Hanns Elard Ludin (10 June 1905, in

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

– 9 December 1947, in

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% of ...

) was a German diplomat. Born in

to Friedrich and Johanna Ludin, Ludin began his

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 ...

affiliation in 1930 by joining the party, and was arrested for his political activities the same year. Imprisoned until 1931, he joined the SA on his release. Ludin was lucky to survive 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 ...

" in 1934 when Hitler purged much of the left-wing of the Nazi party. Ludin restored his reputation by joining the Foreign Office and became Ambassador to the

Slovak Republic Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

in 1941, replacing

Manfred von Killinger Manfred Freiherr von Killinger (July 14, 1886 – September 2, 1944) was a German naval officer, ''Freikorps'' leader, military writer and Nazi politician. A veteran of World War I and member of the ''Marinebrigade Ehrhardt'' during the Germa ...

. Ludin's activities included convincing the Slovak government to comply with deportations for slave labor and providing diplomatic cover to such activities. In 1943, he was promoted to ''SA-Obergruppenführer''. Ludin was arrested after the war and extradited to

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, where he was tried with '' SS-Obergruppenführer'' Hermann Höfle (not to be confused with '' SS-Sturmbannführer'' Hermann Julius Höfle). He was sentenced to death and was hanged on 9 December 1947. Married to Erla von Jordan (1905 – 1997), Ludin had six children: Erika (1933 – 1997), Barbara (born 1935), Ellen (born 1937), Tilman (1939 – 1999), Malte (born 1942) and Andrea (born 1943).

Documentary film

Hanns Ludin's youngest son,

Malte Ludin Malte Ludin is a German filmmaker. He was born in Bratislava, Slovakia in 1942. He studied political science at the Free University of Berlin. Malte was the youngest son of Hanns and Erla Ludin. His father served as ambassador to Slovakia durin ...

, filmed a documentary about the impact of his father's involvement in the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

on his family. The film, '' 2 oder 3 Dinge, die ich von ihm weiß'', had its initial release in 2005. The movie's commercial run in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

began on 24 January 2007 at the

Film Forum Film Forum is a nonprofit movie theater at 209 West Houston Street in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. It began in 1970 as an alternative screening space for independent films, with 50 folding chairs, one projector and a $19,000 annual budget. Kare ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ludin, Hanns 1905 births 1947 deaths People from Freiburg im Breisgau People from the Grand Duchy of Baden German Protestants Nazi Party politicians Members of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic Members of the Reichstag of Nazi Germany Sturmabteilung officers German expatriates in Slovakia Holocaust perpetrators in Yugoslavia Holocaust perpetrators in Slovakia Slovakia during World War II People extradited from Germany People extradited to Czechoslovakia Nazis executed by Czechoslovakia by hanging Executed people from Baden-Württemberg 20th-century German diplomats