BUEHLER, JOSEF°

BUEHLER, JOSEF° (1904–1948), Nazi official. After studying law, Buehler was articled to hans frank in Munich in 1930, joined the Nazi Party in 1933, and thereafter was Frank's deputy in the various posts he held. Frank, appointed governor-general of Poland, made Buehler a head of government with the title Staatssekretaer (from 1939 to January 18, 1945). On January 20, 1942, Buehler represented the General Gouvernement of Poland at the wannsee conference . He duly represented the problems of his domain of responsibility, explaining the overcrowding of the Polish ghettos and the potential problems for disease and epidemics. Thus, he pressed that the "Final Solution," which at that point was to come to mean the systematic deportation of Jews to death camps in the occupied territory begin with Poland where the problem was most urgent and transportation was less of a problem. Jews constituted a danger there as "carriers of disease." He argued that their black market activities were threatening the economy and that most were in any case "unfit to work." However, the liquidation should be carried out "without upsetting the local population." Buehler managed to leave Cracow before the entry of the Soviet Army, but was arrested in April 1946. He appeared as a defense witness for Frank at the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. He was later extradited to Poland and tried there by the People's High Court, charged with planning, organizing, and executing mass robbery and murder of the population in the General Gouvernement. The indictment mentioned the persecution and liquidation of Jews in the territory he administered. The verdict declared that Buehler caused the deaths of an incalculable number of   Jews. He was sentenced to death and hanged in Cracow on August 21, 1948. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: IMT, Trial of the Major War Criminals, 24 (1949), index; Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals, 14 (1949), case no. 85, 23–48. M. Roseman, The Wannsee Conference and the Final Solution: A Reconsideration (2002). (Nachman Blumental)