Hans Walter Zech‐Nenntwich (10 July 1916 – after 1964) was a member of the SS who defected to the United Kingdom after being imprisoned in 1943. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he was convicted of war crimes and temporarily fled Germany before returning and surrendering himself.

Career

Hans Walter Zech‐Nenntwich was born on 10 July 1916, in

Thorn Thorn(s) or The Thorn(s) may refer to: Botany * Thorns, spines, and prickles, sharp structures on plants * ''Crataegus monogyna'', or common hawthorn, a plant species Comics and literature * Rose and Thorn, the two personalities of two DC Com ...

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

He became a member of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

before 1933 and joined the SA. He fell out of favor after the

Night of the Long Knives The Night of the Long Knives (German: ), or the Röhm purge (German: ''Röhm-Putsch''), also called Operation Hummingbird (German: ''Unternehmen Kolibri''), was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from 30 June to 2 July 1934. Chancellor Ad ...

which purged the leadership of the SA, but later regained favor in the party. In 1934, he became a policeman in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. From 1934 to 1935, he served as an air observer in the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

. From 1935 to 1938, he served as a non-commissioned officer for administrative functions in the

Reich Labour Service The Reich Labour Service (''Reichsarbeitsdienst''; RAD) was a major organisation established in Nazi Germany as an agency to help mitigate the effects of unemployment on the German economy, militarise the workforce and indoctrinate it with Naz ...

. Zech-Nenntwich joined the Schutzstaffel and later served as a guard at the

Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners ...

World War II

Zech-Nenntwich was transferred from Sachsenhausen to the

Mauthausen concentration camp Mauthausen was a Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 further ...

and his unit there was later reorganized into the

SS Heimwehr Danzig SS Heimwehr "Danzig" was an SS unit established in the Free City of Danzig (today Gdańsk and environs, Poland) before the Second World War. It fought with the German Army against the Polish Army during the invasion of Poland, and some of its mem ...

. From 1939 to 1940, he received training courses at the SS-Junkerschule Bad Tölz and served in the

SS-Totenkopfverbände ''SS-Totenkopfverbände'' (SS-TV; ) was the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organization responsible for administering the Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps for Nazi Germany, among similar duties. While the ''Totenkopf'' was the univer ...

as a non-commissioned officer in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. In 1941, he was transferred to the 2nd SS Cavalry Regiment where he served as a reconnaissance officer during the

invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named afte ...

. In 1941, he was transferred to Warsaw to serve in the SS cavalry recruit depot. From 1942 to 1943, he served in the 8th SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer until he was transferred back to Warsaw after suffering an injury.

British intelligence

In 1943, he was arrested for rape, but according to him it was for making contact with the Polish resistance. In March, he escaped from prison and fled to Sweden where he was employed by

British military intelligence The Intelligence Corps (Int Corps) is a corps of the British Army. It is responsible for gathering, analysing and disseminating military intelligence and also for counter-intelligence and security. The Director of the Intelligence Corps is a br ...

. In April, he was sentenced to death

in absentia is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent". may also refer to: * Award in absentia * Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body * Election in absen ...

for desertion, rape, and weapons theft, and removed from the SS. From 1944 to 1945, he served under

Sefton Delmer Denis Sefton Delmer (24 May 1904, Berlin, Germany – 4 September 1979, Lamarsh, Essex) was a British journalist of Australian heritage and propagandist for the British government during the Second World War. Fluent in German, he became friendly ...

black propaganda Black propaganda is a form of propaganda intended to create the impression that it was created by those it is supposed to discredit. Black propaganda contrasts with gray propaganda, which does not identify its source, as well as white propaganda ...

campaigns under the alias of Sven Nansen. Following the

end of World War II End of World War II can refer to: * End of World War II in Europe * End of World War II in Asia World War II officially ended in Asia on September 2, 1945, with the surrender of Japan on the . Before that, the United States dropped two atomic ...

he returned to Germany, where he interrogated prisoners of war in the British-occupation zone and later worked as a civil servant in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

from 1945 to 1947.

Later life

From 1947 to 1962, he served in multiple businesses and owned a film company and factory. In 1952, he was convicted of bribing a British civilian guard and sentenced to prison for three months. On 5 December 1952, he was given a five-week suspended sentence and a 170 DM fine for assault and slander. On 24 September 1952, his home in Mehlem,

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

was raided by the orders of a federal court. During the raid a letter from Zech-Nenntwich to

Walter Ulbricht Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht (; 30 June 18931 August 1973) was a German communist politician. Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and later (after spending the years of Nazi rule in ...

, leader of the

Socialist Unity Party of Germany The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (german: Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, ; SED, ), often known in English as the East German Communist Party, was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (GDR; East German ...

, asking for a job in

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

was found.

Prison escape

From 1963 to 1964, he was one of the members of the 2nd SS Cavalry put on trial for mass killings of 5,200 Jews at the

Pinsk Marshes __NOTOC__ The Pinsk Marshes ( be, Пінскія балоты, ''Pinskiya baloty''), also known as the Pripet Marshes ( be, Прыпяцкія балоты, ''Prypiackija baloty''), the Polesie Marshes, and the Rokitno Marshes, are a vast natural ...

. He was found guilty and sentenced to four years in prison. However, he escaped from Braunschweig Prison on 23 April after being let out by Dietrich Zeemann, a prison guard who had met Zech-Nenntwich when both of them were at a Nazi labor service school in 1936, and fled to Egypt with Margit Steinheuer, his fiancée. While in Egypt he was interviewed by a

Stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Ori ...

reporter. The West German government attempted to extradite him from Egypt, but President

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...

refused. On 26 July, Zech-Nenntwich returned to Germany and hid at his villa in

Remagen Remagen ( ) is a town in Germany in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, in the district of Ahrweiler. It is about a one-hour drive from Cologne, just south of Bonn, the former West German capital. It is situated on the left (western) bank of the ...

. He later turned himself in to the Ministry of Justice of Lower Saxony on 7 August 1964, as he was afraid of being captured by Israeli agents. He was put on trial again for bribing a guard during his escape and was given an additional ten months to his prison sentence.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walter Zech-Nenntwich, Hans 1916 births Anti-Polish sentiment Antisemitism in Germany SS officers Holocaust perpetrators Nazis convicted of war crimes The Holocaust in Germany SS and Police Leaders People from Toruń Waffen-SS personnel Year of death missing Reich Labour Service members Luftwaffe personnel Sachsenhausen concentration camp personnel Mauthausen concentration camp personnel