Heinrich Andergassen

Heinrich or Heinz Andergassen (* July 30, 1908 in Hall, Tyrol, Austro-Hungarian Empire – † July 26, 1946 in Livorno, Italy) was an SS officer who was a convicted war criminal and executed for the torture and murder of seven Allied prisoners of war. He was a SS-Sturmscharführer[1] and later an SS-Untersturmführer in Northern Italy.

Andergassen during his trial in Naples, Jan., 15, 1946

Origin

Parents were local police officer August Andergassen and his wife Maria. A grandfather was Franz Alexander Andergassen, originally from Kaltern an der Weinstrasse/Caldaro sulla Strada del Vino, Italy. Andergassen was single and presumably didn't became a father[2]. He was resident in Innsbruck, Hall and Volders, close to Gauleiter Hofers so called Lachhof[3] estate.[4]

Laufbahn

Andergassen has been educated as a machinist at Swarowski in Wattens. In 1929 he voluntarily joined the Army and has been trained at Viennese Arsenal. In 1937 he was appointed Gendarm. After Anschluss he got NSDAP member, and became active with Gestapo.[5] At German occupation of Czechoslovakian Sudetenland in October 1938 he served in a 100-strong police unit. Then he started career as a Gestapo officer in Innsbruck.[6] After German occupation of Italy, Andergassen served as an officer at SD Merano, where is was responsible for the arrest of the still in Merano living Jewish Tyrolean. Finally in Bozen/Bolzano he served at Sicherheitspolizei.

Manlio Longon

Dec. 15, 1944 SS captured Manlio Longon Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale leader of the Italian Resistance Alto Adige. On order of August Schiffer Longon was tortured and hanged by Andergassen and Storz at Army Corps Bolzano on Jan. 1, 1945.[7]

Roderick Stephen Hall

Jan. 26, 1945 the OSS Captain Roderick Stephen Hall[8], who had been active in occupied Italy for some months was captured by the SS in Cortina d’Ampezzo and forced to Gestapo Bolzano/Bozen. In Febr. 19, 1945 Roderick Stephen Hall has been tortured and killed by Andergassen and SS-Oberscharführer Albert Storz on orders of SS-Sturmbannführer August Schiffer.[9]

USA Military Tribunal

April 30, 1945 Andergassen, together with Schiffer and Storz as a driver, fled from the approaching American armed forces in a black Mercedes to Brennero.[10] May 8 he was captured by the 206th Counterintelligence Corp outside Innsbruck[11] Schiffer, Storz and him were accused as War Criminals. At their US-Military Tribunal trial in Naples Heinz Andergassen made voluntarily declaration that homicide of Roderick Hall was approved by highest NAZI authorities.[12]. Jan. 26, 1946 Andergassen, Schiffer and Storz were sentenced to death by hanging for torturings and killings of Roderick Stephen Hall, four other American and two British soldiers.[13] July 26, 1946 Andergassen was executed at an US-Army Camp close to Pisa.[14]

Postwar Reception

Province of Bolzano/ Provinz Bozen Criminal Investigation Department Commissioner Arthur Schuster put the War Criminal in charge of being "the incarnation of sadism and brutality; he was incredibly blood-thirsty, especially when under the influence of strong drink, for which he had a great fondness, and was encouraged in all his excesses by his superior", this being August Schiffer. [15] Nowadays research results show up that NAZIs preferentially consumed Pervertin (Stuka-Tablets, Herman-Göring-Pills) rather than alcohol. In a new manifestation (Crystal Meth[16]) it became a public health issue again suppositionally not only in Post-Fall of the Wall parts of Eastern Germany[17] and the Czech Republic.

Bibliography
  • O'Donnell, Patrick K.: The Brenner Assignment: The Untold Story of the Most Daring Spy Mission of World War II. Philadelphia: Da Capo, 2008. Oct. 28, 2019
  • O'Donnell, Patrick K.: The Dared Return: The True Story of Jewish Spies Behind the Lines in Nazi Germany. Philadelphia: Da Capo, 2009. Oct. 28, 2019
  • Steinacher, Gerald: In der Bozner Zelle erhängt …: Roderick Hall — Einziges Ein-Mann-Unternehmen des amerikanischen Kriegsgeheimdienstes in Südtirol" (1999). Oct. 27, 2019
  • Steinacher, Gerald: Südtirol und die Geheimdienste 1943-1945, Innsbrucker Forschungen zur Zeitgeschichte, Bd. 15, Innsbruck (u.a.) 2000, pp. 247–251, 255–270.
  • Agostini, Piero; Romeo, Carlo [Hrsg.]: Trentino e Alto Adige: province del Reich. Temi, 2002. S. 270
  • Beimrohr, Wilfried: Die Gestapo in Tirol und Vorarlberg. In: Tiroler Heimat. Jahrb. f. Gesch. und Volksk., Innsbruck: 2000. S. 225
  • Giacomozzi, Carla; Paleari, Giuseppe: Il Lager di Bolzano. Immagini e documenti / NS-Lager Bozen. Bilder und Dokumente. Bozen: 2008-2009. p. 170. Oct. 27, 2019
  • Lun, Margareth: NS-Herrschaft in Südtirol. Innsbruck: Studien, 2004. S. 146, 338, 545
  • Salter, Michael: Nazi War Crimes, US Intelligence and Selective Prosecution at Nuremberg, p. 111
  • Stepanek, Friedrich [Hrsg.]: Carmella Flöck, ...und träumte, ich wäre frei. Eine Tirolerin im Frauenkonzentrationslager... Innsbruck: Tyrolia, 2012. S. 54ff. ISBN 978-3-7022-3217-7. Oct. 27, 2019

Sources
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References
  1. Salter, Michael Nazi War Crimes, US Intelligence and Selective Prosecution at Nuremberg, p. 111
  2. German Federal Archives. Heinrich Andergassen. Documents.CV
  3. AufBauWerk. Unternehmen für junge Menschen. Volders/Lachhof Oct. 29, 2019
  4. DerStandard. Wissenschaft. Welt. Der Hofer war's. 10.09.2002.11:54. Oct. 29, 2019
  5. German Federal Archives. Heinrich Andergassen. Documents. CV
  6. German Federal Archives. Heinrich Andergassen. Documents. CV
  7. Agostini, Piero; Romeo, Carlo [Hrsg.]: Trentino e Alto Adige: province del Reich. Temi, 2002. S. 270
  8. CIA. 2010 Featured Story Archive. Roderick Stephen Hall: The Saboteur of Brenner Pass
  9. Quibble, Anthony. Fall 1967: 4-41-1: Roderick "Steve" Hall (An Alpine Tragedy During the Last Convulsions of World War II). Fall 1967: 4-41-1. Oct. 28, 2019
  10. O'Donnell, Patrick K.: The Brenner Assignment... Philadelphia: Da Capo, 2008. p. 213
  11. O'Donnell. p. 233
  12. Kerstin von: Conspiracy of Silence: How the „Old Boys“ of American Intelligence Shielded SS General Karl Wolff from Prosecution. In: Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Vol. 22.1. 2008. p. 74- 109. Oct. 27, 2019
  13. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park. Photo Defendant Heinrich Andergassen confers with the interpreter for the defense during his trial as an accused war criminal. Oct. 27, 2019
  14. New York Times, 1946, July 27. p. 5. 3 S.S. Officers Hanged.
  15. CIA. Historical Review Program. Release in Full Sept. 22, 1993. Roderick "Steve" Hall. Oct. 27, 2019
  16. National Institute on Drug Abuse. DrugFacts. What is methamphetamine?
  17. MDR Mitteldeutsches Fernsehen. Kokain des Ostens - Crystal Meth in Mitteldeutschland. Oct. 29,2019


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