Harry Haffner

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Harry Haffner, 1937

Harry Haffner (born May 28, 1900 in Uslar , † October 14, 1969 in Hornberg ) was a German lawyer and National Socialist .

Nazi career

Haffner, from 1933 a member of the NSDAP and the SA , was initially head of staff at the Association of National Socialist German Lawyers and cell leader at the NSV .

In 1934 he became First Public Prosecutor in Celle and in 1937 Senior Public Prosecutor at the Attorney General Kassel . Since 1938 he was the representative of the Attorney General in Hamm .

In November 1943 Haffner was appointed attorney general at the Katowice Higher Regional Court. Among other things, the Auschwitz extermination camp was also in his area of ​​competence. At the ceremony for his inauguration on January 26, 1944, the State Secretary of the Reich Ministry of Justice , Herbert Klemm , gave a speech. According to the report in the magazine "Deutsche Justiz" about the celebration of Haffner's inauguration, Klemm u. a. the following with:

“The State Secretary also emphasized that one of the most important tasks of the public prosecutor's office and the judiciary in general is to keep the backs of the high-ranking officials free for their major political tasks and to eliminate those elements that made it difficult for National Socialism or want to oppose it . The management of an authority like the public prosecutor's office therefore requires whole personalities. "

After Roland Freisler was killed in an air raid in February 1945, Wilhelm Crohne temporarily took over the post. On March 12, 1945 Haffner was finally appointed by Hitler as the new President of the People's Court. Shortly afterwards the battle for Berlin began . Immediately after Hitler's last birthday, on April 20, 1945, the evacuation measures prepared by the Reich government, Reich ministries and the security apparatus were carried out. All Reich ministers gathered in the Eutin - Plön area , as this was still free of combat. Haffner then, after only four main negotiations, on April 24, 1945 on the advice of Wilhelm Keitel, moved from Potsdam to Schwerin and from there to Bad Schwartau . In Bad Schwartau he wanted to re-establish the People's Court. Dönitz , who had been appointed Reich President after Hitler's suicide , fled from the approaching British troops together with the last Reich government on May 2, 1945 from Plön to Flensburg - Mürwik . The People's Court was evidently not moved to Flensburg, but this did not mean that the Nazi military justice system there did not pass harsh judgments. There are no comprehensive sources on the activities of the People's Court in Bad Schwartau. The occupation of Bad Schwartau by the English troops prevented further activities.

After the war

Haffner lived under the name Heinrich Hartmann in Sontra, Hesse, since 1946 . There he ran a button shop with his wife. In 1953 he turned to the public prosecutor in Kassel and made his past public. Investigations against him have been dropped.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Journal of German Justice , ed. by Reichsminister der Justiz, Volume 12, Issue 3, February 11, 1944, p. 64
  2. ^ Friedrich-Wilhelm von Hase : Hitler's revenge. The Stauffenberg assassination attempt and its consequences for the families of the conspirators , Holzgerlingen 2014, section: 2.5.3. The end of the People's Court
  3. ^ Edmund Lauf: The People's Court and its Observer: Conditions and Functions of Court Reporting in National Socialism , Wiesbaden 1994, p. 19
  4. ↑ Stephan Link: "Rattenlinie Nord". War criminals in Flensburg and the surrounding area in May 1945. In: Gerhard Paul, Broder Schwensen (Hrsg.): Mai '45. End of the war in Flensburg. Flensburg 2015, p. 20 f.
  5. ^ Ernst Piper: Alfred Rosenberg. Hitler's chief ideologist. Munich 2005, p. 620.
  6. ↑ Lübecker Nachrichten LN is looking for contemporary witnesses 70 years ago the Second World War came to an end , from: February 14, 2015; Retrieved on: July 7, 2017
  7. ^ Daniel Hunsmann: Structures of Nazi rule (PDF; 169 kB); Constitutional history seminar paper on "The People's Court"
  8. ^ Friedrich-Wilhelm von Hase : Hitler's revenge. The Stauffenberg assassination attempt and its consequences for the families of the conspirators , Holzgerlingen 2014, section: 2.5.3. The end of the People's Court
  9. ^ Edmund Lauf: The People's Court and its Observer: Conditions and Functions of Court Reporting in National Socialism , Wiesbaden 1994, p. 19
  10. ^ Die Zeit : Das brown Schleswig-Holstein , from: December 6, 1989; accessed on: March 21, 2019
  11. ↑ Flensburger Tageblatt : Bus tour through Flensburg: In the footsteps of contemporary history , from: January 30, 2012; Retrieved on: March 22, 2015
  12. ^ Edmund Lauf: The People's Court and its Observer: Conditions and Functions of Court Reporting in National Socialism , Wiesbaden 1994, p. 19
  13. ^ Friedrich-Wilhelm von Hase : Hitler's revenge. The Stauffenberg assassination attempt and its consequences for the families of the conspirators , Holzgerlingen 2014, section: 2.5.3. The end of the People's Court
  14. ↑ Ernst Klee : “ Oh, the old days. A small town, the ministry, the protection of the constitution and the judiciary kept tight ”, in: Die Zeit , May 1, 1987.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Haffner, Harry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer and National Socialist
DATE OF BIRTH May 28, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Uslar
DATE OF DEATH October 14, 1969
Place of death Hornberg