When Hitler's "Lords of Greece" Paid For What They Did

When Nazi Germany invaded Greece in April 1941, the country entered more than three years of Axis occupation. As resistance spread, German forces increasingly relied on local collaborators to help maintain control. Among the most feared figures to emerge from this system was Friedrich “Fritz” Schubert, a German army interpreter who became commander of the collaborationist unit known as the Jagdkommando Schubert. Born in Dortmund in 1897, Schubert had lived in Turkey and Egypt before returning to Germany during the Second World War. His knowledge of Greek, Turkish, Italian and Arabic made him useful to the German occupation authorities, and in 1941 he was sent to Crete. There he gradually moved from interpreting and counterintelligence work to commanding an armed group of Greek collaborators. Known locally as the Schuberei, the unit was used to hunt resistance fighters and people suspected of supporting them. Granted extensive authority by Generalleutnant Bruno Bräuer, Schubert and his men became associated with some of the darkest episodes of the occupation. Their operations reached villages including Kali Sykia and Kallikratis before Schubert and part of his unit moved to Macedonia in 1944. There they joined forces connected with Greek collaborator Georgios Poulos and continued operations against the resistance and civilian communities. As German forces withdrew from Greece, Schubert fled north and eventually reached Austria. Using a false Greek identity, he later attempted to return to Greece among former concentration camp prisoners. His disguise failed after police questioning and witness identification. In 1947, a Greek court found him responsible for the deaths of 271 civilians and numerous other wartime crimes. This documentary traces Schubert’s path from German interpreter to collaborationist commander, the resistance that opposed him, and the post-war reckoning that followed. Join World History channel and get access to benefits: https://www.youtube.com/ch