Quick Facts
Biography
Arpad Wigand (born 13 January 1906 – 26 July 1983) was a Nazi German war criminal with the rank of SS-Oberführer who served as the SS and Police Leader in Warsaw (SS-und Polizeiführer (SSPF) from 4 August 1941 until 23 April 1943 during the occupation of Poland in World War II.
As an aide to Erich von dem Bach Zelewski he first suggested the site of the former Polish artillery barracks in the Zasole suburb of Oswiecim for a concentration camp in January 1940. This site would evolve into the Auschwitz concentration camp which went on to become a major site of the Nazi "Final Solution to the Jewish question" resulting in the death of up to 1,000,000 Jews.
Trial and conviction
In 1981 Wigand was found guilty in Hamburg for war crimes (Staatsanwaltschaft Hamburg, 147 Js 8/75), and sentenced to 12.5 years, he was represented by lawyer Jürgen Rieger.