Gruppenführer Otto Ohlendorf

In Girl in the Glass, the Clypeate plans to use Nazi uniforms retrieved from Antarctica to blend in while searching for the Obturavi’s headquarters. Their Nazi uniforms are special, belonging to the SD Schutzstaffel, Germany’s internal security force. Like the SS, the SD used power and fear as instruments of terror and control. When real Nazis attempt to make James their prisoner, Bruce blocks them, claiming they are under direct orders from the SD’s chief, Otto Ohlendorf. Bruce says:

“Nein, er ist unser Gefangener, auf Befehl des Gruppenführer Ohlendorf.”

Bruce asserts James was their prisoner, as ordered by the commander of Germany’s security service. Unfortunately, their ploy was soon uncovered, exposed by none other than Gruppenführer Otto Ohlendorf.

Otto Ohlendorf was a high-ranking SS officer and key perpetrator of the Holocaust, heading the SD's Inland section within Reich Security from 1939 to 1945. The SD was the Nazi intelligence agency responsible for internal security and monitoring public opinion.

Ohlendorf is most infamous for commanding Einsatzgruppe D, one of the four mobile killing squads (Einsatzgruppen) deployed to Soviet territories following the German invasion in 1941. These units were responsible for the murder of at least 90,000 people, primarily Jews, Roma, and Communists, in southern Ukraine and Crimea between June 1941 and March 1942. He even received a Military Service Cross for his unit's brutal efficiency.

After the war, he was tried at the Nuremberg trials. In court, Ohlendorf openly admitted to his actions but attempted to justify them by claiming he was following "superior orders" and that the killings were a legitimate act of German self-defense. He was found guilty and executed by hanging.

Gruppenführer Ohlendorf

Otto looking smug during the Nuremberg Trials

Otto looks decidedly less smug post-trial (before and after being executed by hanging)