Correspondence with Alexander, Hanns

Identifier
3000/9/1/54
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
File
Languages
  • English
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

2 letters

Biographical History

Hanns Alexander (1917-2006) was a British merchant of Jewish-German descent. His family had fled to England in the mid-1930s. With the beginning of the war Hanns joined the Royal Army. As a member of its War Crimes Investigation Team he tracked down and arrested Gustav Simon (1945) as well as Rudolf Höss (1946). Later Alexander worked as a banker in London. See Harding, Th., , London, William Heinemann, 2013.

Scope and Content

Correspondence regarding the donation of a piece of tattooed human skin to The Wiener Library. According to the donor, who had obtained it by the minister of justice of Luxemburg in 1945, the piece was one of four items used by a Ms. Koch to produce a lampshade in Dachau concentration camp.

Conditions Governing Access

open

Process Info

  • The production of lampshades from human skin refers presumably to Buchenwald concentration camp rather than Dachau. Additionally, the name 'Koch' refers most likely to Ilse Koch, wife of the first commandant of Buchenwald.

People

  • Koch, Ilse
  • Alexander, Hanns

Subjects

Places

  • Third Reich [1933-1945]
This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.