Hans Leo (lawyer)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hans Leo (born February 10, 1890 in Leipzig ; † December 6, 1963 in Hamburg ) was a German lawyer and notary who was involved in the attack on July 20, 1944 in Paris in the resistance against National Socialism .

family

Hans Leo was born in 1890 as the son of the lawyer and notary, Justizrat Dr. Wilhelm Moritz Leo (* 1858, Gut Wüstfalke near Gera, † 1931, Leipzig) and his wife Bertha Leo, née Schütt (* 1867, Glückstadt, † 1967, Berlin, daughter of the Imperial Court Councilor Heinrich Friedrich Schütt ). Hans Leo had a younger sister, Margarete, and two younger brothers. The brother Wilhelm Eduard fell as an officer on November 4, 1918 shortly before the end of the First World War in France, the youngest brother Paul Hinrich (father of the children's book illustrator Veronica Leo ) emigrated to Finland in 1923.

Since May 10, 1919 he was married to Marianne Leo, née Grimm (* 1892, Elsterberg, † 1983 Hamburg). The marriage resulted in a son, Hans-Christoph Leo (* 1927, Leipzig, † 2012, Hamburg), lawyer in Hamburg.

job

After graduating from the Thomas School in Leipzig , Hans Leo studied law in Leipzig and Kiel from 1909 to 1912. In 1914 he was awarded a doctorate in civil law from the University of Leipzig. jur. PhD. He had to interrupt his legal clerkship in Saxony because of his participation in the war (see below). From 1920 he worked as a lawyer specializing in commercial law in Leipzig, until 1931 together with his father. In 1935 he was appointed a notary.

One of his best-known clients was his friend and co-owner of the intermediate book trade group Koehler & Volckmar AG & Co., Theodor Volckmar-Frentzel (1892–1973). Among other things, Hans Leo successfully represented him in a corporate law dispute before an arbitration court against co-partner Herrmann von Hase. With the help of his relationships with the SS leadership, he tried to increase his influence in the group.

After his return from the prison camp in Siberia in 1956 (see below), Hans Leo worked again as a lawyer in Hamburg until his death.

Soldier and assassination attempt on July 20, 1944, prison camp

After the beginning of the First World War , Hans Leo registered as a war volunteer . He was trained in the Royal Saxon Carabinier Regiment in Borna , the so-called "Blue Riders", and in 1915 he was a reserve officer. In this function he took part in missions in Poland , Courland , Greater Russia and Finland until 1918 . In 1919 he was a member of the Leipzig Volunteer Regiment .

In 1936, Hans Leo was accepted into the Wehrmacht as a reserve officer and assigned to the 10th Cavalry Regiment in Torgau . From 1941 he was employed as Rittmeister dR and from 1942 Major dR as Ic ( third general staff officer ) in the staff of the military commander in France. From 1942 General Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel held this position. Like some members of his staff, he was involved in the officers' conspiracy against Adolf Hitler . Hans Leo belonged to the extended circle of conspirators and before July 20, 1944, among other things, brought together indictment material against the SD . On July 20, 1944, Stülpnagel succeeded in arresting the most important leaders of the SS , SD and the Secret State Police in Paris. On the evening of July 20, 1944, a battalion of the Wehrmacht arrested around 1,200 members of the SD including their chief Helmut Bone and the Higher SS and Police Leader France Carl Oberg . However, the prisoners had to be released on the morning of July 21, 1944 after it became known that the assassination attempt on Hitler had failed.

Hans Leo was arrested by American troops on May 2, 1945, shortly before the end of the war. He fled the Zerbst POW camp on July 1, 1945 to join his family in Leipzig. There he was arrested on January 23, 1946 and initially interned in special camp No. 1 in Mühlberg . From there he was abducted in 1946 or 1947 to the central prison of the Soviet secret service on the Lubyanka in Moscow . In Moscow he was sentenced to 15 years in a prison camp for his general staff work. After ten years in Siberian penal camps in Ukhta and Vorkuta , he was able to return to Germany on January 12, 1956 , as a result of the negotiations of Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer in Moscow about the last returnees ( "Return of the Ten Thousand" ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Leo, The liability of insurance claims for the mortgage, dissertation, Reichenbach i. B., printed by Haun & Sohn, 1914.
  2. ^ Thomas Keiderling, entrepreneur under National Socialism. Power struggle for the Koehler & Volckmar AG & Co., page 80, Sax-Verlag, Beucha, 2nd edition 2008 ISBN 978-3-934544-39-0 .
  3. ^ Theodor Volckmar-Frentzel: In the storms of time . KF Koehler Verlag, Stuttgart 1953, p. 24 .
  4. ^ Wilhelm von Schramm, Revolt of the Generals. July 20th in Paris. Page 174, Kindler Verlag, Munich 1964.
  5. ^ Walter Bargatzky, Hotel Majestic. A German in occupied France. Page 153. Herder publishing house. 1987. ISBN 3-451-08388-4 .
  6. ↑ Details from Wilhelm von Schramm, Aufstand der Generale. July 20th in Paris. Pages 86–97, Kindler Verlag, Munich 1964.
personal data
SURNAME Leo, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer and notary
DATE OF BIRTH February 10, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Leipzig
DATE OF DEATH December 6, 1963
Place of death Hamburg