Frankenstein w warszawskim getcie. Historia i legenda

Abstract

The article deals with one exceptionally violent German perpetrator who was part of the occupation force in Warsaw during the Second World War. Inside the Ghetto he maltreated and killed a large number of women, children and men for his own personal pleasure. He did this to such an extensive degree that the population perceived him as monstrous being that was given the nickname „Frankenstein”. The article is mainly based on statements in juridical investigations, from the victim as well as from the perpetrator perspective, supplemented with some selected additional sources. Firstly the source corpus will be evaluated, to work out how these historical sources can be used to shed light on „Frankenstein”. This will be followed by an analysis of the actual identity of this perpetrator. It will be shown that he was, contrary to common belief, not necessarily the SS-Rottenführer Josef Blösche but more likely a member of the German Police Battalion 61. In the end the question will be also raised of how it was possible – despite all rules and regulations – that ghetto guards like him behaved like a marauding soldiery.