Hans Helwig

Hans Helwig (25 September 1881 – 24 August 1952) was a German Nazi Party politician, World War I veteran, Schutzstaffel general and Nazi concentration camp commandant. An early member of the Nazi movement he fulfilled a number of roles within Nazism down the years. He was born and died in Hemsbach.

Military service The son of a forest ranger and the youngest of 15 children Helwig apprenticed as a bricklayer in his home village of Hemsbach. Discontented with life as a bricklayer the 19-year-old Helwig enlisted in the German Imperial Army in 1901. He rose to the rank of master sergeant in an infantry regiment before leaving in early 1914 to work as a court clerk. Helwig was only a few months out of the army when World War I broke out, prompting him to re-enlist. Returning to the same battalion Helwig saw action on both the Western and Eastern Fronts. At the time in Baden, Nazi politics were dominated by a personality clash between local strongmen Heinrich Himmler and Robert Heinrich Wagner, a struggle in which Helwig eventually sided with Himmler, leaving the SA for the Schutzstaffel (SS) in 1929. In the July 1932 election he was returned as a deputy to the Reichstag from electoral constituency 32 (Baden). There is no record of him accomplishing anything during his brief spell in the institution. Within the letter it was suggested that his prison experience might make it possible for him to command a concentration camp and Himmler acted on this suggestion, and made him commandant of the women's camp at Lichtenburg. Indeed, as was the case for all of the commandants at Sachsenhausen, Helwig's command was noted for its viciousness.

Helwig lost his position the following year over a somewhat pedantic clash between the SS hierarchy and Justice Minister Franz Gürtner over a failure to obey protocol. An inmate of Sachsenhausen, Johannes Winiarz, was given a forced vasectomy at the camp but it emerged that the operation had not been approved by a judge and Winiarz had had no chance to appeal, both of which were laid down as essential in such cases. Himmler put the blame on Eicke who in turn argued that it had been Helwig who had mixed up the orders, having become confused by a sudden influx of new prisoners at the time. Eicke told Himmler that the 57-year-old Helwig was "totally decrepit ... both mentally and physically" and recommended he be removed as commandant. He was replaced by Hermann Baranowski soon afterwards.

Later years Helwig appealed to be allowed to continue but neither Eicke nor Himmler would be moved. Given a 5000 Mark severance in order to convince him to leave he returned to Hemsbach. His standing as a party loyalist ensured that the SS continued to help him find employment and after a few failed attempts he found a role in the Organisation Todt that suited his talents. Based on the Eastern Front, he oversaw the building of a fuel camp that also doubled as a place to hold Soviet prisoners of war. The veteran, who by this time was an SS-Brigadeführer despite having previously been described by Eicke as not officer material, finished the war as the liaison officer between the northern command of the Wehrmacht and Himmler's headquarters.

Date Rank 28 May 1929 SS-Anwärter 24 October 1929 SS-Truppführer 10 April 1930 SS-Sturmführer 30 November 1930 SS-Sturmbannführer 13 July 1931 SS-Standartenführer 12 September 1937 SS-Oberführer 5 June 1944 SS-Brigadeführer