Heinrich Andergassen

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Andergassen during his trial in Naples, 15 January 1946

Heinrich Andergassen (July 30, 1908 – July 26, 1946) was a German member of the Nazi Party, engineer, SS officer, and convicted war criminal who was sentenced to death, and subsequently executed, for the torture and murder of seven Allied prisoners of war.

Career

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Andergassen was born on July 30, 1908, in Hall, Tyrol (then part of Austria-Hungary). He later was educated as a machinist at Swarowski in Wattens. In 1929, he voluntarily joined the Army and was trained at Arsenal (Vienna). In 1937, he was promoted to Gendarm. After Anschluss, he became a member of the NSDAP, as well as becoming active with the Gestapo.[1]

During the German occupation of Czechoslovak Sudetenland in October 1938, he served in a 100-strong police unit; subsequently thereafter, he started his career as a Gestapo officer in Innsbruck.[2] Andergassen was later relocated to Italy, where he served as an SD officer in Merano. On the night of September 15, 1943, he led a raid which resulted in the arrests of 25 Jewish citizens living in Merano. Andergassen locked those he found in a basement which was fashioned into a jail, and eventually deported them to the Reichenau concentration camp in Austria, and finally, Auschwitz concentration camp. Only one of the abducted, Valeska von Hoffmann, survived the Holocaust.[3]

He was at the rank of SS-Sturmscharführer,[4] and later promoted to SS-Untersturmführer during a tour of Northern Italy.

War crimes

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On December 15, 1944, the SS captured Manlio Longon Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale of the Italian Resistance Alto Adige. On the order of August Schiffer, Longon was tortured and hanged by Andergassen at Army Corps Bolzano on January 1, 1945.[5]

On January 26, 1945, OSS Captain Roderick Stephen Hall,[6] who had been active in occupied Italy for some months, was captured by the SS in Cortina d'Ampezzo and moved to the Gestapo Bolzano/Bozen. On February 19, 1945, Hall was executed by Andergassen and SS-units.[7]

Arrest, trial, and execution

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On April 30, 1945, Andergassen, together with Schiffer and Storz as a driver, fled from the approaching American armed forces in a black Mercedes to Brennero.[8] On the 8th of May, he was captured by the 206th Counterintelligence Corp outside Innsbruck,[9] alongside Schiffer and Storz. Andergassen and the others were collectively charged as war criminals, including Gestapo officer Hans Butz. During their trial, held by the U.S. military in Naples, Andergassen made a voluntary declaration that the execution of Roderick Hall was approved by higher Nazi authorities.[10] On January 16, 1946, Andergassen, Schiffer, and Storz were sentenced to death by hanging for the torture and killings of Hall, four other Americans, and two British soldiers. Butz received a life sentence due to his limited involvement and his lack of participation in any other murders.[11] On July 26, 1946, Andergassen, Schiffer, and Storz were all put to death at a military stockade in Livorno.[12]

Postwar reception

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Province of Bolzano/Provinz Bozen Criminal Investigation Department Commissioner Arthur Schuster charged the war criminal with being "the incarnation of sadism and brutality; he was incredibly blood-thirsty, especially when under the influence of strong drink, for which he had a great fondness, and was encouraged in all his excesses by his superior", this being August Schiffer.[13]

References

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  1. ^ German Federal Archives. Heinrich Andergassen. Documents. CV
  2. ^ German Federal Archives. Heinrich Andergassen. Documents. CV
  3. ^ "Persecuzioni nazifasciste e famiglie smembrate nella Merano tra le guerre - Venosta". Alto Adige (in Italian). 9 September 2020. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  4. ^ Salter, Michael Nazi War Crimes, US Intelligence and Selective Prosecution at Nuremberg, p. 111
  5. ^ Agostini, Piero; Romeo, Carlo [Hrsg.]: Trentino e Alto Adige: province del Reich. Temi, 2002. S. 270
  6. ^ CIA. 2010 Featured Story Archive. Roderick Stephen Hall: The Saboteur of Brenner Pass
  7. ^ Quibble, Anthony. Fall 1967: 4-41-1: Roderick "Steve" Hall (An Alpine Tragedy During the Last Convulsions of World War II). Fall 1967: 4-41-1. Oct. 28, 2019
  8. ^ O'Donnell, Patrick K.: The Brenner Assignment... Philadelphia: Da Capo, 2008. p. 213
  9. ^ O'Donnell. p. 233
  10. ^ Lingen, Kerstin von: Conspiracy of Silence: How the "Old Boys" of American Intelligence Shielded SS General Karl Wolff from Prosecution. In: Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Vol. 22.1. 2008. p. 74- 109. Oct. 27, 2019
  11. ^ United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park. Photo Defendant Heinrich Andergassen confers with the interpreter for the defense during his trial as an accused war criminal. Oct. 27, 2019
  12. ^ New York Times, 1946, July 27. p. 5. 3 S.S. Officers Hanged.
  13. ^ CIA. Historical Review Program. Release in Full 22 September 1993. Roderick "Steve" Hall. 27 October 2019

Sources

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Further reading

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