Hanns Elard Ludin

[Michal78]

Here are some photos of SA-Obergruppenfuehrer Hanns Elard Ludin from Spiegel.de.

G.


[two photos deleted at the request of the copyright holder /Marcus]

[Michal78]

And Ludin with his family....

[laurens]

Great photos! Thanks

[Michal78]

On second photo from 1943 seems to be Franz Karmasin far left.

G.

[harmel]

Thanks friend really nice interesting photos.
Regards Harmel

[Helly Angel]

Thanks for the thread!!

What about this SA Officer? which was his fate? and his familiy?

[Max Williams]

Ludin was executed. Don't know about his family.
Max.

[Grisu]

His wife Erla Ludin died in 1997. Son Malte Ludin (born 1941) is the producer of a 2004 documentary on his father entitled "2 oder 3 Dinge, die ich von ihm weiß“ (Two or three things I know about him, 2004), revealing that a large part of the family refused and refuses to see Hanns as a war criminal and as someone responsible for deportation and death. Hans Ludin's granddaughter Alexandra Senfft recently published her 300+ pp. book "Schweigen tut weh“ (Silence hurts, 2007), which is about the life of her mother Erika Ludin who literally mentally cracked because she was unable to come to terms with her father's role during WW II.

[Max Williams]

Thanks for this information. Fascinating reading about the family of a 'second tier' National Socialist.
Max.

[Helly Angel]

Yes, very fascinating and interesting. Which was the role of Ludin in the deportation? I was checking about him and I found nothing...

[Grisu]

He was German envoy in Slovakia and, being a top-rank official, shares responsibility for the deportation and death of allegedly more than 60.000 Slovaks. I don't know, however, for what deeds exactly the court convicted him and sentenced him to death.

[Helly Angel]

Thank you.

[Grisu]

One thing that just struck me and that I have never asked myself before: Why did Ludin outlast the night of the long knives relatively unscathed? It has been repeatedly claimed that Hitler quite favoured him -- can anyone affirm this? And if this is true, why was it the case? Would be great if someone had background information on that.

[Michael Miller]

Regarding Hitler's affinity for Ludin, probably goes back to the episode described in the following, from http://www.urban-renaissance.org/urbanr ... Weimar.pdf :

Scheringer and Ludin
But party politics was already infecting the army, For instance, there was the celebrated case of Richard Scheringer and Hans Ludin, two young lieutenants brought to trial for passing out Nazi propaganda in their 5th Artillery Regiment at Ulm. These young soldiers, like many others, were fighting the grinding monotony of garrison life. Beside that, they knew that many people in the Republic, despised them as bearers of arms. But Hitler offered glory, freedom, a national resurgence and an expanded army. This restored a sense of hope and the promise of quick promotions, something that the limited Versailles army could never offer them. Scheringer and Ludin were arrested in March 1930. The event caused a sensation all over Germany and particularly within the Army. They were tried by the Leipzig Supreme Court on a charge of high treason. However, both of them were defiant in proclaiming that the struggle for
liberation would always remain the ultimate goal of the Reichswehr. Many officers, including the regimental colonel, Ludwig Beck, later a leader in the resistance to Hitler, openly expressed their sympathy with these young soldier-politicians. Hitler himself was called as a witness during the trial. He cleverly used the court for a propaganda platform. He was bent on making
the army realize that the was indispensable to them. To maintain the unity of the Reich and their own interests they must support and not oppose him.
Hitler's dramatic performance at Leipzig on September 25 was a masterpiece of intellectual dishonesty, a tour de force in the reconciliation of legality with illegality. ''When we come to power," he promised, "the Reichswehr shall rise to become the great army of the people." It was responsible for the destiny of the people and it must therefore be the supporter of the völkisch idea. The SA or Storm Troops, which some army leaders feared as a future competitor, Hitler
explained away as only an instrument for the protection of National Socialist propaganda. They carried no arms and had no military character, according to Hitler, since the movement did not require violence. But during cross-examination he admitted that violence might come in the process of eliminating the November criminalsby which he meant those responsible for the
revolution of 1918 and the establishment of the Republic. This was about as plain as you could get about Hitler's intentions and it created a sensation
around the world, but the Supreme Court refused to challenge it. Eventually Hitler sacrificed the two lieutenants by disavowing them for the greater glory of his party and movement. Many senior officers were impressed by Hitler's Leipzig speech. It is a movement of youth, they said, and cannot be stopped. The Leipzig trial also revealed the disturbing conflict of loyalty among
junior officers, between their real ideals and their outward commitment to defend the Republic. The officer corps began to realize that a new situation had arisen. The Nazi Party after the 1930 election was too powerful to be used as a mere tool of the Reichswehr . If they wished to utilize the party, their approach must be on the basis of negotiation with a potential ally over whom
only an indirect control could be exercised. As a group the army officers believed that the Reichswehr would always be where the strongest national interests were. It would be a shame, therefore, to have to fire on these splendid youths within the SA.

More references to Ludin and the trial appear at:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... id=googlep

http://www.kds.esmartweb.com/gegenang/geg_02/ludin.htm

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanns_Ludin


http://www.berlinonline.de/berliner-zei ... azin/0001/

http://www.shoa.de/content/view/623/46/ (Note: Photo captioned "Dieter Wisliceny" actually shows that criminal's brother, the distinguished Waffen-SS regimental commander Günther Eberhard Wisliceny; see http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=5470 )

[Helly Angel]

very ilustrative Michael as usual!! thanks very much man.

David Thompson and you are my candidates to "Moderator of the year"!!!