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Portrait of Arthur Greiser

Photo: Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain

Born in Poland · Nationality German — Politics / regimes / war

Arthur Greiser

Authoritarian regimes, wars and mass atrocitiesPolitics and government

Documented profile covering 9 controversies, including “Arrest by US forces, extradition to Poland and trial before Supreme National Tribunal” and “Death sentence for crimes committed in Warthegau and public execution”.

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Profile No. 2616 · Updated on 12 October 2026

Portrait of Arthur Greiser

Photo: Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain
9Documented controversies+ 1 background event
8Sources
1 followed by a conviction

§ Legal statuses reflect the documented sources as of the date shown; they replace neither court decisions nor the presumption of innocence. Counts are not a rating. Methodology

I. Documented controversies

Case · 6 documented stages

Arrest by US forces, extradition to Poland and trial before Supreme National Tribunal

Conviction
01

1945-1946

Arrest by US forces, extradition to Poland and trial before Supreme National Tribunal

Conviction

Greiser was captured by US forces in May 1945 and handed over to Poland in March 1946. His trial opened in Poznań on 21 June 1946 before the Supreme National Tribunal, attracting extensive public and media coverage.

State of the evidence
Documented
Attribution
Personally implicated

Sources · 2

  1. [1]
    Instytut Pamięci Narodowej – PoznańArchiwum Pełne Pamięci: Arthur Greiser – zbrodnia i karaSecondary sourceVery high reliability
  2. [2]
    Instytut Pamięci Narodowej (IPN)"Nie był ślepym wykonawcą rozkazów lecz samodzielnym organizatorem masowych zbrodni" — Arthur GreiserSecondary sourceVery high reliability

Last verified: 14 September 2026

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02

1946-07

Death sentence for crimes committed in Warthegau and public execution

Conviction

On 9 July 1946, the Supreme National Tribunal sentenced Greiser to death after finding him responsible for mass crimes, Germanisation, expulsions and persecution committed under his administration. He was publicly hanged at the Poznań Citadel on 21 July 1946.

Attribution
Personally implicated

Sources · 2

  1. [1]
    Instytut Pamięci Narodowej (IPN)"Nie był ślepym wykonawcą rozkazów lecz samodzielnym organizatorem masowych zbrodni" — Arthur GreiserSecondary sourceVery high reliability
  2. [2]
    Instytut Pamięci Narodowej – PoznańArchiwum Pełne Pamięci: Arthur Greiser – zbrodnia i karaSecondary sourceVery high reliability

Last verified: 14 September 2026

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04

1939-1944

Germanisation policy, mass expulsions of Poles and confiscation of property

Conviction

Greiser sought to transform Warthegau into an ethnically German territory. The administration expelled very large numbers of Poles and Jews, confiscated their homes and property and settled ethnic Germans in their place; he advocated particularly harsh policies towards Poles deemed incapable of Germanisation.

State of the evidence
Documented
Attribution
Directly implicated

Sources · 3

  1. [1]
    United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumChełmno (Kulmhof) Killing CenterEncyclopediaVery high reliability
  2. [2]
    United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumPolish VictimsEncyclopediaVery high reliability
  3. [3]
    Instytut Pamięci Narodowej (IPN)"Nie był ślepym wykonawcą rozkazów lecz samodzielnym organizatorem masowych zbrodni" — Arthur GreiserSecondary sourceVery high reliability

Last verified: 14 September 2026

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05

1941-1944

Key role in establishment and operation of Chełmno/Kulmhof killing centre

Conviction

The USHMM identifies Greiser and SS and police chief Wilhelm Koppe as key actors in the persecution and murder of Warthegau's Jews at Chełmno. The killing centre used gas vans, among other methods, to murder Jews from Warthegau and other deportees.

State of the evidence
Documented
Attribution
Directly implicated

Sources · 2

  1. [1]
    United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumChełmno (Kulmhof) Killing CenterEncyclopediaVery high reliability
  2. [2]
    Instytut Pamięci Narodowej – ŁódźZagłada żydowskich miasteczek — exposition IPN ŁódźSecondary sourceVery high reliability

Last verified: 14 September 2026

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06

1941-1942

Regional initiative to exterminate Warthegau's Jews from autumn 1941

Conviction

The IPN dates the start of the organised extermination of Warthegau's Jewish communities to autumn 1941, at Greiser's initiative, with the first operations carried out by Sonderkommando Lange before and during the opening of Chełmno.

State of the evidence
Documented
Attribution
Directly implicated

Sources · 2

  1. [1]
    Instytut Pamięci Narodowej – ŁódźZagłada żydowskich miasteczek — exposition IPN ŁódźSecondary sourceVery high reliability
  2. [2]
    United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumChełmno (Kulmhof) Killing CenterEncyclopediaVery high reliability

Last verified: 14 September 2026

Add to this entry

07

1939-1941

Persecution of Jews, confiscations, forced labour and ghettoisation in Warthegau

Conviction

In Warthegau, the authorities under Greiser's administration rapidly imposed anti-Jewish measures: confiscation of homes and businesses, identification badges, forced labour, deportations and confinement in ghettos, particularly the large Łódź ghetto established in 1940.

State of the evidence
Documented
Attribution
Directly implicated

Sources · 1

  1. [1]
    United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumChełmno (Kulmhof) Killing CenterEncyclopediaVery high reliability

Last verified: 14 September 2026

Add to this entry

03

1945-01

Flight from Poznań and delayed evacuation of Warthegau ahead of Red Army

No legal proceedings

In January 1945, as the Red Army advanced rapidly, Greiser left Poznań. The IPN describes a German evacuation decided late and carried out chaotically after years of propaganda and authoritarian control, contributing to disorder during the region's collapse.

State of the evidence
Documented
Attribution
Directly implicated

Sources · 1

  1. [1]
    Instytut Pamięci NarodowejArthur Greiser – droga do upadkuSecondary sourceVery high reliability

Last verified: 14 September 2026

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08

1939-1941

Gassing of disabled people in Warthegau and at Fort VII

No legal proceedings

Warthegau was among the first territories where the Nazis experimented with mass killing by gas against psychiatric patients. Sonderkommando Lange, subordinate to the security police, killed thousands of disabled people at Fort VII and using gas vans between 1939 and 1941.

State of the evidence
Documented

Sources · 2

  1. [1]
    United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumNazi Gas ChambersEncyclopediaVery high reliability
  2. [2]
    Instytut Pamięci NarodowejEutanazja – ukryte ludobójstwo pacjentów szpitali psychiatrycznych w Kraju Warty i na Pomorzu w latach 1939–1945Secondary sourceVery high reliability

Last verified: 14 September 2026

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09

1929-1939

Rise within NSDAP, SA and SS and political takeover of Danzig

No legal proceedings

Greiser joined the NSDAP in the late 1920s, moved from the SA to the SS in 1931 and became one of Danzig's Nazi leaders. From 1934, he chaired the Senate of the Free City amid the increasing Nazification of its institutions.

State of the evidence
Documented
Attribution
Political responsibility

Sources · 2

  1. [1]
    Instytut Pamięci Narodowej (IPN)"Nie był ślepym wykonawcą rozkazów lecz samodzielnym organizatorem masowych zbrodni" — Arthur GreiserSecondary sourceVery high reliability
  2. [2]
    Instytut Pamięci NarodowejArthur Greiser – droga do upadkuSecondary sourceVery high reliability

Last verified: 14 September 2026

Add to this entry

II. Documented background

Documented biographical or institutional milestones (elections, appointments, foundings, acquisitions…). These are not controversies and are not counted as such.

  1. 1939

    Appointment as Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter of Warthegau after invasion of Poland

    Following the invasion and annexation of western Poland, Greiser became Gauleiter and Reich governor (Reichsstatthalter) of Warthegau. He reported directly to Hitler and headed the civil administration of the annexed province.

    Sources · 2
    1. Instytut Pamięci Narodowej (IPN) — "Nie był ślepym wykonawcą rozkazów lecz samodzielnym organizatorem masowych zbrodni" — Arthur Greiser
    2. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum — Chełmno (Kulmhof) Killing Center

III. Constellation of documented links

No documented link with another published profile for now.

Two profiles are linked when a documented controversy of one names the other. The link points to that controversy and its sources; it does not indicate a personal relationship.

IV. Has something changed?

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