Alberts Eichelis

Alberts Eichelis
Born
Alberts Yanovich Eichelis

1912 (1912)
Zesiskov, Russian Empire
Died1984 (aged 71–72)
West Germany
Other names
  • Albert Eichelis
  • Albert Eihelis
  • Alberts Eihelis
  • Albert Yanovich Eichelis
Known forNazi collaborator; directing Latvians to commit mass murders in Maltā and the Audrini massacre, during World War II
Police career
CountryLatvia
AllegianceNazi Germany
DepartmentDistrict of Rēzekne
BranchMilitia police
RankPolice chief of Rēzekne
(August 26, 1941—c. 1943)[1]: 21 
Criminal information
Motive
Convictions
  1. Murder (in absentia) (1965)
  2. Murder (1984)
Criminal penalty
  1. Death (1965)
  2. 6 years imprisonment (1984)
Accomplices
EscapedTo West Germany in 1948
Comments
Details
Span of crimes
1941–1943
CountryLatvia
LocationsMaltā and Audrini, Rēzekne, Rositten
TargetsLatvian Jews, gypsies, and communists
Killed
  1. 750 people (1965)
  2. 170 people (1984)

Alberts Eichelis[a] (1912–1984) was a Latvian police officer and Nazi collaborator.[1]

In World War II Eichelis served as the chief of police in the Rēzekne district during the German occupation of Latvia. Eichelis directed the execution of Latvian Jews, gypsies, and communists. After the war, Eichelis escaped to West Germany and requests to extradite him to Latvia to face criminal charges were refused. He was tried in absentia, was convicted of murder, and sentenced to death in 1965.[1]: 19 [b]

At a second trial where Eichelis appeared in person, held in West Germany in 1984, it was found that he had been an accomplice of the Schutzstaffel forces that led to the execution of 170 residents of the town of Rositten, most of whom were women and children.[4]

Biography

Alberts Yanovich Eichelis was born in 1912 in the Zesiskov region of the Russian Empire, now modern-day Latvia. He was married and, after WWI, moved to Karlsruhe, near Klamveg, in the Federal German Republic (West Germany).[1]: 23  It is believed that Eichelis died shortly after his 1984 sentence to six-years' imprisonment.

Serving as the Chief of the Militia Police of the District of Rēzekne, Eichelis was in command of fellow Latvians, Haralds Puntulis and Boļeslavs Maikovskis. Eichelis instructed Puntulis and Maikovskis and others to carry out mass murders in Maltā and the Audrini massacre, executing the entire population of the village, including the public execution of 30 villagers in the public square of Rēzekne.[1][c]

1965 trial, Latvia

In 1965, the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic conducted a show trial[5] held between October 12[6] and October 30 in the Supreme Court in Riga. Six men, all former Latvian police officials, were accused of the murder of the 15,000 people, including 2,000 children, in mass executions in the Rēzekne district when it was under German occupation between 1941 and 1943. Appearing in person were Latvians, Jasep Basankovic, Janis Krasovskis and Peteris Vaiciuks; and tried in absentia were Eichelis, Puntulis, and Maikovskis.[3]

Eichelis, Puntulis, and Maikovskis left Latvia after WWII: Eichelis emigrated to West Germany; Puntulis to Canada in 1948; and Maikovskis, declared a displaced person, to the United States in 1951. In 1965, the USSR requested Eichelis, Puntulis, and Maikovskis be extradited to the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic to face war crime charges. The West German, Canadian and U.S. governments refused.[1]: 10 [d]

Evidence was tendered at his trial that Eichelis directed Puntulis and Maikovskis to carry out the public execution of 30 villagers in the public square of Rēzekne. Witnesses claimed that the village of Audrini was burned to the ground and the possessions of the former inhabitants destroyed.[1] At the trial, it was found that Eichelis had ordered that "…not one Jew must remain alive in Rēzekne…"; and directed others to carry out his commands.[3][7] Eichelis was convicted of the murder of 750 people who were Latvian Jews, gypsies, and communists.

Puntulis and Maikovskis were also convicted of murder and sentenced to death, in absentia. Like Eichelis, Puntulis and Maikovskis both avoided the death penalty. Puntulis died of natural causes in Toronto, aged 73 years.[8] Facing persecution and deportation due to making fraudulent claims on his 1951 U.S. visa application, Maikovskis fled to West Germany in 1987 where he faced additional murder charges. However, the charges were dropped due to his ill heath, and Maikovskis died of natural causes in Münster, aged 92 years.[9]

Basankovic and Krasovskis were convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Vaiciuks was convicted and sentenced to 15-years' imprisonment.[3][5]

1984 trial, West Germany

In 1980 Eichelis faced further charges of murder and conspiracy in the mass execution of 270 men, women and children near the town of Rositten, including the execution of 170 residents of the village of Odrini in January 1942 and the execution of 100 Jews in September or October, 1941. Puntulis, still living in Canada, was required to give a signed deposition on Eichelis' actions,[10] for use in the second trial.

In written statements before[11] and during the trial, held in West Germany, Eichelis vehemently denied involvement in the murders, claiming that they were either carried out by German officials or he was not aware that they occurred.

In 1984 and 1985, it was reported that Eichelis was sentenced in a Landau court to six-years' imprisonment following his conviction of involvement in the killing of 170 civilians in Latvia in 1942.[12][13]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Also known as Albert Eichelis, Albert Eihelis, Alberts Eihelis, Albert Yanovich Eichelis, and other variations.
  2. ^ The FBI note reads: "Those given the death sentence in absentia were Boleslavs Maikovskis, now living in Mineola, L.I.; Harold Puntilis (sic.) of Willowdale, Ont., Canada, and Albert (sic.) Eichelis of Karlsruhe, West Germany… All the accused were former Latvian police officials.[1]: 19 
  3. ^ The FBI note reads: "He [Puntilis] was the stooge of Alberts Eihelis, Chief of the Militia Police of the District of Rezekne, and… he was also the leader of a special firing squad… The public murder of the 30 Audrinites on the market place in Rezekne was done by the Puntulis-led firing squad. In July 1941, thus very soon after the Hitler invasion, Puntulis and his firing squad killed, in the forest of Balda, all of the Jewish inhabitants of the village of Silmala. Shortly afterwards, the brutes invaded the village of Riebini. Puntulis gave us instructions for the forthcoming action, testified [another co-]accused J. Basankovics; 'He said that all Jews living in Riebini would be shot'. Very soon, several hundreds of unfortunate men, women, and children were taken to the forest and shot. After that, in the pastor's residence in Riebini, there took place a drinking party, 'in honor of the completed action', where [co-accused] Basankovics saw Puntulis and other leading police functionaries.[1]: 21–22 
  4. ^ The FBI note reads: "Laiks, a anti-Communist Latvian language newspaper, published in Brooklyn, New York, Volume 17, Number 48.(1574), dated June 16, 1965, contains an article on Page 5, Column 4 entitled, "A New Soviet ..attack." This article refers to a Tass report informing that the Soviet Government has requested extradition of three Latvian nationals accused of war crimes during the German occupation of Latvia. The alleged "war criminals" are Boleslavs Maikovskis of Mineola, Long Island, New York, Harolds Puntulis of Toronto, and Eichels in Karlsmuke, West Germany. The Tass report informs that the extradition requests have been submitted to the American, Canadian, and West Germany Embassies in Moscow."[1]: 10 

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Boleslavs Maikovskis" (DECLASSIFIED AND RELEASED BY THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY SOURCES METHODS EXEMPT I ON3821i. NAZI WAR CRIMES DISCLOSURE ACT DATE 2003-2006 - DBB 45286). Federal Bureau of Investigation. New York, NY: U.S. Department of Justice. 19 April 1966. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  2. ^ "Riga Trial of Latvians Who Killed Jews Attracts Huge Crowds to Court". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 27 October 1965. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  3. ^ a b c d "Riga Court Sentences Five to Death; Murdered Jews Under Nazis". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 1 November 1965. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  4. ^ a b "A court sentenced a 72-year old man to six..." United Press International: Archives. 26 June 1984. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  5. ^ a b Ezergailis, Andrew (2026). "Holocaust's Soviet Legacies in Latvia". Ithaca College. Holocaust Archives of Latvia USA. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  6. ^ "Latvia Opens Trial of 61 On Charge of War Killings". The New York Times. 12 October 1965. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  7. ^ "War Criminals Face Their Past". New Jersey Jewish News. 5 November 1965. p. 3. Retrieved 22 February 2026. The prosecution charged that Eichelis gave an order that "not one Jew must remain alive in Rezneke" and that the other five defendants not only carried out that order but also took the initiative in murdering Jewish victims. The prosecutor also charged that there was conclusive evidence that the defendants had served the Nazis willingly.
  8. ^ Ansell, Jeff; Appleby, Paul (28 August 1982). "The War Criminals". TODAY Magazine. pp. 9–14. Retrieved 22 February 2026 – via jeffansell.com.
  9. ^ Thomas, Robert McG. (8 May 1996). "Boleslavs Maikovskis, 92; Fled War-Crimes Investigation". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 December 2009.
  10. ^ "Germany to Question Ex-latvian Cop". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 18 March 1980. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  11. ^ Eichelis, Alberts (6 October 1975). "Testimony of Alberts Eichelis" (image of 2-page typed testimony). Retrieved 22 February 2026 – via hgimanhattan.com: Ziering, Herman.
  12. ^ "Soviet Protests At Sentence" (PDF). AJR Information. Vol. XL, no. 1. January 1985. p. 5. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  13. ^ "War criminal". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. Yorkshire, England. 27 June 1984. p. 9. Retrieved 22 February 2026 – via The British Newspapers Archive. …sentenced Albert Eichelis, 72, to six years jail for taking part in the murder of 170 people from Rositten, in Nazi-occupied Latvia during the Second World War…

Further reading

  • Zellis, Kaspars (2017). The Holocaust in Rezekne: research problems, questions, perspectives.
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