Hermann Hackmann: Sadistic Nazi Camp Officer Sentenced to Death by the SS

Hermann Hackmann was a senior SS concentration camp official whose career took him from Buchenwald to Majdanek, where he became notorious for brutality against prisoners and involvement in executions.Born in Osnabrück, Germany, in 1913, Hackmann trained as a bricklayer before joining the SS in November 1933. His career within the Nazi concentration camp system included service at Esterwegen, Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald, and eventually Majdanek in German-occupied Poland.At Buchenwald, Hackmann rose to positions of considerable authority under commandant Karl Otto Koch, serving as report leader and later adjutant. Survivors described him as a violent sadist who participated in beatings, torture, humiliations, and brutal punishments of political prisoners, Jews, and foreign inmates.In 1941, Hackmann was transferred to occupied Poland and became involved in the establishment and operation of Majdanek concentration camp near Lublin. As protective custody camp commander and an officer responsible for prisoner labour, he was implicated in executions, including the killing of Soviet prisoners of war.Remarkably, Hackmann was sentenced to death by an SS court in 1944 during investigations connected to corruption within the concentration camp system, but survived the collapse of Nazi Germany. After the war, he was prosecuted at the Buchenwald Trial and initially sentenced to death before his punishment was reduced and he was eventually released. Decades later, a West German court convicted him again for crimes committed at Majdanek.This documentary examines Hermann Hackmann’s career within the Nazi concentration camp system, the violence inflicted on prisoners under his authority, and the controversial postwar judicial process that allowed him to spend much of his later life as a free man.This episode is part of the series Male Fascist Guards and Camp Auxiliaries.Watch the full documentary and explore hundreds of historical films at:WorldHistory.tv