Harry Haffner (28 May 1900 – 14 October 1969) was a
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
lawyer and the last Judge-President of the
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
People's Court.
Haffner was born in
Uslar
Uslar (; Eastphalian dialect, Eastphalian: ''Üsseler'') is a town and a municipality in southern Lower Saxony, Germany, in the south-western part of the district of Northeim (district), Northeim, and in the south of the hills of Solling forest whi ...
,
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...
. He graduated in law in 1926 and worked as a prosecutor. He joined 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 ...
and
SA on 1 May 1933. Haffner was then Chief of Staff at the
National Socialist Association of Legal Professionals
The National Socialist Association of Legal Professionals (German: ''Nationalsozialistischer Rechtswahrerbund'', or NSRB) was the professional organization of German legal professionals ( lawyers, judges, public prosecutors, notaries and lega ...
and ''Zellenleiter'' of the
NSV. In 1934, he was appointed a prosecutor in
Celle, and in 1936 he was appointed senior prosecutor to the Prosecutor General of
Kassel. In 1938, he was a representative of the General Prosecutor in
Hamm. On 1 January 1944, Haffner became the General Prosecutor of
Katowice in occupied
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 populou ...
where the
Auschwitz concentration camp fell within his remit – he visited the camp on 28 June 1944.
On 12 March 1945, following the death of
Roland Freisler
Roland Freisler (30 October 1893 – 3 February 1945), a German Nazi jurist, judge, and politician, served as the State Secretary of the Reich Ministry of Justice from 1934 to 1942 and as President of the People's Court from 1942 to 1945.
As ...
in an air raid, he succeeded him as the last Judge-President of the ''Volksgerichtshof'' (
People's Court). He held this office until 24 April 1945 when the court finally ceased its activity only two weeks before the German surrender.
From 1946 he lived under the name of Heinrich Hartmann in the town of
Sontra
Sontra is a small town in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis in northeastern Hesse, Germany.
The air spa of Sontra is known as ''Berg- und Hänselstadt'', with ''Bergstadt'' referring to the time when there was bituminous shale mining (“mining” is ''B ...
, where he ran a shop with his wife. In 1953, he turned himself in to the authorities in
Kassel and the prosecutor made his past public, but the investigations against him were dismissed. He died in
Hornberg
Hornberg is a town in the Ortenaukreis, in western Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated in the Black Forest, 35 km southeast of Offenburg, and 25 km northwest of Villingen-Schwenningen.
Sons and daughters of the town
* ( ...
, aged 69.
Sources
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haffner, Harry
1900 births
1969 deaths
People from Uslar
Nazi Party politicians
Judges in the Nazi Party
Sturmabteilung personnel