Life and Death
Born in colonial Bagamoyo, German East Africa, Scherner attended a Kadettenschule or military cadet school in Imperial Germany from 1905 to 1914. In 1914, he joined the Reichsheer or Imperial army. After retiring from the military in 1920 he joined the Freikorps Oberland and in 1923 he took part in the Hitler-Ludendorff Putsch. In 1932 he joined the SS and the Nazi Party. In 1937, he became head of the Dachau SS-Führerschule or SS officers school. From September 1939 to 11 November 1939 he was regimental commander of the SS-Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 11 "Reinhard Heydrich". From summer to the winter of 1940, he was commander of the 8 Totenkopf-Standarte. As an SS garrison commander of Prague, Scherner was busy between January to September 1941 in the preparations for the establishment of the SS-Truppenübungsplatz Böhmen at Beneschau, Bohemia.
On 4 August 1941, Scherner was appointed SS- und Polizeiführer (SS and Police Leader) in Nazi occupied Kraków. As such, he was responsible for the deportations to the Bełżec extermination camp, the mass shootings in Tarnów and all 'evacuations' that took place during his time there - including Aktion Krakau. He dissolved the ghetto in his own district (Kraków Ghetto) by deportating the population to Auschwitz.
His position afforded him a great deal of authority in many areas, as the title of SS and Police Leader was conferred to high-ranking Nazi Party members, reporting directly to Himmler's deputy. Like Amon Göth, however, Scherner was far too interested in the confiscated goods from the Plaszow camp. Scherner was transferred to Dachau in April 1944 and appeared before an SS Court (the dreaded Hauptamt SS-Gericht) on 16 October 1944. As a result Scherner was demoted from SS-Oberführer der Reserve in the Waffen-SS to SS Hauptsturmführer der Reserve and transferred to the Dirlewanger Brigade (formally the 36th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS) under SS-Oberführer Dr. Oskar Dirlewanger.
Scherner's rank in the Allgemeine SS was not changed, however.
His death was as murky and obscure as his career. He was found dead shortly before the war ended in a wooded area near Niepołomice in southern Poland.
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Famous quotes containing the words life and death, life and/or death:
“Life and Death are fated; riches and honor lie with Heaven.”
—Chinese proverb.
Confucian Analects.
“This spending of the best part of one’s life earning money in order to enjoy a questionable liberty during the least valuable part of it reminds me of the Englishman who went to India to make a fortune first, in order that he might return to England and live the life of a poet. He should have gone up garret at once.”
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