Willy Hack (26 March 1912 – 26 July 1952) was a German SS officer and

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

official. He was born in the town of

Reutlingen Reutlingen (; Swabian: ''Reitlenga'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the capital of the eponymous district of Reutlingen. As of June 2018, it has a population of 115,818. Reutlingen has a university of applied sciences, which ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

, and trained as an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

before joining the ''

Schutzstaffel The ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS; also stylized as ''ᛋᛋ'' with Armanen runes; ; "Protection Squadron") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe duri ...

'' (SS) in 1934. Following the outbreak of

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 opposing ...

, Hack served in the ''

Waffen-SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...

'' on the Eastern Front. In February 1942 he was promoted to the rank of '' SS-Obersturmführer'' and transferred to '' Amtsgruppe C'' (Buildings and Works) at the SS-Main Economic and Administrative Office in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. In 1943 Hack was assigned to the staff of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp. While at Dora he served as director of construction for the sub-camp of Niedersachswerfen.Jens-Christian Wagner, ''Production of Death: The Mittelbau-Dora'', Göttingen, 2001 S. 666th. Hack oversaw hundreds of slave-laborers who were employed in building a large subterranean aircraft engine factory that would be used to produce components for Germany’s V-2 guided missiles. In November 1944 Hack left Dora and was made

commandant Commandant ( or ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ran ...

of the Berga Concentration Camp near

Greiz Greiz () is a town in the state of Thuringia, Germany, and is the capital of the district of Greiz. Greiz is situated in eastern Thuringia, east of state capital Jena, on the river '' White Elster''. Greiz has a large park in its center (Fürs ...

. At Berga he again directed slave-labor by concentration camp prisoners,Cohen, Roger
"The Lost Soldiers of Stalag-IX-B"
'' New York Times Magazine'', February 27, 2005. Retrieved on May 25, 2013. this time using inmates from

Buchenwald Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or sus ...

to dig mining tunnels for use in synthetic oil production. In February 1945 a group of 350 American prisoners of war arrived at Berga. Many of these men were American Jews who had been sent by the SS to Berga, rather than a standard

POW camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. ...

, due to their ethnicity. The casualties among this group were severe, with at least 55 Americans dying as a result of

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

malnutrition Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is "a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients" which adversely affects the body's tissues ...

in just the few months they spent in the camp. Hack was initially able to avoid capture following the

German surrender The German Instrument of Surrender (german: Bedingungslose Kapitulation der Wehrmacht, lit=Unconditional Capitulation of the "Wehrmacht"; russian: Акт о капитуляции Германии, Akt o kapitulyatsii Germanii, lit=Act of capit ...

in 1945, but was eventually arrested by Soviet occupation authorities in the city of

Zwickau Zwickau (; is, with around 87,500 inhabitants (2020), the fourth-largest city of Saxony after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz and it is the seat of the Zwickau District. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ...

in 1947. Hack was tried by the government of

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 ...

for war crimes in 1948. He was found to be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of prisoners who had perished under his command at both Niedersachswerfen and Berga. On 22 September 1948, Hack was sentenced to 8 years in prison and loss of his civil rights for 10 years. However, after a retrial, his sentence was increased to death on 23 April 1951. Hack was executed in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

on 26 July 1952.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hack, Willy 1912 births 1952 deaths German people convicted of crimes against humanity Executed German mass murderers Executed Nazi concentration camp personnel Executed people from Baden-Württemberg Holocaust perpetrators in Germany Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp personnel People from Reutlingen People from the Kingdom of Württemberg People executed for crimes against humanity Nazis executed by guillotine Nazis executed in East Germany People executed by East Germany by guillotine SS-Obersturmführer Waffen-SS personnel