Ludwig Hahn

Ludwig Hahn
Born (1908-01-23)23 January 1908
Eitzen, Hanover, German Empire
Died 10 November 1986(1986-11-10) (aged 78)
Allegiance  Nazi Germany
Service/branch Schutzstaffel
Gestapo
Battles/wars World War II (Warsaw Ghetto)
Relations Johannes Steinhoff (brother-in-law)

Ludwig Hermann Karl Hahn (23 January 1908 – 10 November 1986) was a German Nazi war criminal who participated in the destruction and evacuation of the Warsaw Ghetto. He was originally a German lawyer, who held multiple political and Nazi defense positions. Hahn died in prison in 1986 after being convicted for war crimes.

Biography

The son of a farmer of the same name, Hahn qualified as a lawyer in 1935.[1] He joined the Nazi Party in 1930 and soon afterwards joined the Sturmabteilung (SA) as a Scharführer. He left the SA in 1932 to concentrate on his studies by joined the Schutzstaffel (SS) in 1933.[1] Soon after qualifying he took on administration post with the Gestapo and was sent to work in their main Berlin office in 1936.[1]

Following the invasion of Poland in 1939, Hahn was appointed leader of the Einsatzkommando I of Einsatzgruppe I.[2]

Hahn served as Chief of the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo) and Sicherheitsdienst (SD) in occupied Warsaw from November 1941 to January 1945 under the command of SS General Bruno Streckenbach.[3] In this role he oversaw the liquidation of the ghetto in summer 1942 and the transportation of the inhabitants to Treblinka concentration camp.[4] Similarly Hahn played a leading role in the violent suppression of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.[5]

After the Germans were driven out of Poland Hahn, under the command of Jürgen Stroop, was made chief of police in Wiesbaden.[6] Hahn was captured by British forces whilst in this role but escaped and would later emerge as a lawyer in Hamburg.[6] He was arrested in 1960 by the government of West Germany for his involvement in war crimes but after seven years was released.[6] He was married to Charlotte Steinhoff, sister of the World War II fighter pilot Johannes Steinhoff, and later a senior West German Air Force officer and military commander of NATO.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Josef Wulf, Das Dritte Reich und seine Vollstrecker – Die Liquidation von 500.000 Juden im Ghetto Warschau, Berlin 1961, p. 290
  2. ↑ Jacek Andrzej Młynarczyk, "Vom Massenmörder zum Lebensversicherer. Dr. Ludwig Hahn und die Mühlen der deutschen Justiz", Andrej Angrick, Klaus-Michael Mallmann (eds.), Die Gestapo nach 1945. Karrieren, Konflikte, Konstruktionen, Darmstadt 2009, p. 136
  3. ↑ Barbara Engelking-Boni, Jacek Leociak, The Warsaw Ghetto: A Guide to the Perished City, Yale University Press, 2009, p. 31
  4. ↑ Młynarczyk,, p. 138
  5. ↑ Młynarczyk,, p. 137
  6. 1 2 3 Dan Kurzman, The Bravest Battle: The Twenty-eight Days Of The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Da Capo Press, 2009, p. 346
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