Josef Blösche

(1912-1969)

Josef Blösche was an SS-Rottenführer (Corporal) who began his life working as a farmhand and a waiter at his father's hotel. After the acquisition of the Sudetenland, Blösche became a willing servant of the regime.

In September 1941, he began serving as a guard at the Warsaw ghetto and was in charge of the wooden bridge between Warsaw and the ghetto. He became known as “Frankenstein” for his monstrous behavior in the ghetto. He beat and shot men and children for merely looking at him. He also raped women.

After the war, Blösche disappeared into East Germany, but was eventually discovered in the 1960s and brought to trial. For his atrocious behavior in the ghetto, he was sentenced to death and executed in 1969.