Hans Werner Hamacher

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Hans Werner Hamacher (born June 17, 1924 in Düsseldorf ; † June 7, 2011 in Cologne ) was a German criminal investigator, most recently director of the State Criminal Police Office in North Rhine-Westphalia .

Career

Hamacher comes from a family that has been in police service with him for three generations. His grandfather served as a police sergeant in Düsseldorf from 1910 to 1925. His father also worked in the police force. At the age of 14 he belonged to the Hitler Youth at the time of National Socialism and completed an apprenticeship as a car mechanic after finishing school. Drafted into the Wehrmacht at the beginning of January 1942 , he took part in World War II and was last used as a non-commissioned officer in the air defense. After the end of the war he was in American captivity, from which he was released in mid-June 1945.

In line with family tradition, he joined the police force in Düsseldorf in mid-December 1945, and then started working for the criminal police in 1947 as a criminal police officer (KPW) on the first stage of his career in the criminal police. After being promoted to chief detective, he was appointed head of the special police service (PSD) in 1950 , which later became the 14th police station at the Düsseldorf police headquarters. Since 1953 he led this commissariat for political crimes.

After being promoted to detective inspector, he was transferred to the State Criminal Police Office (LKA). Shortly before his appointment as chief detective in 1960, he fell seriously ill, but he was able to continue his police service with the previous intensity, so that he was able to rise to the criminal and chief detective in the career. From 1960 to 1966 he headed the state security department in the LKA North Rhine-Westphalia.

In May 1966 he took over the management of the Erich Klausener State Criminal Police School . He then moved to Cologne in 1968 as a crime director to head the crime department there. In December 1971 he became known throughout the country when he made himself available as a hostage to the robbers during a bank robbery in Cologne so that a woman could be freed. The Federal President immediately awarded him the Federal Cross of Merit, 1st class.

In 1972 he was appointed head of the Cologne criminal police. On August 1, 1974, he was appointed head of the LKA North Rhine-Westphalia. Because of his numerous services in the police service, he was awarded the Great Federal Cross of Merit in 1983. He retired at the end of June 1984.

With his books he first drew attention to the increased tendency of serious crime and later to organized crime (OK) in 1973 , which at first met with little response and even led to bitter criticism from some politicians. In the end, however, the federal and state interior ministers set up two security programs. This set the framework for what later became known as internal security .

A study presented in December 2019 by the historian Martin Hölzl on behalf of the LKA North Rhine-Westphalia examined the Nazi past of the first six heads of the NRW State Criminal Police Office. In contrast to the unencumbered Hamacher and his predecessor Eynck, Hölzl came to the conclusion that the first four directors of the State Criminal Police Office were involved in Nazi crimes to varying degrees.

Works (selection)

  • Germany in sight. Organized crime . Verlag Militzke, Leipzig 2000, ISBN 3-86189-190-5 .
  • Police in 1945, a new beginning. Contemporary witnesses remember . 2nd edition. Verlag Deutsche Polizeiliteratur, Hilden 1989, ISBN 3-8011-0184-3 .
  • Crime scene Federal Republic, organized crime . Verlag Deutsche Polizeiliteratur, Hilden 1986, ISBN 3-8011-0155-X .
  • Crime scene Germany. Are we being overwhelmed by crime? Keip, Goldbach 1995, ISBN 3-7857-0126-8 (together with Günther Braun; reprint of the Bergisch Gladbach 1973 edition).
  • Treason . Verlag für Polizeiliteratur, Hilden 1995, ISBN 3-8011-0319-6 (Lehr- und Studienbriefe Kriminalistik '; 16).

credentials

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Several former LKA bosses were Nazi criminals . In: Spiegel Online . December 16, 2019 ( spiegel.de [accessed December 16, 2019]).
  2. ↑ Thomas Grimm: Press conference on the National Socialist past of former LKA directors. LKA NRW, December 16, 2019, accessed on December 16, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Hamacher, Hans Werner
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German police officer, director in the State Criminal Police Office of North Rhine-Westphalia
DATE OF BIRTH June 17, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Dusseldorf
DATE OF DEATH June 7, 2011
Place of death Cologne