BIOGRAPHY - H

HAGEN, FATHER THEODORICH (18??-??) Mysterious Cistercian abbot who is said to have returned from the Middle-East and ordered swastikas carved on Lamabch Abby where Hitler later attended classes. Father Hagen was reputed to be an expert on the Cathars and several other medieval heresies including the Bogomils.

HALDER, FRANZ (1884-1972) Colonel-General and Chief of the General Staff of the German army (OKH) from September 1, 1938 until fired by Hitler on September 24, 1942. He was arrested by the Gestapo on July 21, 1944, and held in concentration camps until released by the Allies in 1945.

HAMMER, ARMAND (18?? - 1990) The son of a Jewish immigrant from Russia who founded the American Communist Party. Hammer found fame many times in his life - and notoriety almost as often. He helped support the fledgling Soviet Union, yet went on to become known as one of the world's most successful capitalists. Hammer first found riches and notoriety as a businessman in the fledgling Soviet Union, where he used his operations to help launder money for the communist government. In 1922, Lenin wrote a secret letter to Stalin, designating Hammer as their official "path" to the resources of American capitalism. From his friendship with Lenin, to Occidental Oil, the Nobel Peace Prize, kickbacks to Nixon and sponsorship of Al Gore, Armand Hammer was one of the most mysterious and intriguing figures of the 20th century. Until his death in 1990, many "theorists" suspected him of being a major agent of world-wide conspiracy. (Epstein)

HANFSTAENGL, ERNST (PUTZI) (1887-1975) Hitler's personal friend who from 1922 introduced Hitler into Munich society. Hanfstaengl became NSDAP foreign press chief in 1931. Alienated from Hitler in 1937 and first went to England and then the United States. During WWII, he became an advisor to Roosevelt and the Hearst press. Returned to Germany in 1946 and lived in Munich until his death.

HANUSSEN, ERIK JAN (1889-1933) Astrologer, hypnotist and expert on mass psychology who, according to Strasser, began teaching Hitler in the early 1920s. Born Herschel Steinschneider in Vienna. Hanussen pretended to be from a line of Danish noblemen, but was in reality the son of an itinerant Jewish vaudevillian. Hanussen joined the Nazi party in 1931, and in late 1932 correctly predicted Hitler's rise to power on January 30, 1933. The following month, Hanussen predicted a great fire. The next evening the Reichstag was in flames. Six weeks later Hanussen was kidnapped and murdered in the woods outside Berlin, allegedly by the chief of police.

HARRIMAN, W. AVERELL (1891-1986) Millionaire son of railroad magnate, Edward H. Harriman. Official with National Recovery Act (NRA) 1934-35; Business Advisory Council, Department of Commerce 1933-1939; U.S. Ambassador to U.S.S.R. (1943-46), and then to Great Britain; Secretary of Commerce 1946-48; special assistant to President Truman 1950-52; Governor of New York state (1955–59), undersecretary of state (1963–65), and ambassador-at- large (1965–68). He was also (1968) chief U.S. negotiator at the Paris peace talks on Vietnam.

HARTMANN, ERICH (born 1922) Germany's top "Ace" in World War II. Hartmann was credited by the Luftwaffe with 352 kills, a record that has been disputed by British and American airmen. Hartmann was captured by the Russians in 1944 and not released until 1955.

HASENAUER, KARL von (1833-1894). Respected Viennese Architect and creator of the Vienna Burg Theater. Highly regarded by Hitler.

HAUSEN, LUDWIG MÜLLER von (1851-1929) Publisher of the first German translation of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the first known non-Russian version. It was dated 1919, but was actually published in mid January 1920. Thirty-three versions will be published in German by 1933. Hausen published it under the alias Gottfried zur Beek. (Segel/Levy)

HAUSHOFER, ALBRECHT (1903-1945) Son of Karl Haushofer with close ties to members of the British aristocracy. Often associated with Rudolf Hess. Killed after the July 20, 1944 assassination attempt against Hitler.

HAUSHOFER, KARL (1869-1946) Bavarian general and geopolitician who became closely associated with Rudolf Hess and through him, Adolf Hitler. Haushofer had a lifelong interest in magic and mysticism. His doctrine of liebensraum (Germany's right to living space in the East) became a cornerstone of Nazi ideology. Throughout the 1920s and 30s, he served as one of Hitler's most trusted political advisors. Haushofer published Power and Earth (Macht und Erde) in 1934. It implied that a dynamic Germany had the natural right to grasp all of Eurasia and dominate the oceanic countries. Based in part on British political geographer Halfor John Mackinder’s 1904 paper "The Geographical Pivot of History," Haushofer’s theories helped shape Hitler’s demands for lebensraum. After Hess' flight to England in 1941, Haushofer's influence declined sharply. He committed suicide in 1946 in the traditional Japanese manner.

HEDIN, SVEN (1865-1952) Swedish explorer and expert on the Far East who lived for many years in Tibet and played an important part in establishing the Nazis' esoteric doctrines. Hedin was a close associate of Haushofer and a friend of Hielscher. (Pauwels)

HERZL, THEODOR (1860-1904) Hungarian-born journalist and playwright who is credited with founding modern political Zionism. His Jewish State, published in 1896, attracted many to the cause of establishing a Jewish national home in Palestine. After presiding over the first Zionist Congress, held at Basel, Switzerland, in 1897, Herzl negotiated with the British government, which in 1901 offered the Jews land in British East Africa. Worry about the insuing dispute over this offer injured his health and hastened his death. He died at Edlach, Austria on July 3, 1904.

HESS, RUDOLF (1894-1987) Deputy Leader of the Nazi Party and after Goering the third most powerful man in Nazi Germany. Hess, the son of a wealthy German businessman, was born in Alexandria, Egypt. During WWI, he was a second lieutenant, shock troop leader, aviator, and for a time served in the same Bavarian regiment as Hitler. Hess joined the NSDAP in 1921 and became Hitler's private secretary in 1924. He was promoted to deputy to the Führer in 1932 and appointed Reich minister without portfolio in 1933. Flew to England on an ill-fated peace mission on May 10, 1941, with or without Hitler's knowledge, and was quickly declared mentally ill by his Führer. Hess was sentenced to life imprisonment at Nuremberg in 1946 and was the last remaining prisoner in Spandau prison until his death under mysterious circumstances at the age of 93.

HEYDRICH, REINHARD (1904-1942) Born in Halle. Head of the SS Security Service (SD), a Nazi party intelligence agency. In 1939 combined his SD and Sipo into the Central Office for Reich Security (RSHA). Organized the Einsatzgruppen and was asked by Goering in 1941 to implement the Final Solution. In 1941 Heydrich was appointed Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, and was fatally wounded in a Prague suburb on May 29, 1942 by Czech partisans parachuted in by the British. He died from his wounds on June 4, 1942. In reprisal for the attack on Heydrich, the Germans liquidated the Bohemian village of Lidice, killing all of its male inhabitants.

HIELSCHER, FREDERICK (18??-19??) Little is known about this mysterious character. Hielscher was a mystic and teacher who privately founded the Ahnenerbe in 1933. Himmler, in 1935, turned the Ahnenerbe into an official organization attached to the SS, and in 1939, incorporated it into the SS. Its leaders were then absorbed into Himmler's personal staff. Hielscher was the spiritual teacher of Wolfram Sievers and a number of high-ranking Nazis, although he was never known to have been a member of the Nazi party. Hielscher was even friendly with the Jewish philosopher, Martin Buber. Yet, Hielscher's theories had much in common with the "magic" doctrines of the "Grand Masters" of National Socialism. Hielscher, no doubt, played an important role in the drafting of their Secret Doctrine. Hielscher was also a friend of Ernst Junger, who referred him by the code-name "Bogo" when Hielscher visited him in Paris on October 14, 1943. (Bogo was probably a reference to the Bogomils, the 8th century predecessors of the Cathars). Junger said that most of the young intellectuals of the generation which has grown up between WWI and WWII had come under Hielscher's enfluence and had often been through his school. Hielscher told Junger that he had "founded a church" involving a whole system of pagan gods, colors, animals, foods, stones and plants. The "Consecration of Light" was to take place each year on February 2nd. Hielscher was not tried at Nuremberg, but volunteered to give evidence on Sievers behalf. After Sievers conviction, Hielscher asked to be allowed to accompany Sievers to the gallows and together, both said prayers peculiar to a cult which was never mentioned during the trial. Hielscher then returned to obscurity. (Pauwels)

HILL, JOE (1879-1915) Joe Hill, originally Joel Emmanuel Hagglund, b. Sweden, c.1879, d. Nov. 19, 1915, was an American labor organizer for the radical Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and a writer of union songs, such as "Casey Jones" and "The Union Scab." He became a martyr upon his execution by a Utah firing squad after having been convicted of murder. Efforts by President Woodrow Wilson, the government of Sweden, and many prominent Americans to get him a new trial had failed. On the eve of his execution, Hill telegraphed Big Bill Haywood, head of the IWW: "Don't waste any time mourning. Organize." This sentiment became the theme of the well-known song memorializing him, which begins "I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night/Alive as you and me."
Bibliography: Smith, Gibbs M., Labor Martyr: Joe Hill (1972).
(Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc., 1995 Encyclopedia)

HIMMLER, HEINRICH (1900-1945) Joined Hitler in 1922. Police chief in Munich 1933. Commander of S.S. and chief of German Police in 1934. Reich interior minister, 1943-45. On Jan, 20, 1944 made commander of the replacement army. Relieved of all official functions by Hitler on April 28, 1945. Committed suicide on May 23, 1945 near Luneberg after being captured by British troops.

HINDENBURG und BENECKENDORF, PAUL von (1847-1934). During World War I, supreme military commander and field marshal. German president until his death. In 1933, Hindenburg appointed Hitler Reich Chancellor saying he did not want to approve a limited military dictatorship by General von Schleicher because of what he described as "reasons of constitutional law."

HITLER, ADOLF (1889-1945) See Timebase.

HOFFMANN, HEINRICH (1885-1957) Hitler's official photographer, friend and confidant from 1919 until his death. Hoffmann learned his trade in his father's photography shop and served as a photographer in the Bavarian army during WWI. It was through Hoffmann that Hitler first met Eva Braun, who worked as an assistant in his shop. Hoffmann joined the NSDAP in 1920 and Hitler often visited his home for relaxation. It was Hoffmann who usually drove Hitler to meet with Winifred Wagner at her home in Bayreuth. Hoffmann held the exclusive right to photograph the Fuehrer, accompanying him almost everywhere, even traveling with him to the various fronts during WWII. During those twenty-five years he accumulated more than 2.5 million photographs and made himself and Hitler wealthy men. It is said to have been Hoffmann's idea for Hitler to collect a royalty for every photograph of himself to appear on German postage stamps, a large source of future income for the Fuehrer. Hoffman was tried as a Nazi profiteer in 1947 and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. Nearly all of his personal fortune was seized, but his sentence was readjusted to five years in 1950. He lived comfortably in Munich until his death on December 16, 1957.

HOPKINS, HARRY L. (1890-1946) Welfare worker who become a close friend and special advisor to President Franklin Roosevelt. Adminstrator of Federal Relief (FERA) 1933-35; Works Program Administrator (WPA) 1935-38; Secretary of Commerce 1936-40; Adminstrator of Lend Lease 1941; confidential friend and agent of Roosevelt throughout the Second World War. According Harold Ickes, Bernard Baruch said that after 1941, Hopkins became "in effect, Assistant President." (Ickes)

HÖSS (HOESS), RUDOLF (1900-1947) Born in Baden-Baden, he served at age 15 in German army at the Turkish front during World War I. After joining Nazi party in 1922, Hoess served a prison sentence from 1923 to 1928 for a political murder. He joined the SS in 1933 and was promoted in 1942 to SS lieutenant colonel. Hoess was commandant of the concentration camp Auschwitz from 1940 to 1943, and during the summer of 1944. Sentenced to death in Poland, he was hanged at Auschwitz in 1947. Hoess first met Himmler at General Ludendorff's apartment in Munich in 1921-22.

HOUSE, COLONEL EDWARD MANDELL (18??-19??) Author of the book Philip Dru, Administrator (1912) and President Woodrow Wilson's top advisor. Franklin Roosevelt wrote to Colonel House that "The real truth of the matter is, as you and I well know, that a financial element in the larger centers has owned the government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson, and I am not wholly excepting the administration of W.W. (Woodrow Wilson). The country is going through a repetition of Jackson's fight with the Bank of the United States -- only on a far bigger and broader basis." (Schlesinger)

HUGENBERG, ALFRED (18??-19??) Co-founder of the Pan-German League in 1890, the most powerful publicist in Weimar Germany, and one of the men most responsible for Hitler's appointment as Chancellor in 1933. Hugenberg had been Krupp's general manager and during WWI had endorsed Germany's most aggressive war plans. After the war he purchased one of Berlin's leading newspapers and quickly gained control over some 1,600 newspapers with millions of readers. He also owned Germany's largest and most influential film corporation, UFA (Universum Film Aktiengesellschaft), which controlled distribution of films to scores of theaters. In 1928, When Hitler's movement was faltering, Hugenberg came to his assistance. Hugenberg's promise to serve in a cabinet under Hitler helped convince Hindenburg that Hitler could be controlled and used to unify German nationalists.

Copyright © 1999 R.H. Perez
All Rights Reserved.

HOMEPAGE