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{{Multiple issues|
{{More citations needed|date=August 2021}}
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}}{{Infobox military person
| name          = Albert Battel
| image         = Albert-batel2.jpg
| caption       = Albert Battel in [[General Government|occupied Poland]]
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1891|01|21}}
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1952|03|17|1891|01|21}}
| birth_place   = [[Prężynka|Klein Pramsen]], [[German Empire]]
| death_place   = [[Hattersheim am Main]], [[West Germany]]
| allegiance    = {{flagicon|Nazi Germany}} [[Nazi Germany]]
| branch        = {{plainlist|
* [[Wehrmacht]]
* [[Volkssturm]]
}}
| serviceyears  = 1942–1944, 1945
| known_for     = Resistance for the 1942 liquidation of the [[Przemyśl]] [[Jew]]ish [[Ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe|ghetto]]
}}
{{Use American English|date=April 2021}}
{{Short description|German Righteous Among the Nations}}
{{use mdy dates|date=September 2016}}
{{Righteous Among the Nations}}
'''Albert Battel''' ({{IPA|de|ˈalbɛʁt ˈbatl̩|lang|De-Albert Battel.ogg}}; 21 January 1891 – 17 March 1952) was a [[German Army (Wehrmacht)|German Army]] [[Ranks and insignia of the German Army (1935%E2%80%931945)#Officers|lieutenant]] and [[lawyer]] recognized for his resistance during [[World War II]] to the [[Nazi]] plans for the 1942 liquidation of the [[Przemyśl]] [[Jew]]ish [[Ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe|ghetto]]. He was posthumously recognized as [[Righteous Among the Nations]] in 1981.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.yadvashem.org/yv/pdf-drupal/germany.pdf |title=Righteous Among the Nations Honored by Yad Vashem by 1 January 2020 – Germany |website=Yad Vashem |date=1 January 2020 |access-date=27 January 2022}}</ref>  

== Early life ==
Battel was born in [[Prężynka|Klein-Pramsen]] (Prężynka), next to [[Prudnik|Neustadt]] (Prudnik), [[Prussian Silesia]] in 1891. After serving in the Imperial [[German Army (German Empire)|German Army]] in [[World War I]], he studied economics and jurisprudence at the [[University of Munich]] and [[University of Wrocław|Breslau (Wrocław)]]. He then worked as a lawyer in the interwar years. In the 1930s, he joined the [[Nazi Party]].

==World War II==
In 1942, Battel was a 51-year-old [[military reserve|reserve officer]] with the rank of lieutenant stationed in [[Przemyśl]] in southern [[Poland]]. He was the adjutant to the local military commander, [[Major (Germany)|Major]] [[Max Liedtke]]. When the [[SS]] prepared to launch its first large-scale "resettlement" (liquidation) action against the [[Jew]]s of Przemyśl on 26 July 1942, Battel, in concert with his superior, ordered the bridge over the [[San River|River San]], the only access into the [[Ghetto|Jewish ghetto]], to be blocked. As the [[Totenkopfverbande|SS commando]] attempted to cross to the other side, the [[Hauptfeldwebel|sergeant-major]] in charge of the bridge threatened to open fire unless they withdrew. The events occurred in broad daylight, to the amazement of the local inhabitants. 

Later that same afternoon, an army detachment under the command of [[Oberleutnant]] Battel entered the cordoned-off area of the ghetto and used [[German Army (1935–1945)|army]] trucks to evacuate approximately 100 Jews and their families to the barracks of the local military command. These Jews were placed under the protection of the [[Wehrmacht]] and were thus sheltered from deportation to [[Belzec extermination camp|Belzec]]. All the remaining ghetto inmates, including [[Judenrat]] head Dr. Duldig, were sent to the gas chambers in the next few days.

===SS investigation===
After the incident, the SS authorities began a secret investigation into Battel's conduct. Battel, though a member of the [[Nazi Party]] since May 1933, had attracted notice in the past because of his friendly behavior toward the Jews. Before the war, he had been indicted before a party tribunal for having extended a loan to a Jewish colleague. Later, in the course of his service in Przemyśl, he was officially reprimanded for cordially shaking Dr. Duldig's hand. The affair reached the attention of the highest level of the Nazi hierarchy. [[Heinrich Himmler]], the [[Reichsführer-SS]], took an interest in the results of the investigation and sent a copy of the incriminating documentation to [[Martin Bormann]], chief of the [[Party Chancellery]] and [[Adolf Hitler]]'s right-hand man. In the accompanying letter, Himmler vowed to have the lawyer expelled from the Nazi Party and arrested immediately after the war.<ref>{{cite episode| title= Factories of Death |year= 2005| series = Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State | season= 1 |  number=3 | publisher= BBC Television}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kitterman|first=David H.|date=1988|title=Those Who Said "No!": Germans Who Refused to Execute Civilians during World War II|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1429971|journal=German Studies Review|volume=11|issue=2|pages=241–254|doi=10.2307/1429971|jstor=1429971 |issn=0149-7952|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

In 1944, Battel was discharged from military service because of [[heart disease]]. He returned to his hometown [[Breslau]], only to be drafted into the [[Volkssturm]] and fall into [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] captivity. He was released in 1946.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=A lawyer like no other – the true crime story of Albert Battel, a Nazi lawyer who stood up to the SS {{!}} Duhaime's Anti-Money Laundering & Financial Crime News |date=March 31, 2020 |url=https://www.antimoneylaunderinglaw.com/2020/03/a-lawyer-like-no-other-the-true-crime-story-of-a-nazi-lawyer-who-defied-the-ss-to-save-polish-jews-from-an-extermination-camp.html |access-date=2022-09-01 |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Post-war==
After his release, Battel settled in [[West Germany]] but was prevented from returning to practice law by a [[denazification]] court. He instead worked in a glass factory.<ref name=":0" /> 

==Death==
Battel died in 1952 in [[Hattersheim am Main]], near [[Frankfurt]]. He was 61 years old.

==Recognition and honor ==
Battel’s stand against the SS would not be recognized until years after his death, most notably through the tenacious efforts of the [[Israel]]i researcher and lawyer Dr. [[Zeev Goshen]].

On January 22, 1981, almost 30 years after Battel's death, [[Yad Vashem]] recognized him as [[Righteous Among the Nations]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0446610/ Auschwitz: The Nazis and the 'Final Solution']
* [https://www.pbs.org/auschwitz/learning/guides/episode_3.html Righteous Among the Nations (Start: 37:31; Length 10:57)]
* [https://collections.yadvashem.org/en/righteous/4042973 Albert Battel] – his activity to save Jews' lives at the [[Holocaust]], at [[Yad Vashem]] website

{{Holocaust Poland}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Battel, Albert}}
[[Category:1891 births]]
[[Category:1952 deaths]]
[[Category:German Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:German Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:People from the Province of Silesia]]
[[Category:German Righteous Among the Nations]]
[[Category:Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni]]
[[Category:University of Breslau alumni]]
[[Category:Volkssturm personnel]]
[[Category:German prisoners of war in World War II held by the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Nazi-era German officials who resisted the Holocaust]]
[[Category:People from Prudnik County]]
[[Category:German people who rescued Jews during the Holocaust]]
[[Category:Lawyers in the Nazi Party]]