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 10) Hackenholt's mother, Frau Elizabeth Hackenholt, was asked to explain why she had endorsed her daughter-in-law's application for Lorenz to be declared officially dead in 1953. Her reply was noted in the subsequent police report on the search: On caution, the subject admitted that in the proceedings for the official declaration of death — and in view of the latest news — she had probably made a false statement about the latest news she had received from her son. She stated that her daughter-in-law, Ilse Hackenholt, in connection with the declaration of death, had written her a letter requesting her to sign a suitable affirmation, which she did without reading it. It was especially noticed that neither the subject nor her daughters reacted when it was implied that their son and brother could still be alive and living under a false name. When they were told this, they again shrugged their shoulders. [23] The four police officers also particularly noticed the apparent indifference of these women to this official intrusion into their privacy. There were none of the indignant outbursts they usually encountered from citizens whose homes were being systematically searched. Hackenholt's sister Antonia explained why, as quoted in the police report: One evening about 14 days earlier a police officer had come and asked if their mother still lived there. To their questions as to why he had come, he said it had been a telephoned enquiry from Munich. From this, it became clear to them all that it could only be about their missing son and brother, Lorenz. For this reason they were neither surprised by the police showing up, nor the questioning. [24] But why had the local policeman visited the house in the first place? The Citizens' Registration Bureau (Einwohnermeldeamt) in Gelsenkirchen could have answered the question about whether of not Frau Elizabeth Hackenholt was still living there. In fact, the Munich police could have telephoned the Bureau themselves. The search lasted a little over three hours and the officers left at 10:10, having found no trace of correspondence to or from Lorenz Hackenholt, nor any photographs of him, or further hints or clues to his possible whereabouts. In Tiefenbach on the same day, 8 July 1961, another house search was carried out at the 'Sonnenhuttle' chalet by two plain clothes officers of the Grenzpolizei on a warrant issued on the same grounds as the one in Gelsenkirchen. The warrant had been issued by the magistrates court in Sonthofen on 23 June.[25] One wonders why the police then waited two weeks before discharging their duty. The chalet was found to consist of very modest accommodation: one large living room, a bedroom, an attic which could be used as a bedroom, and a glass verandah. But the search, in the words of the official report, dated 16 July 1961, 'produced no result'.[26] _______________ [23] ZStL 208 AR-Z 252/59 (Belzec Case), pp. 1370-1372. SK III/a Search Report, dated 13.7.1961. [24] Ibid. [25] Ibid., p. 1373. Search Warrant No. Gs 121/61. [26] Ibid.    Back Page 10 Forward
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