Albrecht "Ali" Höhler (April 30, 1898 – September 20, 1933) was a German communist. He was a member of the
Red Front Fighters Association (''Roter Frontkämpferbund'' or RFB), the street-fighters of the
Communist Party of Germany. He is known for the killing of
Horst Wessel
Horst Ludwig Georg Erich Wessel (9 October 1907 – 23 February 1930) was a Berlin ''Sturmführer'' ("Assault Leader", the lowest commissioned officer rank) of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA), the Nazi Party's stormtroopers. After his killing in 1 ...
, a local leader in Berlin of the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...
's
SA stormtroopers. After the Nazis came to power, Höhler was taken out of prison and executed by the SA. The triggerman was former Imperial German
Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia
Prince August Wilhelm Heinrich Günther Viktor of Prussia (29 January 1887 – 25 March 1949), nicknamed "Auwi", was the fourth son of German Emperor Wilhelm II by his first wife, Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein. He was a vocal supporter ...
.
Early life
Born in
Mainz
Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...
, Höhler was a carpenter and a member of the
Communist Party of Germany (KPD) in 1924. He was also a member of the Red Front Fighter Association and continued to be active in the RFB after its prohibition in 1929. By 1930, he was residing in the
Mitte borough of Berlin.
Killing of Horst Wessel
The Red Front Fighter Alliance was alerted about a rental dispute between the communist affiliated landlord Elisabeth Salm and her tenant Horst Wessel on January 14, 1930. According to information revealed in court, the notorious
SA man was targeted for a "proletarian beating". This action was most likely politically motivated; Horst Wessel was called out as the "murderer of workers" in neighborhood posters put up by the Communist Party. Wessel was involved in numerous violent actions against communists in Berlin and was well known to
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...
''
Gauleiter
A ''Gauleiter'' () was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a '' Gau'' or '' Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest rank in the Nazi political leadership, subordinate only to '' Reichsleiter'' and to ...
'' (regional leader)
Joseph Goebbels. Since it was known that Wessel had a firearm, Höhler took his gun in the RFB-led confrontation with Wessel. Höhler later stated in court that he shot Wessel as he reached for his pocket. The seriously injured Wessel died on February 23, 1930, as a result of the gunshot wound.
Imprisonment and assassination
Höhler first fled to
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
, but then returned to Berlin, where he was arrested.
On September 26, 1930, Höhler was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to six years imprisonment at Wohlau Prison. After the seizure of power by the Nazi Party, Höhler was transferred to a
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...
prison in Berlin, allegedly to interrogate him about a retrial. He demanded to be returned to Wohlau.
On September 20, 1933, Höhler was taken on the orders of SA-''
Gruppenführer''
Karl Ernst
Karl Ernst (1 September 1904, Berlin – 30 June 1934, Berlin) was an SA-'' Gruppenführer'' who, in early 1933, was the SA leader in Berlin. Prior to joining the Nazi Party, he had been a hotel bellboy and a bouncer at a gay nightclub. He w ...
by three detectives, including SA member Willi Schmidt. He was transferred from the police prison at Alexanderplatz on the basis of a Gestapo signed delivery order. Near Potsdamer Platz, several more vehicles approached the prisoner van. The vehicle column drove towards
Frankfurt on the Oder. About 12 km from Frankfurt, the column stopped. Höhler was ordered to leave the transport and was led by a group of at least eight people away from the road to a nearby forest. There, ''Gruppenführer'' Ernst gave a short speech, in which he condemned Höhler to death as the murderer of Horst Wessel. Höhler was then shot by several of those present near the Berlin-Frankfurt Chaussee. The body was barely buried on the spot.
Later investigation
In 1933, the investigation into Höhler's murder was aborted due to political pressure. The official police report to the prosecutor allegedly stated that the transport had been intercepted on the street by a group of seven to eight SA men and that the officers had been forced to surrender Höhler under threat of violence, who had then been abducted with an unknown destination.
When the investigation was reopened by the Berlin prosecutor's office in the 1960s, the true course of events was discovered by interrogating Willi Schmidt and Kurt Wendt (the chauffeur of Karl Ernst). At that time, Höhler's murderers were identified as Gruppenführer
Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia
Prince August Wilhelm Heinrich Günther Viktor of Prussia (29 January 1887 – 25 March 1949), nicknamed "Auwi", was the fourth son of German Emperor Wilhelm II by his first wife, Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein. He was a vocal supporter ...
,
Gestapo chief
Rudolf Diels
Rudolf Diels (16 December 1900 – 18 November 1957) was a German civil servant and head of the Gestapo in 1933–34. He obtained the rank of SS-'' Oberführer'' and was a protégé of Hermann Göring.
Early life
Diels was born in Berghausen i ...
(who concealed the facts in his memoirs), Karl Ernst, his
adjutant Walter von Mohrenschildt, the SA-''
Standartenführer''
Richard Fiedler, the ''
Sturmbannführer
__NOTOC__
''Sturmbannführer'' (; ) was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank equivalent to major that was used in several Nazi organizations, such as the SA, SS, and the NSFK. The rank originated from German shock troop units of the First World War ...
'' Willi Markus, the detectives Maikowski and Walter Pohlenz and possibly Gerd Voss, the legal adviser of the SA group in Berlin-Brandenburg. The fatal shots were probably made by Ernst and Mohrenschildt, according to the findings of the prosecutor. Ernst was said to have organized the murder on the orders of
Ernst Röhm, who had in turn received orders from
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
that the killer of Wessel was to be summarily shot.
The investigation of the surviving perpetrators Schmidt, Pohlenz, Markus and Fiedler was finally discontinued in 1969 because the prosecutors could only prove
aiding and abetting
Aiding and abetting is a legal doctrine related to the guilt of someone who aids or abets (encourages, incites) another person in the commission of a crime (or in another's suicide). It exists in a number of different countries and generally allo ...
the murder, for which the
statute of limitations
A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In ...
had already passed by that time.
References
External links
* Daniel Siemens
''Infamer Mord an einem Mörder''.einestages; über die Ermordung Albrecht Höhlers
* Daniel Siemens
''Höhler, Albrecht et al.'' in: Kurt Groenewold, Alexander Ignor, Arnd Koch (Hrsg.): ''Lexikon der Politischen Strafprozesse'', Online, Stand Mai 2016
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hohler, Albrecht
1898 births
1933 deaths
German assassins
Manslaughter in Germany
Politicians from Mainz
German Communist Party members
People executed by Nazi Germany by firearm
German anti-fascists
Horst Wessel
Extrajudicial killings
German people convicted of manslaughter