Hans Benno Hüttig (5 April 1894 – 23 February 1980) was a German SS functionary and

Nazi concentration camp From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...

commandant.

Early years

Hans Hüttig was born on 5 April 1894. The son of a carpenter, Hüttig's father would eventually open a shop selling photographic equipment and this became the family trade, with Hans Hüttig's brother a founder of Zeiss Ikon. Sent to a boarding school in South Germany, he attempted to enter the army in 1911 but failed the exam and returned home to work as a salesman in his father's shop. Early in 1914, he left the shop to take a post with an import-export company in German East Africa. Following the outbreak of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Hüttig enlisted in the German Imperial Army, seeing action in the East African Campaign and eventually rising to the rank of '' Feldwebel''. Wounded in December 1917, the military hospital where he was being treated was captured by the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

. Thereafter, Hüttig was sent to a

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

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

where he was held for two years.

Joining the Nazis

Hüttig returned to Germany in March 1920, working initially at the shop again before filling on a number of clerical jobs. Hüttig joined the right-wing '' Der Stahlhelm'' in 1925 although he claimed that this was largely to feel a sense of belonging rather than because of any deep political convictions. After running his own photography shop (which closed in 1930), Hüttig enlisted in the SS in March 1932 at age 37 as an unpaid volunteer and he joined the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

soon afterwards.

Concentration camps

Following the Nazis' seizure of national power in 1933, Hüttig was offered and accepted a full-time billet with the SS as part of the

SS-Totenkopfverbände (SS-TV; or 'SS Death's Head Battalions') was a major branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary (SS) organisation. It was responsible for administering the Nazi concentration camps, concentration camps and extermination camps of Nazi Germany ...

(Camp SS). For the next six years, Hüttig spent his time rotating through the concentration camps and being trained for a career in them. His first assignment came when he was appointed deputy to Karl Otto Koch, commandant of

Buchenwald concentration camp Buchenwald (; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Nazi Germany, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (pre-1938 ...

and already known to Hüttig from Dresden. At Buchenwald, Hüttig was praised by his superiors for his attitude whilst inmates would later testify to his personal cruelty. After his time at Buchenwald, Hüttig saw service at

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 t ...

and Flossenbürg concentration camp and in both gained a reputation as a troubleshooter who was suitable for special tasks. Thus he was called upon to oversee the construction of a new facility at Natzweiler-Struthof in

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

. Following this he spent time in occupied Norway, overseeing the construction of both concentration camps and prisons. Whilst there he commanded the security at Grini concentration camp outside

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

. This assignment ended in February 1944 with his transfer to

Herzogenbusch concentration camp Herzogenbusch (; ) was a Nazi concentration camp located in Vught near the city of 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. The camp was opened in 1943 and held 31,000 prisoners. 749 prisoners died in the camp, and the others were transferred to othe ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

as commandant following the removal of

Adam Grünewald Adam Grünewald (20 October 1902 – 22 January 1945) was a German ''Schutzstaffel'' officer and Nazi concentration camp commandant. The son of a carpenter who died when he was 8, Grünewald apprenticed as a baker but found work difficult to com ...

for his part in the Bunker Tragedy that took place in January 1944 and had caused uproar in the local area. Hüttig oversaw the closure of Herzogenbusch by October 1944 before returning to Germany to serve out the war working in a police station.

Post-war

After the war, Hüttig was held in Allied internment on suspicion of war crimes. However, he was not put on trial until June 1954. Hüttig was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison in solitary confinement on 2 July 1954 by a French military court in

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

. In 1956, he was released from detention and led a discreet life at home, until his death in 1980 in Wachenheim. Hüttig was one of only a handful of camp commanders interviewed by

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i historian Tom Segev for his book on the commandants ''Soldiers of Evil''. During the course of the interview, he admitted to Segev that "I knew very well what I was going to do in the SS".

Decorations

SS-Rank(s): *SS-Untersturmführer 31.1.1937, *SS-Obersturmführer 12.9.1937, *SS-Hauptsturmführer 11.9. 1938, *Last promotion to the rank of SS-Sturmbannführer in 30.1.1942. Awards: *DRL-Sports Badge in Bronze, *Honor Cross of The World War 1914–1918, *Wound Badge in Black 1918, *Der Stahlhelm Membership Badge, *NSDAP 10 Year Long Service Medal, *SS-Ehrenring, *Iron Cross 2nd Class 1939, *SS-Ehrendegen Reichführer-SS, *SS Long Service Medal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huttig, Hans 1894 births 1980 deaths German Army personnel of World War I German prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment German prisoners of war in World War I World War I prisoners of war held by the United Kingdom Buchenwald concentration camp personnel Sachsenhausen concentration camp personnel Flossenbürg concentration camp personnel Military personnel from Dresden Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by the French military German people in German East Africa People from the Kingdom of Saxony Grini concentration camp personnel Nazi concentration camp commandants Waffen-SS personnel SS-Sturmbannführer Nazis convicted of war crimes Stahlhelm members