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 20) In 1944, Hackenholt was awarded the Iron Cross, II Class, for his dedicated and unquestioning service to Aktion Reinhard, and a year later, in the spring of 1945 — according to his SS comrades Josef Oberhauser, Hans Girtig and Heinrich Gley — he was killed in the fighting near Trieste. The investigators at the Central Office in Ludwigsburg and the officers of SK III/a in Munich, however, had collected sufficient evidence indicating the strong possibility that SS-Hauptscharführer Hackenholt had not been killed during the last days of the war, but was still alive at least until 1946. Consequently, the State Prosecutor at the Regional Court in Munich I drew up a detailed indictment against him for participation in mass murder and crimes against humanity. But what were the chances that Hackenholt had not been killed in action, as claimed by some of his comrades, and was indeed still alive at this stage of the investigation in 1961? What kind of a person was Lorenz Hackenholt that he could have survived undetected for so many years while nine of his former SS-comrades had been traced and arrested? The investigators were given an insight into his character by former members of the Aktion Reinhard Sonderkommandos. Karl Schluch described the wanted war criminal thus: Hackenholt was an inconsiderate, hard and brutal man, without any sense of honour. I would go so far as to say characterless and indifferent. He drank a lot and was often locked up for it … He was characterless enough to carry out all orders without question. [71] Willy Grossmann, who had known Hackenholt in Treblinka and Trieste, had some difficulty, however, in describing his character: It is difficult for me to give an appropriate expression which suitably characterises him. I can say that he was stupid and brazen. He was, moreover, greatly feared, especially in the latter days. Hackenholt was often very drunk. He was rebellious towards his superiors. [72] It was former SS-NCO Robert Juhrs who had served with Hackenholt in Belzec and Trieste, finally gave the most succinct description of Lorenz Hackenholt: About his character I can use the following figure of speech which, to my mind, most appropriately describes it: 'He wanted to go and piss with the big dogs, but he couldn't lift his leg,' (Er wollte mit den grossen Hunden pissen gehen, aber konnte nicht die Beine heben). [73] _______________ [71] Ibid., 208 AR-Z 252/59 (Belzec Case), p. 1511. Statement by Karl Schluch on 11.11.1961 in Kleve [72] Ibid., p. 1527. Statement by Willy Grossmann on 10.11.1961 in Erndtebruck [73] Ibid., p. 1469. Statement by Robert Juhrs on 11.11.1961 in Frankfurt-am-Main.    Back Page 20 Forward
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