Udo Klausa

Udo Klausa, 1940s (photo: public domain).
Udo Klausa, 1940s (photo: public domain).

Udo Klausa was the Landrat, or local and regional German civilian administrator, for the Będzin ghetto. He was appointed in 1940 to this position that made him responsible for dealing with the ghetto.

 

The civilian Landraete essentially carried out the Nazi policies on local levels. Klausa was personally involved in the process of creating the ghetto in the town of Będzin, relocating Jewish people to create “Jew free” areas for the Germans. In his administrative role, he also became a perpetrator. After the war, Udo Klausa claimed that he was only made aware of the Nazi policy in 1942. In his unpublished memoir written after 1945, he tries to portray a less demonized view of the events in Będzin. Though Klausa did not directly participate in the killing of Jews in Będzin, he played an essential role in enabling Nazi policies on a local and regional level.

 

For more information on Udo Klausa:

Mary Fulbrook,  A Small Town Near Auschwitz: Ordinary Nazis and the Holocaust (Oxford University Press, 2012)