During this time Panzinger was also Commander of the SiPo and Sicherheitsdienst (SD) in Riga. Panzinger was assigned to the headquarters of the SD and Gestapo in Ukraine. A reorganization of Amt IV of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) in March 1944 led to a breakdown of territory divisions between Panzinger and Achamer-Pifrader. While Panzinger took over leadership of sub-office IV A, he also served under Achamer-Pifrader in sub-office IV B. Panzinger's group now stood as follows: IV A 1 (Opposition): Panzinger IV A 2 (Sabotage): Horst Kopkow IV A 3 (Abwehr): SS-Obersturmbannführer Walter Huppenkothen IV A 4 (Ideological opponents): SS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann IV A 5 (Special cases): SS-Standartenführer and government director Rudolf Mildner IV A 6 (Index, files, protective custody): SS-Sturmbannführer, government and police superintendent Dr. Emil Berndorff In July 1944, after the 20 July plot to kill Hitler, Panzinger was appointed Chief of the Headquarters of the Gestapo, reporting directly to SS-Gruppenführer Heinrich Müller. Shortly thereafter, Panzinger was appointed Chief of RSHA Amt V, the Kriminalpolizei (Kripo; Criminal Police), also known as the Reichskriminalpolizeiamt (RKPA). He held that position until the end of the war. He succeeded Arthur Nebe, who was denounced and executed subsequent to the failed July assassination attempt on Hitler. He collaborated directly with RSHA chief, Ernst Kaltenbrunner. Panzinger was responsible for the murder of prisoner of war French general Gustave Marie Maurice Mesny on 19 January 1945 near the village of Nossen. Post-war arrest and suicide After the war, Panzinger was arrested in 1946 and imprisoned by the Soviet Union for being a war criminal. In Moscow on 22 March 1952 he was twice sentenced to 25 years of forced labor. As a so-called Nichtamnestierter ("non-amnestied"), he was released in September 1955 and repatriated to then West Germany. He worked for a time on the staff of the Bundesnachrichtendienst (Federal Intelligence Service; BND) under Reinhard Gehlen. Later, in 1959, he was employed by a trust company. That same year, after charges were brought against him for the murder of Maurice Mesny, Panzinger committed suicide in his cell on 8 August 1959. References Citations Bibliography External links Declassified CIA Records on Friedrich Panzinger 1903 births 1959 suicides Military personnel from Munich Einsatzgruppen personnel Gestapo personnel Holocaust perpetrators in Belarus Sturmabteilung personnel SS-Oberführer Lawyers in the Nazi Party Nazis who committed suicide in Germany Nazis who committed suicide in prison custody People of the Federal