The World Jewish Congress today announced that it had received a request from German authorities to help obtain evidence against Heinrich Hamann, former Nazi commissioner for Nowy Sacz, Poland and four of his assistants who are about to stand trial in West Germany.
Hamann has been under arrest in Germany since May 1960 for crimes committed between 1940-1942: 1. Robbing, beating and killing thousands of Jews; 2. Shooting, drowning, burying alive 300 individual Jews; 3. Eye-gouging and stabbing a Jew to death; 4. Killing a Jew by throwing him from a second-floor window; 5. Drowning a Jew in a barrel of oil for trying to get some gasoline; 6. Shooting children for selling cigarettes; 7. Setting a 75-year-old Jew’s beard alight.
Hamann’s crimes were committed not only in Nowy Sacz, but also in Old Sacz, Limanowa, Grybow, and Mszana-Dolna. The investigation, carried out by a judge at Bochum State Court, have been extended to include four of Hamann’s aides; Georg Urban, a former police lieutenant in Limanowa; Egbert Brock, a Criminal Assistant in Nowy Sacz; Guenter Labitzka, a Gestapo officer in Nowy Sacz; and Josef Rouenhoff, a Criminal assistant, at one time in charge of the Jewish section of the Gestapo.
The WJC has already provided a considerable number of witnesses against Hamann and the investigating judge has now requested help in gathering evidence also against his four aides. Persons who can identify the criminals or have any information about their crimes are requested to contact the World Jewish Congress.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
