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Ludwig Hahn | |
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| Born | (1908-01-23)23 January 1908 Eitzen,Province of Hanover,German Empire |
| Died | 10 November 1986(1986-11-10) (aged 78) Ammersbek,West Germany |
| Allegiance |  Nazi Germany |
| Service |  Schutzstaffel |
| Years of service | 1933–1945 |
| Rank | SS-Standartenführer |
| Unit | Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) |
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| Battles / wars |
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| Relations | Johannes Steinhoff (brother-in-law) |
Ludwig Hermann Karl Hahn (23 January 1908 – 10 November 1986) was aGermanSS-Standartenführer,Nazi official and convictedwar criminal. He held numerous positions with theGermanpolice and security services over the course of his career with theSchutzstaffel (SS).
As a senior officer of theSicherheitspolizei (Security Police) andSicherheitsdienst (Security Service) inoccupied-Poland, Hahn was directly involved in theliquidation of theWarsaw Ghetto (July–September 1942) and the brutal suppression of both theWarsaw Ghetto Uprising (April–May 1943) and theWarsaw Uprising (August–October 1944).
During postwar investigations against him, Hahn was imprisoned from July 1960 to July 1961 and December 1965 to December 1967. Between 1972 and 1975, Hahn was the subject of two separatewar crimes prosecutions inHamburg,West Germany; both related toatrocities that occurred during his service with the SS inWarsaw. He was ultimately convicted and imprisoned from 1975 to 1983.
The son of a prosperous farmer of the same name, Hahn was born on 23 January 1908, in the rural town ofEitzen,Uelzen district,Province of Hanover in what was then theGerman Empire.[1] Hahn attendedVolksschule as a youth and was then enrolled at theLüneburgRealgymnasium, completing hismatriculation exam in 1927. Hahn went on to studyfinancial law at theUniversity of Göttingen where he became a member of theNational Socialist German Students' League (NSDStB). In February 1930 he joined both theNazi Party (NSDAP Nr. 194 463) and theSturmabteilung (SA), where he would rise to the rank ofScharführer (Squad Leader).
After successfully defending hisdissertation before theFaculty of Law at theUniversity of Jena, Hahn obtained hisdoctorate of jurisprudence (Dr. jur.) in July 1932. Afterward, Hahn apprenticed as anassessor inLüneburg,Naumburg andWeimar. He joined theSchutzstaffel (SS) in April 1933 (SS Nr. 65 823) and was assigned to the17th SS-Standarte (regiment) inLüneburg and later transferred to the 26th SS-Standarte inHamburg.
In December 1933 Hahn was attached to theSS Regional Headquarters inWeimar as a member of theStabswache (staff guard). After attending the Nazi Party'sState School for Leadership and Politics, he was assigned to theSicherheitsdienst (SD) in May 1934. Hahn qualified as a lawyer after completing hisclerkship in April 1935 and became a member of theNational Socialist Association of Legal Professionals (NS-Rechtswahrerbund). That same year he married Charlotte Steinhoff, sister of theLuftwaffe fighter pilotJohannes Steinhoff, who later served as a seniorGeneral with the postwarWest German Air Force and was alsoChairman of the NATO Military Committee from 1971 to 1974. The couple would have four children.[1]
Hahn began his career with theNazi security services in June 1935 when he was retained as aconsultant (Referent) at theSD-Hauptamt inBerlin. In January 1936, he was posted toHanover where he served as Deputy Chief of the city'sGestapo bureau (Stellvertreter Staatspolizeistelle), before returning to Berlin in November of that year to work as alegal advisor (Regierungsassessor) atGestapo Headquarters.[1] Hahn underwentmilitary-training with theWehrmacht inFrankfurt an der Oder and was subsequently reassigned toWeimar as Chief of theGestapo (Kriminalkommissar) and Deputy Commander of theSecurity Police (Stellvertreter der Polizeipräsident). Hahn maintained both positions from April 1937 to August 1939. He was promoted to the rank ofSS-Sturmbannführer (Major)und Kriminalrat in September 1938.
During the build-up toWorld War II he was transferred toVienna,Austria in preparation for the loominginvasion of Poland. He was assigned toEinsatzgruppe I under the command ofSS-BrigadeführerBruno Streckenbach, and was given command of the sub-unit ofEinsatzkommando 1/I. During theinvasion of Poland in September 1939, Hahn and his unit were attached to theGerman 14th Army in the territories ofSilesia andMalopolska.
During theSeptember Campaign, Hahn and hisEinsatzkommando were heavily involved in the arrests and executions carried out as part of theIntelligenzaktion, a Nazi extermination operation targeting the Polishintelligentsia and other members of the nation'selite. Between September–November 1939, Hahn took part in the mass-killings of Polishpublic officials,political activists,intellectuals andarmy officers inKatowice,Sanok,Rzeszow andPodlesie.Einsatzgruppe I was also involved in theDynów massacre, in which 170-200Jewish civilians lost their lives. The town's surviving Jewish population was subsequently expelled intoSoviet-occupied eastern Poland.
Following the dissolution ofEinsatzgruppe I, Hahn served asStadtkommissar (City Commissioner) for the city ofPrzemyśl (Prömsel) from November–December 1939. Hahn next took over as Commander of theSicherheitspolizei (SiPo) and theSicherheitsdienst (SD) for the occupied city ofKraków in January 1940. He also served as chief of the "Police Emergency Court" (Standgericht) atMontelupich Prison. In this capacity Hahn was instrumental in the implementation of theGerman AB-Aktion in Poland.
In August 1940, Hahn was transferred toBratislava,Slovakia where he had been appointedSonderbeauftragter (Special Representative) of theReichsführer-SS. In this position Hahn served as SS leaderHeinrich Himmler's personal emissary to theNazi-allied government of theSlovak Republic underJozef Tiso. He also acted as a senior advisor to theSlovak Ministry of the Interior. From April–June 1941 Hahn was stationed inAthens,Greece where he commandedEinsatzgruppe Griechenland during theBalkan Campaign. Following the German victory in the offensive, he was promoted to the rank ofSS-Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel) and returned to his diplomatic post inSlovakia.[2]
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In August 1941, Hahn returned tooccupied-Poland and was appointed Commander of theSicherheitspolizei (SiPo) and theSicherheitsdienst (SD) for the city ofWarsaw. His headquarters was housed in the former offices of theMinistry of Religious Affairs and Public Education. As Commander of the SiPo and the SD, Hahn would oversee a force of approximately 2,000 individuals; including a staff of 500-600SS security personnel, as well as around 1,000Polish police auxiliaries and severalguard companies composed mostly ofUkrainian and Cossack collaborators.
During his tenure, Hahn was directly involved in the planning and implementation of theHolocaust in Poland. In the summer of 1942, Hahn collaborated withSS-BrigadeführerOdilo Globocnik and other personnel associated withOperation Reinhard to carry outGrossaktion Warschau, the liquidation of theWarsaw Ghetto. An estimated 265,000Polish Jews perished between July–September 1942, either in mass-executions carried out by the SS or following their deportation to theextermination camp atTreblinka. This was the single deadliest action taken against the Jews in the course of the Holocaust inoccupied-Poland.
As a deputy officer toSS and Police LeaderJürgen Stroop, Hahn also had a leading role in the bloody suppression of theWarsaw Ghetto Uprising in April–May 1943. The brutal pacification of the ghetto by the SS resulted in the deaths of 13,000 Jews either killed in the fighting or executed. In the aftermath of the uprising, Hahn orchestrated the deportation of another 36,000 Jews from Warsaw to thedeath camps ofTreblinka andMajdanek. On 2 February 1944, Hahn would organize thepublic execution of 300 Polish civilianhostages in reprisal for theassassination of SS and Police LeaderFranz Kutschera by members of thePolish Resistance. In April 1944, he was promoted to the rank ofSS-Standartenführer (Colonel)und Kriminaldirektor. Hahn would also receive the further title ofOberstder Polizei.
During the August–October 1944Warsaw Uprising by thePolish Home Army, Hahn served with theWaffen-SS, leading abattalion of 700 men in the southern districts of the city and later in the downtown area. He also personally commanded the defense of Warsaw’s heavily fortified government district. Acting on instructions fromHimmler, Hahn ordered themass-killing of Polish civilians in retaliation for the rebellion. An estimated 5 to 10 thousand men, women and children were shot by the SS, mainly in the ruins of the formerGeneral Inspectorate of the Armed Forces. Following thecapitulation of the uprising, Hahn supervised the deployment of theVerbrennungskommando (Cremation Details); groups of Polish prisoners forced to work clearing bodies and debris from the city's streets. Hahn was awarded theIron Cross, 1st Class for his service during the uprising.
In November 1944, Hahn departed Warsaw and returned toGermany where he was posted to theWestern Front. He was stationed in the town ofCochem and was appointed commander ofEinsatzgruppe L which was attached to theGerman Sixth Panzer Army during theBattle of the Bulge. After the failure of the Ardennes offensive, Hahn was transferred toArmy Group Vistula on theEastern Front to serve as a delegate for the SiPo and the SD on thegeneral staff ofSS-ObergruppenführerCarl Oberg during theVistula-Oder offensive. In February 1945, he was reassigned toDresden, where he briefly served asStabsführer (chief of staff) toSS-GruppenführerLudolf von Alvensleben, theHigher SS and Police Leader for theElbe.
Hahn was next appointed Commander of the SiPo and the SD for the city ofWiesbaden in March 1945. However, he was quickly displaced from this position when the city fell to theAllies and was instead dispatched toMünster, where he took over as Commander of the SiPo and the SD forGau Westphalia-North. Hahn was also tasked with overseeing thesecurity detail forGauleiterAlfred Meyer. During the closing weeks of the war, Hahn and his staff fled toHessisch-Oldendorf to escape theAllied advance. He was taken prisoner by theBritish Army on 12 April 1945 but successfully escaped from custody shortly afterward.
Hahn remained in Germany after 1945 and went into hiding inBad Eilsen in theBritish occupation zone, working for several years as a laborer and farmhand. He later moved toWuppertal where he worked as asalesman with the textile company ofScharpenack & Teschenmacher. He resumed using his real name in 1949. At adenazification hearing in 1950, Hahn's wife Charlotte falsely claimed toBritish authorities that her husband had been taken prisoner by theRussians and deported to theSoviet Union, prompting theBritish Army to close its ongoing war crimes investigation of him.
Afterward, Hahn would go on to pursue a successful postwar career as aninsurance broker inWest Germany. In 1951 his father-in-law arranged for him to take a position as Deputy Director for Organizational Matters with theHanover branch ofKarlsruher Lebensversicherung A.G. He rose to the office of Branch Manager in 1955. Hahn and his family relocated toHamburg in 1958 where he had been hired as head of thelife insurance division ofHans Rudolf Schmidt & Co. GmbH. The family settled in a comfortable home in the borough ofBahrenfeld.
Hahn's identity was uncovered by journalists in 1960. Following an inquiry by theCentral Office of the State Justice Administrations for the Investigation of National Socialist Crimes, Hahn was arrested by theWest German federal police for his suspected involvement in the destruction of theWarsaw Ghetto. He was held by West German investigators for a year, however no charges were brought against him due to insufficientevidence and he was released in July 1961. Hahn was arrested a second time in December 1965 and held inpre-trial detention for two years, but was ultimately released again, owing to his poor health. After his release, Hahn briefly worked for theHamburg branch ofInvestors Overseas Service. He retired in 1967.
It was not until May 1972 that Hahn was successfully charged with war crimes by theHigher Regional Court of Hamburg. The now 65-year-old Hahn was found guilty in connection with wartime atrocities committed at thePawiak prison in Warsaw, namely theexecution of 100 Polish political prisoners who were shot on his orders on 21 July 1944. Hahn was sentenced to 12 years in prison in June 1973 but petitioned the court for anappeal of the verdict. After a two-year review of the trial and the evidence, Hahn's appeal was rejected by theWest German judiciary and he entered prison in March 1975.
During the appeals process, Hahn was also on trial in a differentWest German court; this case surrounded his alleged role in the deportation of an estimated 230,000 Jews from theWarsaw Ghetto toTreblinka. The proceedings opened in October 1974, and Hahn was once more found guilty. On 4 July 1975, he was given a further sentence oflife imprisonment. Suffering fromcancer, Hahn was granted early release from prison in September 1983. He died inAmmersbek on 10 November 1986.[3]
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