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Heinrich Andergassen

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Andergassen during his trial in Naples, 15 January 1946

Heinrich or Heinz Andergassen (30 July 1908 in Hall, Tyrol, Austro-Hungarian Empire – 26 July 1946 in Livorno, Italy) was an engineer, SS officer, and convicted war criminal who was executed for the torture and murder of seven Allied prisoners of war. He was a SS-Sturmscharführer[1] and later an SS-Untersturmführer in Northern Italy.

Origin

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Heinrichs parents were Hall goldsmith and later police officer August Andergassen and Maria. Grandparents Franz Alexander Andergassen so called Princely Enzenberg Courts Cabinetmaker at Tratzberg Castle and Salva Guardia with Anna originated in Kaltern an der Weinstrasse/Caldaro sulla Strada del Vino Italy and Schwaz in Tirol Austria. Andergassen has not been married and presumably not a father.[2] He has been living in Italy, Innsbruck, Hall and Volders close Gauleiter Hofer so called Lachhof[3] estate.[4] Cousin's wife or maid Maria Andergassen has been victimized and died at Hartheim Castle by T4 in follow.[5] The cousin himself Franz Josef Andergassen son of Ignaz has converted in 1934, Mar. with their child to Lutheran Church Confessio Augustana. Heinrich Andergassen's uncle Josef Domenikus Andergassen has been the cabinetmaker and decorative arts contributor at some local important church interiors in the Habsburg Monarchy, Austria and abroad most of Gothic Revival Style. An assumed life-size portrait sitting of Maria Andergassen drawn by her cousin Josef Andergassen occasionally theater architect of Hippach in Zillertal Valley son of Josef Domenikus resisted wartime ruins as a private heritage. His brother, Anton Johann Andergassen, had been better educated as denturist partly in Munich. Most of his professional life he has been working in Brixlegg though he was not able to survive mental health hospitalization postwar and died of Tuberculosis never silent across Europe in letters arguing Human Rights. In WWII he has joined Wehrmacht as gunner towards France until 1941 but he sabotaged or self-harmed himself by a hand shot, later he has resisted in table a petition to save Brixlegg Innriver bridge at General SS being shot therefore and last but not least in written statement to Berlin concerning his 1938 Parteimitgliedschaft. This lungs bullet forced him to hide in a Tyrolese traditional farmhouse oven[6] outside Kitzbühel Lebenberg Castle until he got found by family members and been brought to a hospital before he has been transferred to French liberation camp Woergl for clarification as follower[7] in 1945. During wartime at Brixlegg butcher's shop have been information resistance activities he joined. Anton has been mentioned as best friend of Heinrich in family context and Toni has been somehow a father of three Heinrich b.1946, Gerda b.1941, Michael b.1947 with different female partners, but never met or has not been permitted to get known to any of his children.

Career

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Andergassen was educated as a machinist at Swarowski in Wattens. In 1929 he voluntarily joined the Army and has been trained at Viennese Arsenal. In 1937 he was appointed Gendarm. After Anschluss he got NSDAP member, and became active with Gestapo.[8] At German occupation of Czechoslovakian Sudetenland in October 1938 he served in a 100-strong police unit. Then he started career as a Gestapo officer in Innsbruck.[9] Andergassen was later sent to Italy, where he served as an SD officer in Merano. On the night of 15 September 1943, he led raids which resulted in the arrests of 25 Jews living in Merano. The Jews were locked in a basement and deported the next morning. They were taken by truck to Reichenau concentration camp in Austria. The 25 Jews stayed there for about six months, during which four of them died. At the beginning of March 1944, the rest were deported to Auschwitz concentration camp. Only one of the Jews abducted, Valeska von Hoffmann, survived the Holocaust.[10]

Manlio Longon

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On 15 December 1944, the SS captured Manlio Longon Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale leader of the Italian Resistance Alto Adige. On order of August Schiffer, Longon was tortured and hanged by Andergassen and Storz at Army Corps Bolzano on Jan. 1, 1945.[11]

Roderick Stephen Hall

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On 26 January 1945 the OSS Captain Roderick Stephen Hall,[12] who had been active in occupied Italy for some months was captured by the SS in Cortina d’Ampezzo and forced to Gestapo Bolzano/Bozen. On 19 February 1945 Roderick Stephen Hall was tortured and killed by Andergassen and SS-Oberscharführer Albert Storz on orders of SS-Sturmbannführer August Schiffer, at the Bolzano Transit Camp.[13]

Arrest, trial, and execution

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On 30 April 1945 Andergassen, together with Schiffer and Storz as a driver, fled from the approaching American armed forces in a black Mercedes to Brennero.[14] On May 8 he was captured by the 206th Counterintelligence Corp outside Innsbruck[15] Schiffer, Storz, and he were accused as war criminals, along with Gestapo officer Hans Butz. During their trial, held by the U.S. military in Naples, Andergassen made a voluntarily declaration that the execution of Roderick Hall was approved by higher Nazi authorities.[16] On 16 January 1946, Andergassen, Schiffer, and Storz were sentenced to death by hanging for the torture and killings of Roderick Stephen Hall, four other American and two British soldiers. Butz received a life sentence due to his more limited involvement and his lack of participation in any other murders.[17] On 26 July 1946, Andergassen, Schiffer, and Storz were all hanged at a military stockade in Livorno.[18]

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.[19]

References

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  1. ^ Salter, Michael Nazi War Crimes, US Intelligence and Selective Prosecution at Nuremberg, p. 111
  2. ^ German Federal Archives. Heinrich Andergassen. Documents.CV
  3. ^ AufBauWerk. Unternehmen für junge Menschen. Volders/Lachhof[permanent dead link] Oct. 29, 2019
  4. ^ DerStandard. Wissenschaft. Welt. Der Hofer war's. 10.09.2002.11:54. Oct. 29, 2019
  5. ^ Stone of Remembrance. Maria Andergassen. Wattens. Tirol. Austria. Nov. 26, 2020
  6. ^ Bauernhaus mit Backofen. Museum Tiroler Bauernhöfe. Kramsach. Austria. Dec. 12, 2020
  7. ^ Tiroler Landesarchiv employee statement. Phone call 2017
  8. ^ German Federal Archives. Heinrich Andergassen. Documents. CV
  9. ^ German Federal Archives. Heinrich Andergassen. Documents. CV
  10. ^ "Persecuzioni nazifasciste e famiglie smembrate nella Merano tra le guerre - Venosta". Alto Adige (in Italian). 9 September 2020. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  11. ^ Agostini, Piero; Romeo, Carlo [Hrsg.]: Trentino e Alto Adige: province del Reich. Temi, 2002. S. 270
  12. ^ CIA. 2010 Featured Story Archive. Roderick Stephen Hall: The Saboteur of Brenner Pass
  13. ^ 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
  14. ^ O'Donnell, Patrick K.: The Brenner Assignment... Philadelphia: Da Capo, 2008. p. 213
  15. ^ O'Donnell. p. 233
  16. ^ 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
  17. ^ 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
  18. ^ New York Times, 1946, July 27. p. 5. 3 S.S. Officers Hanged.
  19. ^ CIA. Historical Review Program. Release in Full Sept. 22, 1993. Roderick "Steve" Hall. Oct. 27, 2019

Sources

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Further reading

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