The ‘Disappearance’ of SS-Hauptscharführer Lorenz Hackenholt A Report on the 1959-63 West German Police Search for Lorenz Hackenholt, the Gas Chamber Expert of the Aktion Reinhard Extermination Camps © Michael Tregenza (Page 6) The declaration of death was applied for by the wife, Ilse Hackenholt, nee Zillmer, domiciled at Allee 68 in Heilbonn/Neckar. The date of death was given as 31.12.1945. As grounds, the wife stated that she had heard nothing from her husband since November or December 1944. He was at that time an SS-Oberscharführer on the Central Sector of the Eastern Front. The Field Post Number was not known. In the file there is also a deposition by Hackenholt's mother, the widow of Theodor Hackenholt of Goerrerstrasse 8 in Gelsenkirchen III, dated 28.9.1953. This states that she too was unable to give the Field Post Number, and was no longer in possession of any letters from her son. She too had received no news from her son after 1944. In the file the date of marriage is given as 4.11.1941, Berlin-Schmargendorf Registry Office. The last address for the Hackenholts is at Martin Luthar Strasse 11 in Berlin-Schönenberg, c/o Gloth. The application for the declaration of death was granted by order of the Berlin magistrates court on 1.4.1954, with effect from 31.12.1945. [15] As indicated in the above report, Ilse Hackenholt in the meantime had moved from Tiefenbach in the Allgäu to Heilbronn in Württemberg where she had stayed for a while before returning again to Tiefenbach. The Central Office investigators therefore requested that the Heilbronn Kriminalpolizei determine the following: whether Frau Hackenholt had remarried; if affirmative, to determine the personal details of her present husband; if negative, whether perhaps she was living with a man to whom Hackenholt's personal details could apply. Two photographs of Lorenz Hackenholt were enclosed with the enquiry, with the additional request that neither Frau Hackenholt nor her partner, if any, be made aware of the investigation. [16] On 1 December 1959, the Heilbronn Kriminalpolizei reported that Ilse Hackenholt had arrived in the town from Stuttgart on 7 January 1953 and taken up residence at Allee 68. She had been employed as a masseuse at the Badschuch-Strack Clinic. On 22 May 1955, she had reported her departure for Tiefenbach, but between May 1954 and February 1955 she had returned returned for a few weeks at the request of her employer and resumed her job as a masseuse at the Clinic. The report continues: During her employment in Heilbronn she led a completely withdrawn life. Male acquaintances did not exist. According to her story, her husband was 'missing'. At a time which can no longer be determined, she received a visit from a married couple from Berlin. It was taken that this was a visit from relatives. At that time it was also said that she had an _______________ [15] Ibid., p. 193. Archive of the Berlin-Schoneberg Magistrates Court, 72/24 II 1061/53: Official Declaration of Death of Laurenzius Maria Hackenholt, dated 22 August 1953. Copy forwarded to the Ludwigsburg Central Office dated 23.11.1959. [16] Ibid., p. 195. Letter from the Ludwigsburg Central Office to Hauptkriminalkommissar Miller of the Baden-Wurttemberg State Police Office in Heilbronn, dated 23.11.1959.    Back Page 6 Forward
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