Hofmann Provided Racial Experts for the Holocaust

The first step to annihilate Jewish population of territories controlled by Nazi Germany and its’ allies (European Axis powers) was, obviously, to identify those who had to be killed according to perverted perception of reality by the Nazis.

In other words, to determine, who was the Jew – which was the job for racial experts of the RuSHA – SS Race and Settlement Main Office. Formally, it was of the equal status with the RSHA (headed by Heydrich – the CEO of the “Holocaust Project”) so he invited to Wannsee Conference RuSHA Chief Otto Hofmann.

Hofmann had similar background to Gestapo Chief Heinrich Muller – he was also a highly decorated Great War veteran and also served in the Air Force (though Hofmann was Austrian, not German – he was born in Innsbruck).

At the outbreak of the Great War, Hofmann volunteered for service with the Royal Bavarian Army (like Hitler) at Landsberg am Lech and, from January 1915, saw front-line service with Reserve Field Artillery Regiment 8.

In March 1917, he was promoted to Leutnant and was assigned as an observer and a liaison officer to an Austro-Hungarian fighter unit on the Eastern front. On 20 June 1917, he was shot down over Romania and taken prisoner by the Russians.

However, he escaped from captivity after five weeks and returned to the German lines. He completed basic pilot training and was assigned to a reserve pilot unit before he was discharged in March 1919, having earned the Iron Cross, 1st and 2nd class and the Military Merit Order of Bavaria 3rd and 4th class with Swords.

Hofmann saw short-term service as an artilleryman in a Freikorps unit at the Bavarian-Czech border between April and October 1919. Married since July 1918, he entered civilian life in 1920 as a salesman in his father-in-law’s wholesale wine business at Nuremberg.

In 1925, he started his own business as an independent representative for several large wine companies from Germany and abroad. In April 1923, Hofmann became an early member of the Nazi Party, which was soon banned in the wake of the Beer Hall Putsch. After the Party was re-founded in early 1925, Hofmann did not rejoin until August 1, 1929 – which still made him an Alter K;mpfer.

On April 1, 1931, Hofmann joined the SS. Shortly after the Nazi seizure of power, he left his wine business in April 1933 when he became a full-time SS functionary, attached to SS-Gruppe S;d in Munich as adjutant to the chief of the auxiliary political police.

On January 1, 1937, Hofmann was assigned to RuSHA, becoming its training officer for SS-Oberabschnitt West in D;sseldorf. On July 17, he was made deputy to the RuSHA Chief, SS-Obergruppenf;hrer G;nther Pancke.

After the outbreak of the Second World War, he virtually ran the entire organization due to Pancke being occupied with more important duties – he was as H;herer SS- und Polizeif;hrer “Mitte” (covering Anhalt, Brunswick, Southern Hanover and Magdeburg).

On December 16, Hofmann also took control as head of the RuSHA Race Office (Rassenamt). He was named Pancke’s successor as RuSHA Chief on July 9, 1940, and was appointed to hold the post “for the duration of the war”.

Hofmann knew personally several of the other attendees (which was another reason for inviting him), including Heydrich, with whom Hofmann had previously worked on issues of Germanisation in the occupied Eastern territories.

Moreover, Hofmann’s RuSHA office for years had compiled and maintained an index of individuals with partly Jewish origins, in order to assist in tracking down such persons not only in Germany but in other areas of Europe (and thus already was the key partner of RSHA in the “Holocaust Project”).

On July 8, 1945, Hofmann was arrested by the Allies (unbelievably, he turned himself in). Hofmann was indicted by the US Military Tribunal on July 1, 1947 and put on trial at Nuremberg on October 20th at the RuSHA Trial (no surprise here).

He was charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes and membership in a criminal organization (SS). On 10 March 1948, he was found guilty on all counts and was sentenced to 25 years in prison, which was later reduced to 15 years.

On April 7, 1954, Hofmann was released from Landsberg Prison, having served just under nine years. Between 1959 and 1982, Hofmann was questioned several times during preliminary investigations into war crimes of the Nazi era. In two instances, the investigations led to criminal proceedings against him.

However, Hofmann’s prior convictions prevented the prosecution from trying him again for the same crimes (“double jeopardy” principle), so he was limited to being questioned as a witness. So, both cases were eventually dismissed, and Hofmann died in Bad Mergentheim on December 31, 1982 at the ripe old age of 86.