Hans Helwig

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Hans Helwig (around 1933)

Hans Helwig (born September 25, 1881 in Hemsbach ; † August 24, 1952 ) was a member of the Reichstag of the NSDAP , SS brigade leader and camp commandant of the concentration camps Ankenbuck , Lichtenburg and Sachsenhausen .

Life

Helwig was the son of a forester and the youngest of 14 siblings. After attending elementary school, he completed an apprenticeship as a bricklayer from 1896 to 1900, at the same time he attended the building trade school in Heppenheim . In 1901 he joined the Baden Pioneer Battalion in Kehl as a volunteer . At the First World War Helwig took part 1914-1918 and was awarded the Iron Cross awarded II. Class.

As early as 1914 he had briefly completed the preparatory service for bailiffs in Karlsruhe , and from April 1, 1919 he continued the preparatory service. From July 1919 he worked in various functions in the judiciary: for example, as a bailiff candidate and clerk at the local courts in Mannheim and Karlsruhe , as clerk at the Baden Ministry of Justice and at the notary's office in Weinheim .

Early political activity

Helwig's SS ranks appointment
SS candidate May 28, 1929
SS troop leader October 24, 1929
SS Sturmführer April 10, 1930
SS-Sturmbannführer November 30, 1930
SS standard leader July 13, 1931
SS-Oberführer September 12, 1937
SS Brigade Leader June 5, 1944

In 1921 Helwig became a member of the nationalist and anti-Semitic Deutschvölkischer Schutz- und Trutzbund ; before November 1923 he joined the SA in Weinheim. According to Helwig's own statements, he was transferred to the notary's office in Weinheim because of his membership in the Trutzbund, and because of his sympathy for the Hitler putsch , he was given an indefinite leave of absence from the Baden Ministry of Justice in December 1923. Helwig used the gain in free time in the Weinheimer SA: There he became squad leader in 1925 and troop leader in 1929; for the NSDAP he moved into the Hemsbach municipal council in November 1926 . Several times he was involved in street fights with political opponents or the police, in the course of which he sustained a serious head injury. He officially joined the NSDAP on January 28, 1927 (membership number 55.875). On May 28, 1929, at the NSDAP party congress, he converted from the SA to the SS (membership no. 1.725). From November 30, 1930, Helwig led the SS in the state of Baden. The 32nd SS standard there at that time consisted of three Sturmbannen, which had their headquarters in Heidelberg, Karlsruhe and Lahr. The transition to the SS was evidently motivated by internal party conflicts. One of Helwig's opponents within the NSDAP was the Baden Gauleiter, Robert Wagner , who said of Helwig that he was “not up to the task” and “completely irresponsible”.

A candidacy of Helwig in the Reichstag election in July 1932 could not prevent Wagner, because Helwig was personally supported by Hitler through Himmler's mediation . As one of seven NSDAP MPs from Baden, Helwig entered the Reichstag . When the NSDAP lost votes in the new Reichstag election in November 1932 , Helwig lost his mandate.

time of the nationalsocialism

After the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists in 1933, Helwig was temporarily a member of the Baden state parliament ; in November 1933, March 1936 and April 1938 he was unsuccessfully proposed for the Reichstag.

From October 1933 until its dissolution in March 1934, Helwig headed the “ protective custody camp ” in Ankenbuck . This early concentration camp with an average of 80 to 100 prisoners, predominantly members of the SPD and KPD, was on the Baar near Bad Dürrheim . Admitted to the Baden civil service in September 1934, Helwig worked as an inspector in the Bruchsal district prison . According to Helwig's own account, his mental breakdown while serving in prison in March 1935 and was retired at his own request. Helwig's low pension led to financial problems and his desire to take up another job. For more than a year, the SS Upper Section Southwest tried unsuccessfully to “create an acceptable position worthy of its merits” for Helwig; this was necessary because Helwig was the bearer of the golden party badge . The departments contacted had "so far only been able to make promises of cooperation". It was suggested that Helwig should be used within the police "as a material administrator, camp leader or anything else [...] at a position that corresponds to his skills and that he can fill out accordingly." A possible use as an SS leader, i.e. within his own area of ​​responsibility, thought the upper section was not possible.

On November 1, 1936, Helwig was charged with taking on the business of the commandant of the Lichtenburg concentration camp on a trial basis . As the inspector of the concentration camps , Theodor Eicke refused to employ Helwig in a concentration camp in August 1936. In the Lichtenburg concentration camp, Helwig left the camp management to his brutal and arbitrary protective custody camp leader, Egon Zill . After the Lichtenburg concentration camp was closed as a camp for men in the summer of 1937, Helwig was transferred to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp as a camp commandant on August 1, 1937 . Helwig was nicknamed "Goose General" among the prisoners in Sachsenhausen.

At the request of Theodor Eicke, Helwig was retired on August 1, 1938. According to Eicke, the commandant of Sachsenhausen was “mentally and physically almost completely exhausted [...]. SS Oberführer Helwig's long-term stay in office will in all likelihood lead to serious political errors and a further deterioration in discipline among the prisoners. "Helwig resisted his release:" I am ruined and see no way out of my situation, I also believed that I finally had a well-deserved position that took account of my merits from the preliminary battle. ”Helwig also pointed out that with his pension and a subsidy promised by the SS, he was not in a position to save the money on his house to pay off debts in Hemsbach. Eicke stuck to his decision: “The service of a camp commandant requires a completely healthy, energetic SS leader and mental activity. These prerequisites are not met at Helwig. The office of the camp commandant is by no means created for supply purposes, but an office that has to contribute significantly to the construction of the Third Reich . ”In addition, Helwig received an amount of 5,000 RM from the“ Social Aid of the SS-Totenkopfverband ”, a black fund from Eicke Funds came from the “ Dachau canteen community ” and were financed from the funds of the concentration camp inmates there.

The reason for Helwig's release was the forced sterilization of a prisoner in Sachsenhausen, who had not previously been given the legally stipulated opportunity to appeal to the Hereditary Health Court. The incident led to a lengthy exchange of letters between Himmler and the Reich Minister of Justice Franz Gürtner . Gürtner emphasized that he was not interested in the fate of the individual prisoner, but in compliance with the existing laws. The involved Eicke attributed the incident to Himmler on a "misunderstanding" of Helwig. Eicke must have been very annoyed that the forced sterilization had become known to the Minister of Justice; for since 1934 Eicke had consistently sealed off the concentration camps from the judiciary and the public. In addition, there was a report from the Gestapo against Helwig , according to which he had bragged about the atrocities committed in Sachsenhausen in a restaurant in the presence of foreigners.

In contrast to the majority of the SS leaders, who left the church in the second half of the 1930s and described themselves as " believers in God ", Helwig stayed in the Protestant church until August 21, 1942 . Helwig, who had become the elder of his parish in 1927 , still attended Protestant services regularly in 1942. Helwig's ecclesiastical ties aroused the displeasure of his superiors in the SS. He explained that his name was engraved on the Hemsbach church bell using an old custom in his home community. When he was seen in uniform at a memorial service after leaving the church, Helwig only wanted to have been there because the church had given him a loan to buy his house.

During the Second World War , Helwig was assigned to the Todt Organization from January 1, 1941 . On the Eastern Front, he was involved in the establishment of a base for fuel supplies as a fuel inspector and staff front leader. The base was also a camp for Soviet prisoners of war . In 1945 he was employed as a liaison officer for the " Reichsführer SS ", Heinrich Himmler , at OKW Nord. Helwig died in 1952 without any criminal prosecution for his activities in the concentration camps.

literature

  • Joachim Lilla , Martin Döring, Andreas Schulz: extras in uniform: the members of the Reichstag 1933–1945. A biographical manual. Including the Volkish and National Socialist members of the Reichstag from May 1924 . Droste, Düsseldorf 2004, ISBN 3-7700-5254-4 , p. 225 f .
  • Tom Segev : The Soldiers of Evil. On the history of the concentration camp commanders. Rowohlt Taschenbuch, Reinbek 1992, ISBN 3-499-18826-0 .
  • Johannes Tuchel : Concentration Camp. Organizational history and function of the “Inspection of the Concentration Camps” 1934–1938. (= Writings of the Federal Archives. Volume 39) Harald Boldt Verlag, Boppard am Rhein 1991, ISBN 3-7646-1902-3 .

Web links

Commons : Hans Helwig  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
  • Hans Helwig in the database of members of the Reichstag

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lilla, extras , p. 225f.
  2. ↑ Joining the SA: 1921 after Tuchel, Concentration Camp , p. 376; 1923 after Lilla, extras , p. 225; before November 1923 after Segev, soldiers , p. 156.
  3. ↑ Ernst Otto Bräunche: The development of the Nazi Party in Baden until 1932/33. In: Journal for the history of the Upper Rhine. Volume 125 (NF 86th Volume) 1977, pp. 331-375. Here p. 351.
  4. ↑ Wagner's letter in Helwig's personal file in the Berlin Document Center (BDC), quoted from Segev, soldiers , p. 157.
  5. ^ Letter from Helwig in his personal file in the BDC, quoted in Segev, soldiers , p. 158.
  6. ^ Letter from the SS-Oberabschnitt Südwest, quoted in Segev, soldiers , pp. 158f.
  7. ↑ This assessment in Tuchel, Concentration Camp , p. 172.
  8. ^ Chronicle Sachsenhausen in the appendix to: Rudolf Wunderlich, Joachim S. Hohmann : Concentration camp Sachsenhausen near Oranienburg 1939 to 1944. The records of the concentration camp inmate Rudolf Wunderlich. Lang, Frankfurt am Main 1997, ISBN 3-631-32212-7 , p. 103 f.
  9. ↑ quoted from Segev, soldiers , p. 160.
  10. ↑ a b quoted from Tuchel, Concentration Camp , p. 240f.
  11. ↑ See Tuchel, Concentration Camp , p. 241.
  12. ^ Segev, soldiers , pp. 159f. For information on the compulsory sterilization in the concentration camps, see Tuchel, Concentration Camp , p. 289ff.
  13. ^ Segev, soldiers , p. 31.
  14. ↑ Date of leaving the church with Lilla, extras , p. 225. On Helwig's relationship to the church, see Segev, soldiers , p. 105, 161.
personal data
SURNAME Helwig, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician (NSDAP), MdR, SS brigade leader, concentration camp commander
DATE OF BIRTH September 25, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Hemsbach
DATE OF DEATH August 24, 1952
Place of death Hemsbach