Haan
Haan () is a town in the district of Mettmann, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated at the western edge of the Bergisches Land, 12 km southwest of Wuppertal and 17 km east of Düsseldorf. In 1975, Gruiten was incorporated i ...
,
Rhineland
The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section.
Term
Historically, the Rhinelands ...
– 5 April 1978 in
Lübeck
Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...
)Walter Huppenkothen at munzinger.de (German language) Retrieved 22 September 2013 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
**Ger ...
Hauptamt SS-Gericht
The SS Court Main Office (german: Hauptamt SS-Gericht) - one of the 12 SS main departments - was the legal department of the SS in Nazi Germany. It was responsible for formulating the laws and codes for the SS and various other groups of the poli ...
''.
Huppenkothen attended school in
Opladen
Opladen, now a district of Leverkusen, used to be the capital of the Rhein-Wupper-Kreis (Rhine-Wupper-District) until 1975. Opladen station is located northeast from Cologne on the railway to Wuppertal. It is also on the Autobahn A3. Population ...
and studied Law and
Political Science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...
at the
University of Cologne
The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...
and
University of Düsseldorf
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...
and then qualified as a lawyer. On 1 May 1933, 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 politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
and the
Allgemeine SS
The ''Allgemeine SS'' (; "General SS") was a major branch of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany; it was managed by the SS Main Office (''SS-Hauptamt''). The ''Allgemeine SS'' was officially established in the autum ...
. Unable to find employment in government service he joined the SD (the intelligence service of the SS) in Düsseldorf. He also served for a brief time as head of State Police and as an SD Chief in the
East Prussian
East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871 ...
-town of Tilsit (now Sovetsk, Russia), and was replaced in both positions by fellow
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 organi ...
member Dr. Heinz Gräfe in October and November of 1937.
World War II
Role in the Holocaust
Following the
German invasion of Poland
The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week afte ...
, Huppenkothen was involved in the Holocaust in various areas of 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 populous ...
(part of the Nazi-controlled
General Government
The General Government (german: Generalgouvernement, pl, Generalne Gubernatorstwo, uk, Генеральна губернія), also referred to as the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (german: Generalgouvernement für die be ...
). He worked as a liaison with the SD's
Einsatzgruppen
(, ; also ' task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the im ...
during his time as part of the
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 organi ...
, as well as an SD Chief in
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
and as head of the Gestapo in
Lublin
Lublin is the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the center of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin is the largest Polish city east of t ...
in February 1940 . In July 1941, he was appointed to the
Reich Security Main Office
The Reich Security Main Office (german: Reichssicherheitshauptamt or RSHA) was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as ''Chef der Deutschen Polizei'' (Chief of German Police) and ''Reichsführer-SS'', the head of the Nazi ...
(RSHA) in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
with the rank of
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 ...
(Major) in charge of a Gestapo unit dealing with political enemies of the Reich as the successor to
Walter Schellenberg
Walter Friedrich Schellenberg (16 January 1910 – 31 March 1952) was a German SS functionary during the Nazi era. He rose through the ranks of the SS, becoming one of the highest ranking men in the ''Sicherheitsdienst'' (SD) and eventually ass ...
.
Prosecutions
As an SS
Standartenführer
__NOTOC__
''Standartenführer'' (short: ''Staf'', , ) was a Nazi Party (NSDAP) paramilitary rank that was used in several NSDAP organizations, such as the SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK. First founded as a title in 1925, in 1928 it became one of ...
(Colonel) he was appointed the prosecutor of the SS and police court in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
. On 6 April 1945, he prosecuted
Hans von Dohnanyi
Hans von Dohnanyi (; originally ''Johann von Dohnányi'' ; 1 January 1902 – 8 or 9 April 1945) was a German jurist. He used his position in the Abwehr to help Jews escape Germany, worked with German resistance against the Nazi régime, a ...
in
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 ...
while the defendant lay semi-conscious on a stretcher having contracted a serious infection and the proceedings ended with him being condemned to death by
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 ...
Otto Thorbeck
Otto Thorbeck (26 August 1912 in Brzeg, Brieg, Silesia – 10 October 1976 in Nuremberg) was a Germans, German lawyer and Nazi Germany, Nazi Schutzstaffel, SS judge in the ''SS Court Main Office, Hauptamt SS-Gericht''.
In 1941, Sturmbannführ ...
. On 8 April 1945, under orders from
Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Ernst Kaltenbrunner (4 October 190316 October 1946) was a high-ranking Austrian SS official during the Nazi era and a major perpetrator of the Holocaust. After the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in 1942, and a brief period under Heinrich ...
, he was the prosecutor at a
drumhead court-martial
A drumhead court-martial is a court-martial held in the field to hear urgent charges of offences committed in action. The term sometimes has connotations of summary justice.
The term is said to originate from the use of a drum as an improvised ...
presided over by Otto Thorbeck without witnesses, records of proceedings or a defence in
Flossenbürg concentration camp
Flossenbürg was a Nazi concentration camp built in May 1938 by the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office. Unlike other concentration camps, it was located in a remote area, in the Fichtel Mountains of Bavaria, adjacent to the town of F ...
. Among the condemned were Lutheran clergyman
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (; 4 February 1906 – 9 April 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident who was a key founding member of the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity's role in the secular world have ...
, General
Hans Oster
Hans Paul Oster (9 August 1887 – 9 April 1945) was a general in the ''Wehrmacht'' and a leading figure of the anti-Nazi German resistance from 1938 to 1943. As deputy head of the counter-espionage bureau in the ''Abwehr'' (German military inte ...
, Army Chief Judge Dr.
Karl Sack
Karl Sack (9 June 1896 – 9 April 1945) was a German jurist and member of the resistance movement during World War II.
Life
Karl Sack was born in Bosenheim (now Bad Kreuznach. He studied law in Heidelberg where he joined a Burschenschaft ( B ...
, Captain
Ludwig Gehre
Ludwig Gehre (5 October 1895 – 9 April 1945) was an officer and resistance fighter involved in the preparation of an assassination attempt against Adolf Hitler.
Life
Gehre was born in Düsseldorf, Germany. Little detail is known of his early ye ...
and former head of the
Abwehr
The ''Abwehr'' (German for ''resistance'' or ''defence'', but the word usually means ''counterintelligence'' in a military context; ) was the German military-intelligence service for the ''Reichswehr'' and the ''Wehrmacht'' from 1920 to 1944. A ...
Admiral Wilhelm Canaris. The prisoners were accused of making an assassination attempt by bombing on
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 ...
at his headquarters of
Wolf's Lair
The ''Wolf's Lair'' (german: Wolfsschanze; pl, Wilczy Szaniec) served as Adolf Hitler's first Eastern Front military headquarters in World War II.
The headquarters was located in the Masurian woods, near the small village of Görlitz in Ostp ...
, which killed four and wounded Hitler himself. The court's prosecution employed torture methods such as thumb screwing and mechanical stretching devices on the accused, who were subsequently sentenced to death after a brief trial and executed by hanging on 9 April 1945, only around two weeks before the camp's liberation. Otto Thorbeck later testified that the conspiracy trials lasted three hours under Huppenkothen's direction and that he shouted the accusation at them, then permitted a brief answer period before the death sentence was imposed. A commemorative plaque for the prisoners executed, as well as a statue of Bonhoeffer, exists at the former site of the camp, now a memorial site.
Post-war
Collaboration with US military
Huppenkothen was captured at
Gmunden
Gmunden () is a town in Upper Austria, Austria in the district of Gmunden (district), Gmunden. It has 13,204 inhabitants (estimates 2016 ). It is much frequented as a health and summer resort, and has a variety of lake, brine, vegetable and pine-c ...
on 26 April 1945. After the war, Huppenkothen was interned by the Americans and worked for the Counterintelligence Corps of the US Army until 1949. The Army's counterintelligence division took a particular interest in Huppenkothen's knowledge of
Communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
and his work as a Gestapo official in searching for members of the Communist resistance and espionage group, the Red Orchestra.
Trials and testimonies
From 1949–1956, Walter Huppenkothen was tried multiple times for torture and murder in his 8 April 1945 prosecution. For the charge(s) of murder, Huppenkothen was acquitted, but he was still sentenced to prison-time on charges of torture (sources conflict on the exact length of the sentence, but it is believed to have ranged somewhere between 3.5–7 years), although the acquittal of his murder charge(s) has continued to arouse criticism in modern times.
Huppenkothen also testified at the May 1961 trial of