Willy Hack

Willy Hack (26 March 1912 – 26 July 1952) was a German SS officer and concentration camp official. He was born in the town of Reutlingen, Baden-Württemberg, and trained as an engineer before joining the Schutzstaffel (SS) in 1934. Following the outbreak of World War II, Hack served in the Waffen-SS on the Eastern Front. In February 1942 he was promoted to the rank of SS-Obersturmführer and transferred to Amtsgruppe C (Buildings and Works) at the SS-Main Economic and Administrative Office in Berlin.

In 1943 Hack was assigned to the staff of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp. While at Dora he served as director of construction for the sub-camp of Niedersachswerfen. Hack oversaw hundreds of slave-laborers who were employed in building a large subterranean aircraft engine factory that would be used to produce components for Germany’s V-2 guided missiles. this time using inmates from Buchenwald to dig mining tunnels for use in synthetic oil production. In February 1945 a group of 350 American prisoners of war arrived at Berga. Many of these men were American Jews who had been sent by the SS to Berga, Hack was executed in Dresden on 26 July 1952.