Karl Hanke
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Karl August Hanke (24 August 1903 - 8 June 1945) was a Nazi Party official who served as Gauleiter of Lower Silesia from 1940 to 1945.
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[edit] Early Career
Hanke learned the trade of a miller and from 1928 onward worked as an instructor in a vocational school in Berlin. An early and fervent member of the Nazi party (NSDAP) and the "General SS", he was a member of the Prussian state parliament ("Landtag") from 1928 onward, but was finally fired from his Prussian state service job at the vocational school in 1931 for his political activities. After the Nazis won a huge electoral victory in September 1930, Hanke became leader of the party's local office in the western district of Berlin. In this position he was the first party official to establish contact with the young architect Albert Speer, contracting him to convert a villa in the western suburbs into an office for the local party organization. Hanke and Speer became close friends, so much so that in 1944 (according to Albert Speer's book Inside the Third Reich), Hanke strongly advised Speer never to visit Auschwitz for any reason because he had "seen something that he was not allowed to describe and indeed could not describe".
[edit] Government Service
In 1932, Hanke was elected to the German parliament (Reichstag) on the slate of the NSDAP. On 1 April 1932 he became personal aide to Joseph Goebbels, NSDAP Gauleiter of Berlin. Again he secured a task for Albert Speer, having him build a headquarters for the Berlin NSDAP in the center of the city (at Voßstraße 11). Following the Nazi takeover of power and the parliamentary elections of March 1933, Goebbels established the Propaganda Ministry (Propagandaministerium) and Hanke followed his boss there as personal aide. In 1938 he was promoted to State Secretary (deputy minister) in the propaganda ministry.
Hanke's seemingly unstoppable ascent on the coattails of Goebbels came to a sudden, albeit temporary, halt when he was drawn into the marital affairs of the Joseph and Magda Goebbels. Goebbels had many extramarital affairs, notably with actresses, and in 1938 his wife Magda appeared ready to abandon her marriage when Goebbels had a liaison with a young Czech actress. Hanke sided with Magda, to whom he was attracted and who apparently seemed willing to leave Goebbels for Hanke. Both affairs were finally stopped by an order from Hitler.
In 1939 Hanke volunteered for military service, having previously obtained a reserve officer's commission. From September to October of 1939, he served with the 3rd Panzer Division in Poland. In May and June of 1940, Hanke served under General Erwin Rommel with the 7th Panzer Division in France. He was discharged from the German Army (Wehrmacht) in 1941 with the rank of Lieutenant (Oberleutnant). Hitler thereupon appointed Hanke to the position of governor and Gauleiter of Lower Silesia in Breslau. One year later, SS-Chief Heinrich Himmler promoted him to the rank of SS Group Leader (SS-Gruppenführer). Hanke was a fanatical enforcer of Nazi policy: during his rule in Breslau more than 1000 people were executed on his orders, earning him the moniker "Hangman of Breslau".
[edit] The Fall of Breslau
During the waning months of World War II, as the Soviet army advanced into Silesia and encircled Breslau, Hanke was named by Hitler to be the city's "battle commander" (Kampfkommandant). Hanke oversaw, with brutal fanaticism, the futile and militarily useless defense of the city during the Battle of Breslau. Goebbels, dictating for his diary, repeatedly expressed his admiration of Hanke during the spring of 1945. When Breslau was finally taken, Hanke was not to be found. On 6 May, German General Hermann Niehoff surrendered Breslau. Hanke apparently flew out in earlier in a small plane, a Fieseler Storch, kept in reserve for him. (Speer's assertion that Hanke fled in a prototype helicopter may not be credible.)
[edit] Reichsführer-SS
Hanke's fanaticism and unconditional obedience to Hitler's orders also impressed Hitler, who in his final will appointed him to be the last Reichsführer-SS and Chief of the German Police, replacing Heinrich Himmler on 29 April 1945. Just eight days before, Hanke had been honored with Nazi Germany's highest decoration, the German Order, a reward for his defence of Breslau against the advancing Soviet army. Hanke's ascendancy to the rank of Reichsführer-SS was a result of Adolf Hitler proclaiming Himmler a traitor, stripping him of all his offices and ranks, and ordering his arrest.
[edit] Death
Hanke received word of his promotion on 5 May 1945. For unknown reasons, he flew to Prague and attached himself to the 18th SS-Freiwilligen-Panzer-Grenadier-Division "Horst Wessel". Hanke chose to wear the uniform of an SS private, to conceal his identity in the event of capture. The group attempted to fight its way back to Germany but, after a fierce battle with Czech partisans, surrendered in what is now Nova Ves (ex Neudorf), north west of Chomutov (ex Komotau). His true identity was not discovered by his captors, and Hanke was thus placed in a POW camp alongside other low-ranking SS members. One possible explanation of his death is that, realizing that it was only a matter of time before he would be found out, Hanke attempted to escape from the camp on the morning of 8 June 1945. He managed to escape the camp itself, but a Czech guard spotted him fleeing and shot him in the back, killing him instantly. Other accounts have him beaten to death by Czechs or executed by Poles.
[edit] Literature
- Christopher Ailsby: "SS: Roll of Infamy". Motorbooks Intl.: London 1997, ISBN 0-7603-0409-2
- Antony Beevor: Berlin 1945. Das Ende. Goldmann: München 2005, ISBN 3-442-15313-1
- Martin Moll: Der Sturz alter Kämpfer. Ein neuer Zugang zur Herrschaftsanalyse des NS-Regimes, in: Historische Mitteilungen der Ranke-Gesellschaft 5. Jg. (1992), S. 1-51.
- Jana Richter: Karl Hanke, in: Hermann Weiß (Hg.): Biographisches Lexikon zum Dritten Reich, Frankfurt a. M. 1998, S. 177f.
- Gitta Sereny: Albert Speer. Sein Ringen mit der Wahrheit, München 2005, ISBN 3-442-15328-X
- Albert Speer: Erinnerungen, Frankfurt a. M. u. Berlin 1969.
| Preceded by Heinrich Himmler |
Reich Leader of the SS 1945 |
Succeeded by — |
