Horst Hunger (lawyer)

Franz Horst Hunger (born May 4, 1902 in Marienberg , † 1986 in Kassel ) was a German ministerial official and federal judge.

Life

Hunger attended the community school and high school in his hometown . As a good student he went to the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel after graduating from high school . In 1922 he was reciprocated in the Corps Saxonia Kiel . As an inactive , he moved to the University of Leipzig . At the highly respected law faculty he passed the trainee examination with the grade “2 plus”, the court assessor examination with “good”. During his almost two years of service at local courts, he was also entrusted with difficult processes as assessor. On July 1, 1930, he was seconded to the Reich Insurance Office as a legal assistant . The friendship that he had formed with his colleague Joachim Raack in 1930 lasted until Hunger's death. Since he could not stay at the Reich Insurance Office, he returned to the Saxon judicial service as a district judge. After a few months - which was an honor - he was seconded to the Saxon Ministry of Justice as a research assistant . In May 1934 he was appointed government councilor and permanent member of the RVA. As a promotion agency with a higher rank than the other government councilors, it soon led to the title of Oberregierungsrat .

Wehrmacht

Since he had participated in several military exercises since 1935, Hunger was drafted into the army in December 1939 as a sergeant in the reserve . As a gun leader he made the breakthrough through the Maginot Line in May 1940 . For this he received the Iron Cross 2nd Class (still rarely awarded) . Promoted to lieutenant in October 1940, he was initially used in Denmark under German occupation . In the meantime he had been promoted to government director. Since November 1941 - "during the terrible Russian winter" - he was deployed in the Leningrad area on the Eastern Front . As a first lieutenant he received the Iron Cross 1st class. In 1943 he was promoted to captain and appointed head of an infantry gun company. It was not until April 1944 that he was found to be too old to continue working at the front and was transferred to the career of a war judge. He wasn't one of those who made heads roll. He managed to acquit a Bavarian corporal who was by no means insane , who had called Adolf Hitler a bloodhound, and to convince his judge, a general, of the correctness of this decision. This “unparalleled intelligence and courage performance” (Raack) also remained not unknown to Heinrich Himmler . Delaying proceedings by benevolent superiors and the end of the war prevented the fatal outcome of his investigations.

Stocked

Discharged from the Wehrmacht in Bavaria in May 1945, he went to Hohnstein with a clear conscience . His family had been evacuated there. He was surprised when Saxony was handed over from the United States Army to the Red Army . In September 1945, arrested by the Russians, he spent ten years in the special camp Mühlberg , in the special camp at Buchenwald , in prison Bautzen and Waldheim prison . He was sentenced to death in one of the many Waldheim trials . Only through a relationship with an influential person in the Soviet occupation zone could the enforcement be prevented and the “pardon” for life imprisonment obtained. Unlike many colleagues and convicts, he survived the 10 years of imprisonment, malnourished, freezing and temporarily suffering from lung disease with poor medical care. Continuous harassment and humiliation should at least break the moral backbone of the prisoners who were not killed.

Federal Social Court

Finally released, he moved to West Germany. After a 15-year break in his judge's life, he was employed as a preliminary reporter at the Federal Social Court . This position was humiliating among assessors and much younger federal judges. “Ten years of imprisonment in the camp did not break hunger; But his self-confidence, his pronounced security, the charisma and leadership talent that had made his military career possible, especially considering his advanced age, were barely noticeable. ”The fact that he was elected federal judge in the Federal Social Court by the judges' selection committee in 1957 proves his totality Rehabilitation . A tendency to hypochondria was clearly evident. Probably also bitter about his and his family's hard fate, he was - unlike in the past - disgruntled, inhibited, almost shy of people. Everywhere he made himself small and inconspicuous; but his judicial achievements received unreserved recognition, as was the case with Kurt Brackmann in the presidium of the Federal Social Court. Only his wife made it possible for him to devote his energies to the service with the utmost exclusivity. When he was treated with 68 years to retirement, he was awarded by the German President Gustav Heinemann , the Federal Cross of Merit . He died shortly before his 84th birthday.

Hunger is listed in the Brown Book of War and Nazi Criminals in the Federal Republic and in West Berlin, first published in 1965 .

Remarks

↑ In Prussia an assessor with such a "double rating" was presented to the State Secretary in the Ministry of Justice. If he wanted to remain in the civil service, he could freely choose the position. It was probably no different in Saxony. (J. Raack)
↑ It was the ambition of the states to be represented at the Reich Insurance Office in a high quality manner.
^ Raack was a member of the Corps Guestphalia Berlin. Kösener corps lists 1996, 46/292.
↑ Staying at the Reich Insurance Office after the secondment was impossible, even with the best probation, because the RVA only had promotion offices for its permanent members. That is why you first had to become a local court councilor, government councilor or equivalent outside the RVA in order to be able to return to the RVA as a permanent member.
↑ Oberrat was not yet a regular promotion at that time.

Individual evidence

↑ Kösener Corpslisten 1996, 148/230.
^ J. Raack, Appreciation of Horst Hungers, printed in the Corpszeitung der Kieler Sachsen, No. 70, 5/1986, pp. 1216–1220.
^ Norbert Podewin (ed.): Braunbuch - war and Nazi criminals in the Federal Republic and in Berlin (West). Reprint of the 1968 edition (3rd edition), Berlin 2002, ISBN 978-3-360-01033-9 , p. 161.

personal data
SURNAME	Hunger, Horst
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Hunger, Franz Horst (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German ministerial official and federal judge
DATE OF BIRTH	May 4, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH	Marienberg
DATE OF DEATH	1986
Place of death	kassel

[2] In Prussia an assessor with such a "double rating" was presented to the State Secretary in the Ministry of Justice. If he wanted to remain in the civil service, he could freely choose the position. It was probably no different in Saxony. (J. Raack)

[3] It was the ambition of the states to be represented at the Reich Insurance Office in a high quality manner.

[4] Raack was a member of the Corps Guestphalia Berlin. Kösener corps lists 1996, 46/292.

[5] Staying at the Reich Insurance Office after the secondment was impossible, even with the best probation, because the RVA only had promotion offices for its permanent members. That is why you first had to become a local court councilor, government councilor or equivalent outside the RVA in order to be able to return to the RVA as a permanent member.

[6] Oberrat was not yet a regular promotion at that time.

[1] Kösener Corpslisten 1996, 148/230.

[7] J. Raack, Appreciation of Horst Hungers, printed in the Corpszeitung der Kieler Sachsen, No. 70, 5/1986, pp. 1216–1220.

[8] Norbert Podewin (ed.): Braunbuch - war and Nazi criminals in the Federal Republic and in Berlin (West). Reprint of the 1968 edition (3rd edition), Berlin 2002, ISBN 978-3-360-01033-9 , p. 161.