Hanns Alexander

Hanns Alexander (6 May 1917 – 23 December 2006) was a German Nazi hunter who tracked down and arrested Gustav Simon, a Nazi Party official, and Rudolf Höss, the Kommandant of Auschwitz.

Life A German Jew, Alexander was born in Berlin to father Alfred Alexander and mother Henny. He grew up with his twin brother Paul in a wealthy household. His father was a prominent physician who counted many well-known actors, artists, and scientists, including Albert Einstein, among his friends and patients.

In September 1939, after the outbreak of the Second World War, Alexander volunteered for the British Army, but was refused as an enemy alien. He managed to join the Royal Pioneer Corps as a private in 1940, attended officer training in 1943, and in 1945 was an interpreter at interrogations of guards and staff at the newly liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

"Gripped by a righteous anger,"

After the war, Alexander had a long professional career as a merchant banker at S.G. Warburg. He died in London at age 89.

His story is told in the book Hanns and Rudolf by Thomas Harding.