SS General Jakob Sporrenburg

Jakob Sporrenburg was born the son of a gardener in Düsseldorf on September 16, 1902. He lost a brother killed and one seriously wounded in World War I. While training as a mechanic in 1919 he joined the Freikorps and served for 1 l/2years. He joined the NSDAP in 1922 and was arrested by the French for sabotage activities in the Ruhr for which he was in jail from March, 1924, to August, 1925. After his release he worked as a telephone installer in Düsseldorf. He joined the SA on August 25, 1925, and rejoined the NSDAP on December 15, 1925. As an SA-Truppführer he served with SA-Standarte 39 until late September, 1930. He also joined the Hitler Youth on August 1, 1929 and was the Hitler Youth leader for Düsseldorf for the remainder of 1929. On October 1, 1930, he joined the SS and was commissioned as an SS-Sturmführer on December 15, 1930. He then took command of SS-Sturm 54 until being promoted to SS-Sturmbannführer on November 21, 1931. After commanding the l./20.SS-Standarte from November, 1931 to early July, 1932, he took command of the entire Standarte until July, 1933, and was promoted to SS-Standartenführer on November 9, 1932. From September, 1933 to September, 1936. he commanded Abschnitt XX and also commanded the SS garrison in Kiel (November, 1933 to September, 1936) as well as holding a seat in the Reichstag from April / 938 until the end of the war. Promoted to SS-Oberführer on November 9, 1933, and to SS-Brigadeführer on January 30, 1936, during the autumn of 1935 he served as a reserve Leutnant in the Army with Infanterie-Regiment 26. Reassigned to the RSHA. from the start of 1937 to September, 1 939, he was Inspector of the Sipo and SD for Königsberg and was head ofSD Oberabschnitt "Nordost. " From September, 1939, to July, 1940, he led Oberabschnitt "Rhein " (see " Rhein-Westmark ") and was HSSPF "Rhein "from October, 1939, to July, 1940. Promoted to SS-Gruppenfuhrer on January 1, 1940, he led Oberabschnitt "Nordost" and was HSSPF "Nordost" from mid-June 1940 to the start of May, 1941. After training with the Ordnungspolizei and the RSHA he was assigned as SSPF "Weißruthenien" during July and August 1941 then became a special assignments officer to Gauleiter Erich Koch until mid-March 1943. Given the rank of Generalleutnant der Polizei on July 7, 1943, he was next with the HSSPF "Rußland-Mitte" and the anti-partisan command until mid-August 1943 when he became SSPF "Lublin" and held that posting until November 1944. In November, 1944 he was attached to the staff of Oberabschnitt "Ost" then held a transitional staff posting for two weeks with Oberabschnitt "Nord. " At the end of November 1944 he took the newly created post of SSPF "Süd-Norwegen " and held that assignment until the end of the war. He was awarded the Gold Party Badge on January 30, 1942, the Iron Cross 2nd class (June 20, 1941) and also the first class (November 30, 1944), both classes of the War Service Cross with Swords in 1943, The NSDAP Long Service Award in Gold on January 30, 1942, the Gold Hitler Youth Honor Badge, the SA Sports Badge in Gold and the Reich's Sports Badge in Silver. His involvement with Einsatzgruppen operations caused him to suffer from depression and have a breakdown in 1941. Despite this fact he was active in executions throughout 1943 and won high accolades from HSSPF Curt von Gottberg and Wilhelm Koppe. He was tried in Warsaw in 1950 and hanged there on December 6, 1952.

Source :
"Allgemeine-SS: The Commands, Units and Leaders of the General SS" by Mark C. Yerger