Hans Wolf (prison inmate)

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Hans Wolf in April 1947

Hans Wolf (born May 18, 1902 in Rückersbühl ; †  November 19, 1948 in the Landsberg War Crimes Prison ) was a prisoner functionary and camp elder in the Tröglitz satellite camp of the Buchenwald concentration camp .

Life

Wolf, presumably a so-called criminal prisoner, was committed or transferred to the Buchenwald concentration camp at the end of 1942. Initially, he was deployed in a work detachment in the quarry and, according to his own statements, was also a test person in the typhus experiments in Block 46 of the Buchenwald concentration camp. He then became a Kapo in the railway command and from May 1944 to April 12, 1945 camp elder in the Buchenwald sub-camp with the code name "Wille", a camp complex that consisted of the parts Gleina, Rehmsdorf and Tröglitz. There, prisoners had to carry out heavy clearance, construction and repair work in order to rebuild the Brabag plant of the lignite and gasoline company, which had been destroyed by Allied air raids . Due to the difficult working and living conditions and the catastrophic supply situation, at least 5,871 prisoners are said to have died between June 1944 and the beginning of April 1945.

After the end of the war, Wolf was arrested and, as part of the Dachau trials in the main Buchenwald trial, was charged with 30 other suspects in a US military court. Wolf was accused of grossly mistreating Allied prisoners and depriving them of food. Exoneration witnesses reported that Wolf only beat prisoners if he had misconduct and that he was encouraged to beat prisoners because of the physical abuse he received from the SS . Edwin Katzenellenbogen , an inmate doctor himself accused, testified that Wolf was impaired by a head injury and epilepsy . Wolf himself also stated in court that he made it possible for Jewish prisoners to practice their religion and for two US soldiers to escape by putting on civilian clothes. On August 14, 1947, Wolf was sentenced to death by hanging for "helping and participating in the operations of the Buchenwald concentration camp" . Wolf was executed on November 19, 1948 in the Landsberg War Crimes Prison .

literature

  • Buchenwald main trial: Deputy Judge Advocate's Office 7708 War Crimes Group European Command APO 407: (United States of America v. Josias Prince zu Waldeck et al. - Case 000-50-9), November 1947.
  • Lothar Czoßek: "Wille" camp complex in Rehmsdorf - typical labor camp of the Nazi state , in: circular of the state-owned memorials in Saxony-Anhalt, special issue: New research on the concentration camp system in the area of ​​today's state of Saxony-Anhalt, issue 1/2006 , P. 34ff.

Individual evidence

  1. See Buchenwald main process: Deputy Judge Advocate's Office 7708 War Crimes Group European Command APO 407: (United States of America v. Josias Prince zu Waldeck et al. - Case 000-50-9), November 1947, pp. 90ff.
  2. Cf. Lothar Czoßek: "Wille" camp complex in Rehmsdorf - typical labor camp of the Nazi state , in: circular of the state-owned memorials in Saxony-Anhalt, special issue: New research on the concentration camp system in the area of ​​today's state of Saxony-Anhalt, edition 1/2006, p. 34ff. (as a PDF file)
  3. See Buchenwald main process: Deputy Judge Advocate's Office 7708 War Crimes Group European Command APO 407: (United States of America v. Josias Prince zu Waldeck et al. - Case 000-50-9), November 1947, pp. 90ff.
  4. See Buchenwald Memorial - website