English source-aligned edition
Karl von Roques
Karl von Roques served as commander of the Army Group South Rear Area, subsequently the Army Group A Rear Area. The profile reconstructs the person’s function in Ukraine, the Caucasus and the rear area of Army Group South through documented office, decisions, supervision or operational conduct. It does not assign every crime committed by an institution or region to one individual.
Confirmed findings
- From March 1941 to June 1942 he commanded the Army Group South Rear Area, and from July to December 1942 the corresponding rear area of Army Group A.
- The tribunal found that the Commissar Order had been implemented extensively in his area: reports of executions reached his command, and Roques took no action that stopped the practice.
- On 1 October 1941 he transmitted to field command offices an order providing for the taking and hanging of hostages, evacuation of a strip along the railway line and shooting at approaching civilians.
- The judgment identified his active support for SD operations, the transfer of prisoners of war to security agencies and his knowledge of a report that more than one thousand prisoners had died during a march through shootings and exhaustion.
Place in the chain of responsibility
Roques represents the military administrator of a vast rear area who held executive authority over occupied territory and connected command offices, security units, and the SS and SD. The profile bases responsibility on orders transmitted, reports received and cooperation, rather than on his title of commander alone.
Key events and mechanisms
- taking command of the Army Group South Rear Area in March 1941
- transmitting the order on hostages and the railway strip on 1 October 1941
- receiving the 24th Infantry Division report on prisoners' deaths in October 1941
- being sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment in October 1948
The circle records authority, function and agency. Several profiles may describe different parts of the same persecution chain, so profile-level totals must not be added together.
Postwar accountability
In the High Command Trial he was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity and sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment. He died of natural causes on 24 December 1949 while serving his sentence, in the municipal hospital at Landsberg.
Limits of the evidence
Although Roques transmitted the order of 1 October 1941, the trial material did not establish that hostages were shot in his area under that order. Nor was he charged under every category concerning forced labour and civilians. The profile cannot transfer to him every crime of the SS, SD or all units operating in the rear area.
Sources
The source set combines institutional, archival, trial or scholarly material from at least two independent publishers.