The paper chronicles the life of Karl von Krempler, a war criminal who was a Yugoslav “Volksdeutscher”. The emphasis is on the period of the Second World War, when he attained high positions within the structure of SS and police in the occupied Serbia. Besides his pre-war, war and post-war career, the attention is devoted to the analysis of Krempler’s intriguing personality. The paper is prepared on the basis of the archival documentation preserved at: the Archives of Yugoslavia, The State Archives of Serbia, Historical Archives of Belgrade, the Military Archives, Historical Archives “Ras” in Novi Pazar, Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, The Political Archive of the Federal Foreign Office of Germany and Federal Archives in Berlin.