Head of Nazi Gestapo buried in Jewish cemetery: report

Germany’s daily Bild newspaper reports that Heinrich Mueller, the head of the Gestapo, Adolf Hitler's secret police, from 1939, is buried in a Jewish cemetery in Berlin’s Mitte neighborhood.

The newspaper said historian Johannes Tuchel has found documents showing indicating Mueller’s final resting place. "Mueller never survived the war. His body was buried in 1945 in a mass grave in the Jewish cemetery," Tuchel told Bild.

Bild said that it has seen the documents backing up Tuchel’s claim.

It was previously thought that Mueller, who was personally involved in the extermination of Jewish people in Europe, had survived World War II, with Germany’s intelligence agency claiming he was spotted in Czechoslovakia in 1949.

Dieter Graumann, chairman of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said the discovery is appalling. "The fact that one of the most brutal Nazi sadists is buried in a Jewish cemetery of all places is a distasteful monstrosity," he told Bild. "The memories of the victims are being grossly violated here."
 

Will you support The World? 

The story you just read is accessible and free to all because thousands of listeners and readers contribute to our nonprofit newsroom. We go deep to bring you the human-centered international reporting that you know you can trust. To do this work and to do it well, we rely on the support of our listeners. If you appreciated our coverage this year, if there was a story that made you pause or a song that moved you, would you consider making a gift to sustain our work through 2024 and beyond?