Hajo Herrmann

Hans-Joachim "Hajo" Herrmann (1 August 1913 – 5 November 2010)[1][2] was a World War II Luftwaffe pilot and officer and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords.

Hans-Joachim Herrmann
Hajo Herrmann in January 1944
Nickname(s)Hajo
Born(1913-08-01)1 August 1913
Kiel, Kingdom of Prussia
Died5 November 2010(2010-11-05) (aged 97)
Düsseldorf, Germany
Allegiance Nazi Germany
Service/branch Luftwaffe
Years of service1935–45
RankOberst
UnitKG 4
KG 30
JG 300
Battles/warsSpanish Civil War

World War II

AwardsKnight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords
Spouse(s)Ingeborg Reichelt
Other workLawyer

After the war Hermann became a Nazi activist and lawyer whose high-profile cases included the defence of neo-Nazis and genocide deniers while simultaneously promoting denial and the movement's organisations.

Military career

Hermann began his military career as an infantry officer, but was commissioned into the newly formed Luftwaffe (air force) in 1935. From 1936 until 1937 he was a bomber pilot in Condor Legion in the Spanish Civil War.

Early in World War II, Hermann flew bombing missions in the Invasion of Poland and Norwegian Campaign. By 1940 he was Commander of the 7th Staffel of KG 4 and took part in the Battle of Britain.

In February 1941 his group was transferred to Sicily, from where it attacked Malta then fought in the Battle of Greece. In one attack Herrmann sank the ammunition ship Clan Fraser in the Port of Piraeus.[3] The explosion sank 11 ships and made the Greek port unusable for many months.

In July 1942 he was assigned to the general staff in Germany, where he became a confidant of Luftwaffe commander Hermann Göring. In 1942 Herrmann was appointed to the Luftwaffe Operational Staff. He played a role in the creation of night fighter wing Jagdgeschwader 300 in response to the night raids of Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command on Germany in mid-1943.

In December 1943 Herrmann was appointed Luftwaffe Inspector of Aerial Defence. By 1944 he was Inspector General of night fighters and received the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. At the end of 1944 he led the 9th Air Division.

Herrmann was a leading exponent of the tactical deployment of Rammjäger Sonderkommando Elbe (ram fighters), sent into action in April 1945. Suicide pilot volunteers, often aged 18 to 20, were to be trained only to be competent enough to control specially lightened and unarmoured Bf 109 fighters and bring down Allied bombers by ramming the tail or control surfaces with the propellers of their aircraft and bailing out if possible. Herrmann's intention was to gather a large number of these fighters for a one-off attack on the USAAF bomber formations in the hope of causing enough losses to curtail the bombing offensive for a few months. Fuel shortages prevented employment of the large numbers necessary, although from one mission of this type, on 7 April 1945, of the 120 fighters thus committed only 15 returned.[4]

Law career and Nazi activism

Herrmann surrendered to Soviet forces after the war, was held prisoner for 10 years and returned to Germany in 1955. Then he studied law and settled in Düsseldorf. He defended Otto Ernst Remer, the head of the neo-Nazi Socialist Reich Party and the Holocaust deniers David Irving and Fred A. Leuchter. Hermann's affinity for Remer, a committed Nazi and former Wehrmacht officer, was rooted in their mutual Holocaust denial activities.[5]

In 1959 Herrmann married the German soprano Ingeborg Reichelt. The couple had two children.[6]

Awards
gollark: It's a shame maglevs aren't more common.
gollark: Currently I'm watching a random YouTube video, looking at Discord, and managing my ebook library.
gollark: Listening to train noises all day is not, personally, my idea of interesting.
gollark: We already have had those.
gollark: I read some rough prediction that humanity has a 1 in 6 risk of being entirely wiped out in the next 100 years.

References

Citations
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 9 November 2010. Retrieved 7 November 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "Flieger, Ritterkreuzträger, Kamerad und Vorbild! – Wir gedenken Hajo Herrmann" (in German). National Democratic Party of Germany. 7 November 2010.
  3. Smith & Kay 1972, p. 405.
  4. Smith & Kay 1972, p. 492.
  5. Rembiszewski 1996, p. 30.
  6. "Hans-Joachim Herrmann". The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. 24 November 2010. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
  7. Berger 1999, p. 125.
  8. Thomas 1997, p. 275.
  9. Obermaier 1989, p. 34.
  10. Patzwall & Scherzer 2001, p. 181.
  11. Scherzer 2007, p. 385.

Bibliography
  • Berger, Florian (1999). Mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern [With Oak Leaves and Swords.] (in German). Vienna, Austria: Selbstverlag Florian Berger. ISBN 978-3-9501307-0-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Kaiser, Jochen (2010). Die Ritterkreuzträger der Kampfflieger—Band 1 [The Knight's Cross Bearers of the Bomber Fliers—Volume 1] (in German and English). Bad Zwischenahn, Germany: Luftfahrtverlag-Start. ISBN 978-3-941437-07-4.
  • Obermaier, Ernst (1989). Die Ritterkreuzträger der Luftwaffe Jagdflieger 1939 – 1945 [The Knight's Cross Bearers of the Luftwaffe Fighter Force 1939 – 1945] (in German). Mainz, Germany: Verlag Dieter Hoffmann. ISBN 978-3-87341-065-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Patzwall, Klaus D.; Scherzer, Veit (2001). Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 – 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II [The German Cross 1941 – 1945 History and Recipients Volume 2] (in German). Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall. ISBN 978-3-931533-45-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 [The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945] (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Militaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Smith, J.R.; Kay, A. (1972). German Aircraft of the Second World War. London: Putnam. ISBN 978-0-370-00024-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Thomas, Franz (1997). Die Eichenlaubträger 1939–1945 Band 1: A–K [The Oak Leaves Bearers 1939–1945 Volume 1: A–K] (in German). Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7648-2299-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Military offices
Preceded by
none		 Commander of Jagdgeschwader 300
June 1943 – 26 September 1943		 Succeeded by
Oberstleutnant Kurd Kettner
Preceded by
none		 Commander of 30. Jagd-Division
September 1943 – 16 March 1944		 Succeeded by
disbanded
Preceded by
Oberst Günther Lützow		 Commander of 1. Jagd-Division
23 March 1944 – 1 September 1944		 Succeeded by
Generalleutnant Kurt Kleinrath
Preceded by
none		 Commander of 9. Flieger-Division (J)
26 January 1945 – 8 May 1945		 Succeeded by
none
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