Hubert Hippmann

Hubert Hippmann (born May 15, 1881 in Weipert ; † August 9, 1931 in Annaberg ) was a poacher from the Bohemian Ore Mountains .

Hippmann came from Neugeschrei (today Nové Zvolání ) in the Kingdom of Bohemia . He lost his left forearm in a work accident at the sawmill, which left him unemployed and started poaching after separating from his family. Despite his physical disability, he was a good marksman, often using the stump of his left arm as a support for shooting.

During the First World War he began to rally a gang of poachers on both sides of the German-Bohemian border, which at times was more than 20 men strong and was up to mischief in the forests of the Ore Mountains. Above all, the region between Crottendorf , Tellerhäuser , Neudorf and Rittersgrün in Saxony was preferred , as the forest area on the Bohemian side was more closely controlled by the forest police. Under Hippmann's leadership, the gang had specialized in the shooting of deer, deer and hares as well as in the illegal fishing of trout. He liked to let his buddies refer to himself as “master” or “forest fright”.

Numerous efforts by the Saxon forest authorities concerned to get hold of Hippmann and his gang were unsuccessful. It was only when the police headquarters in Berlin were asked for support that a trick was used to put a stop to the craft. In June 1931, the detective inspector Willy Häußler, who specializes in gangs and poaching, pretended to be a motorcycle racer who, after a serious fall in Oberwiesenthal , wanted to gather new strength and would have poached in Upper Bavaria earlier. He succeeded in establishing a friendly relationship with Hippmann by sitting with him at drinking parties, paying the lavish bill and driving him several times on his motorcycle through the Upper Ore Mountains. Unsuspecting, Hippmann was lured into a trap in the Crottendorfer forest district on August 9, 1931 by the detective inspector. Häussler informed the forest police and had the forest in question surrounded, where he faked a motorcycle breakdown and had a place shown where Hippmann had shot a deer shortly before. When Hippmann tried to pull his rifle, fire was opened on him. Häußler shot him twice, whereupon Hippmann was taken to the district hospital in Annaberg, where he died.

Commissioner Häussler succeeded in arresting another 14 gang members, three of whom were charged with theft. The trial against her took place on September 15, 1932 in Brüx . Since they denied any guilt, the trial was adjourned.

The Berlin detective commissioner Häussler, however, was shot on September 23, 1932 while investigating another case of gang poaching after visiting an inn.

literature

• Hans Siegert : Game shooters in the Ore Mountains. In: Calendar for the Ore Mountains and the rest of Saxony. 1934, p. 34 f.
• The poacher Hans Hippmann and his end. In: Official Gazette of the municipality of Breitenbrunn / Erzgebirge. July 30, 2008, p. 11 ff.

Web links

• Hippmann and his gang