Hans Petersen (lay judge)

Hans Petersen during the Nuremberg Trials

Hans Petersen (born August 13, 1885 in Athens , † September 12, 1963 in Darmstadt ) was a lay judge at the People's Court in Berlin , SA leader and member of the Reichstag .

biography

Hans Petersen was the fourth child of the evangelical clergyman and later superintendent Waldemar Petersen (1850–1940) and his wife Theodore Petersen nee. Saggau (1855-1925). Hans is the younger brother of Waldemar Petersen (1880–1946). In 1891, Hans Petersen attended the preschool of the Ostergymnasium in Mainz (today: Rabanus-Maurus-Gymnasium ) and from autumn 1892 a preschool in Darmstadt, which entitled him to attend the Ludwig-Georgs-Gymnasium in Darmstadt. There he graduated from high school in 1905. In the same year he joined an infantry regiment "Prince Carl" No. 118 in Worms as a flag junior. In 1906 he was made a lieutenant. Petersen took part in the First World War from 1914 to June 30, 1916 as a company commander and brigadjutant and then as a battalion commander until the end of the war and was a member of the Hessian Freikorps from mid-February 1919 to the end of March 1920 . From the beginning of June 1920 to the end of December 1920 he was a member of the Reichswehr , most recently with the rank of major .

From January 1, 1921 to March 31, 1921 he attended business school. Then he tried to gain a foothold at a bank in Darmstadt. He held this position until June 30, 1924. On April 1, 1924, Petersen became a member of the NSDAP ( membership number 9.986), which he rejoined after the ban at the beginning of April 1925. In autumn 1924 he moved with his family to Immenstadt im Allgäu and owned a fur farm. Petersen was on the founding board of the NSDAP in Immenstadt. In the Sonthofen district he was district organization leader of the NSDAP from 1925 to 1933 and an instructor within the SA, which he joined in January 1933. From March 1933 to December 1933 Petersen was special commissioner for the city of Immenstadt and the commissioner of the special commissioner of the Supreme SA Leader (OSAF) Ernst Röhm . He also acted on a voluntary basis as the second mayor of Immenstadt. From September 1933 Petersen worked as a full-time SA leader and initially from the beginning of January 1934 to February 1936 head of department in the Reichsfuhrer School of the SA and then until the end of 1941 leader of SA Brigade 39 in Dessau . In the Reichstag election on March 29, 1936, he applied unsuccessfully for a mandate. From April 20, 1937 to August 31, 1940 he was the Anhalt public prosecutor and permanent representative of the Prime Minister.

From October 1940 to November 1941 he was the deputy leader of the SA group Thuringia in Weimar and from the beginning of January 1942 he headed the main personnel office of the highest SA leadership (OSAF). Petersen rose within the SA in January 1941 to the group leader. From April 1937 to the end of August 1940, he was active as an honorary Councilor of State for Anhalt and permanent representative of the Prime Minister there.

From June 1940 until the end of the war, Petersen was a member of the People's Court as an honorary judge and from May 1942 was a member of the special senate.

In June 1942 Petersen entered the Reichstag for the MP Franz Pfeffer von Salomon for constituency 16 ( Südhannover – Braunschweig (Land) ) , to which he belonged until the end of the war.

Hans Petersen was the bearer of the golden party badge of the NSDAP as well as the bronze, silver and gold service awards of the NSDAP.

The children Hans (born 1911 in Worms) and Irmgard (born 1917 in Frankfurt / M.) Emerged from a first marriage. Petersen was in second marriage since July 1922 with Martha Handke geb. Christian (1890–1975) married. Martha Handke brought her daughter Christel (born 1915) into the new relationship.

After the end of the war

In Nuremberg judges' trial against 16 high public prosecutors and judges of the Nazi regime Petersen was on December 4, 1947 by a military court of the United States acquitted three other defendants for lack of evidence. Petersen had been charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity .

literature

• Joachim Lilla , Martin Döring, Andreas Schulz: extras in uniform. The members of the Reichstag 1933–1945. A biographical manual. Including the ethnic and National Socialist members of the Reichstag from May 1924. Droste, Düsseldorf 2004, ISBN 3-7700-5254-4 .
• Erich Stockhorst : 5000 people. Who was what in the 3rd Reich . 2nd Edition. Arndt, Kiel 2000, ISBN 3-88741-116-1 .
• Files on Hans Petersen in the Federal Archives Berlin (formerly Berlin Document Center)