Hans Fleischhacker

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Hans Fleischhacker
Born(1912-03-10)10 March 1912
Töttleben, Erfurt, German Empire
Died30 January 1992(1992-01-30) (aged 79)
NationalityGerman
Alma materUniversity of Jena, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
OccupationAnthropologist
Known forWork in Schutzstaffel SS with Bruno Beger

Hans Fleischhacker (10 March 1912 – 30 January 1992) was a German

Natzweiler-Struthof
camp.

Education and joining the SS

After studying at the University of Jena and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich Fleischhacker went to work at the Institute of Racial Research in Tübingen in 1937, joining the SS at the same time.[1]

Second World War

In 1940, Fleischhacker also joined both the

ethnic Germans and determine whether they were suitable for resettlement programmes in the east or simply for forced labour.[3]: 254  His main base of operations was at Łódź.[4]

In 1942 Fleischhacker was, along with Heinrich Rübel, chosen by Bruno Beger to work with him in an SS project to determine the racial type applicable to the Mountain Jews of the Caucasus, a group that did not readily fit the Nazi's existing ethnic paradigms.[3]: 253  Fleischhacker was chosen for this task due to a thesis he was preparing at the time dealing with skin color amongst Jews.[3]: 253  The following year he worked again with Beger, this time at Auschwitz concentration camp where again his duty was to measure physical features of the inmates in order to determine to which race they belonged.[3]: 261  He took measurements of the persons selected for the Jewish skull collection, who were sent from Auschwitz to Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp to be gassed.

Post-war trial and work

After the

Second World War Fleischhacker was held in various internment camps until appearing before the board of arbitration in 1948, where he was designated Mitläufer - not a fully committed Nazi but one who nonetheless went along with Nazism.[5] He was able to return to anthropological research at the Goethe University Frankfurt in November 1950 and subsequently worked as a researcher and lecturer at the University of El Salvador, then at the Tübingen Anthropology Institute and returned to the Goethe Institute in Frankfurt until 1968.[5]

Along with Beger and Wolf-Dietrich Wolff, Fleischhacker came under investigation for his time at Auschwitz. A case was not brought against the men until 1970, as their connection to the Jewish skull project was not known until then. Ultimately the case against him was dismissed the following year as there was insufficient evidence to prove that he knew he was involved in extermination and only Beger was convicted.[3]: 316–317 

References

  1. ^ Pressac, Jean-Claude; Klarsfeld, Serge (1985). The Struthof Album: Study of the Gassing at Natzweiler-Struthof of 86 Jews whose Bodies were to Constitute a Collection of Skeletons: A Photographic Document. Beate Klarsfeld Foundation. p. 14.
  2. ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 0786868864
    .
  4. ISBN 978-1-4020-6599-6
    .
  5. ^ a b Lang, Hans-Joachim. "The Perpetrators: Hans Fleischhacker (1912 - 1992)". Retrieved April 10, 2016.
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