Flesch was an '' Oberregierungsrat '' and held the rank of SS - '' Obersturmbannführer '' ( lieutenant colonel ) . He was born in Posen , Province of Posen , German Empire . He became a member of NSDAP ( Nazi Party ) in 1933 . In 1934 , he obtained his law degree and by 1936 was a member of the Gestapo , when Reinhard Heydrich appointed him over a unit to control the religious sects of Germany . In 1938 , he took part in the German march into the Sudetenland , and in 1939 , in the annexation of Bohemia and Moravia . Later he was appointed political adviser to Gauleiter Fritz Sauckel in Thuringia . After the outbreak of the war in September , 1939 , he became leader of an '' Einsatzkommando '' in Poznań ( ) . Between 20 and 23 October 1939 the 14 Einsatzkommando that he commanded executed 275 Poles in the Greater Poland region near Poznan who were named as Polish patriots by Wolfgang Bickerich , the Lutheran pastor in Leszno , who had kept a list before the German invasion of Poland in 1939 . They included political leaders , teachers , police officers , Catholic priests , workers , and farmers , and included scouts as young as 18 . This was the start of Operation Tannenberg organized by Reinhard Heydrich which was meant to eliminate Polish leaders in the parts of Poland annexed to Germany In 1940 , he joined the 3rd SS Division Totenkopf in their march into France . He had a position as '' Regierungsrat '' ( Executive Council , government advisor ) , and was an SS - '' Sturmbannführer '' ( major ) in April 1940 , when he was assigned to Norway . His first job in Norway was '' Kommandeur der Sipo und des SD '' in Bergen ( the '' Sicherheitsdienst '' ( SD ; Security Service ) was primarily the intelligence service of the SS and the Nazi Party , where the '' Sicherheitspolizei '' ( SiPo ; Security Police ) was a term used in Nazi Germany to describe the state political and criminal investigation security agencies . It was made up by the combined forces of the Gestapo ( secret state police ) and the Kripo ( criminal police ) between 1936 and 1939 . Thereafter , they became departments of the RSHA ) . On 11 October 1941 , he was appointed '' Kommandeur der Sicherheitspolizei und des Sicherheitsdienst '' in Trondheim . As '' Kommandeur '' of the district , he was also chief of Falstad concentration camp outside Trondheim and the prisons in Trondheim . He was promoted to the rank of '' Obersturmbannführer '' ( lieutenant colonel ) and received the title of '' Oberregierungsrat '' . His immediate superior was Heinrich Fehlis . On 8 May 1945 , he fled from Trondheim with a gold bar in his luggage . He was caught and sent back with a police escort on the train and during which he made an unsuccessful attempt to escape
Operation Tannenberg
Operation Tannenberg
Gerhard Flesch