Hans Hauck

Hans Hauck (1920-2003) was an Afro-German who served in the Wehrmacht during the Nazi regime in Germany.

Hans was born in Frankfurt in 1920. He was the son of an Algerian soldier of black descent serving in the French Army. In 1933 he joined the Hitler Youth while living in Saarland (not integrated into Germany at that time). An SS officer helped get him work on the railway. During 1935 or 1936 Hauck was sterilised under the Nazi racial purity measures.

In 1939 he was declared "unworthy" to join the Army when he went through the conscription process. Following an unsuccessful suicide attempt in 1941, Hauck joined the Wehrmacht the following year. His father had a friend who had been a leader with the Hitler Youth and who arranged matters so that Hans Hauck did not have to pass the racial purity test conducted by the SA on recruits to the army. He attributed his survival of the Nazi regime to his service in the Army. He made "Private first Class" within five months. Hauck was wounded five times, and captured by the Red Army in 1945 and released in 1949.