Hanns Albin Rauter

Hanns Albin Rauter
Rauter in 1939
Born4 February 1895
Klagenfurt, Austro-Hungarian Empire
Died24 March 1949 (1949-03-25) (aged 54)
Near Scheveningen, Netherlands
AllegianceGerman Empire
Nazi Germany
BranchImperial German Army
Freikorps
Schutzstaffel
Years of service1914–1919
1921
1935–1945
RankSS-Obergruppenführer und General der Polizei
CommandsHigher SS and Police Leader of the Netherlands (1940–1945)
Battles / warsWorld War I
World War II

Johann Baptist Albin Rauter (4 February 1895 – 24 March 1949) was a high-ranking Austrian-born SS functionary and war criminal during the Nazi era. He was the Higher SS and Police Leader in the occupied Netherlands and therefore the leading security and police officer there during the period of 1940–1945. Rauter reported directly to the Nazi SS chief, Heinrich Himmler, and also to the Nazi Reichskommissar of the Netherlands, Arthur Seyss-Inquart. After World War II, Rauter was convicted in the Netherlands of crimes against humanity and executed by firing squad.