck where he was in charge of the Tyrolean Foreign-Trade Zone.

Awards and decorations

Senkowsky's SS-Ranks[1]
Datum Rang
January 1940 SS-Sturmbannführer
November 1940 SS-Obersturmbannführer
April 1941 SS-Standartenführer
November 1944 SS-Oberführer

Books

Literature

References

  1. 1 2 3 Werner Präg / Wolfgang Jacobmeyer (Hrsg.): Das Diensttagebuch des deutschen Generalgouverneurs in Polen 1939–1945, Stuttgart 1975, S. 953
  2. ↑ Google Booksearch
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