Erich Koch was born in Elberfeld, Germany, on 19th June, 1896. He served in the German Army during the First World War and in 1919 became a railway clerk.

Koch joined the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) in 1922 and was active in the revolt against the occupation of the Ruhr and as a result was imprisoned several times by the French authorities. Koch became a Nazi district leader and was a supporter of the faction led by Gregor Strasser.

In 1928 Koch was appointed Gauleiter of the Nazi Party in East Prussia and two years later was elected to the Reichstag. After Adolf Hitler gained power in 1933 Koch became President of East Prussia.

During the Second World War Koch became head of the civil administration in the Ukraine (1941-44). This gave him control of the Gestapo in the area and was responsible for deporting hundreds of thousands of people to extermination camps.

When the Red Army recaptured the Ukraine in 1944 Koch returned to East Prussia. At the end of the war he hid from the Allied forces and remained free until being captured by the British Army in Hamburg in May, 1949.

The Soviet Union demanded Koch's extradition but the British government decided to pass him on to the Polish government instead. Held in Warsaw his trial did not take place until October, 1958. Found guilty for the deaths of 400,000 Poles (his crimes in the Ukraine were not dealt with) he was sentenced to death on 9th March, 1959. This was later commuted to life imprisonment and Erich Koch died in prison on 12th November, 1986.

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