Hans Fleischhacker

Hans Fleischhacker (10 March 1912 in Töttleben, Erfurt – 1992) was a German anthropologist with the Ahnenerbe and a Schutzstaffel Obersturmführer.

After studying at the University of Jena and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich Fleischhacker went to work at the Institute of Racial Research in Tübingen in 1937, joining the SS at the same time. In 1940 he also joined both the Nazi Party and the Waffen-SS.

Before long Fleischhacker saw service with the SS-Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt. Following the invasion of Poland he was sent to Litzmannstadt as part of this group in order to perform measurements on ethnic Germans and determine whether they were suitable for resettlement programmes in the east or simply for forced labour. His main base of operations was at Łódź.

In 1942 Fleischhacker was, along with Heinrich Rübel, chosen by Bruno Beger to work with him in an SS project to determine the racial type applicable to the Mountain Jews of the Caucasus, a group that did not readily fit the Nazi's existing ethnic paradigms. Fleischhacker was chosen for this task due to a thesis he was preparing at the time dealing with skin colour amongst Jews. The following year he worked again with Beger, this time at Auschwitz concentration camp where again his duty was to measure physical features of the inmates in order to determine to which race they belonged.

After the Second World War Fleischhacker was held in various internment camps until appearing before the board of arbitration in 1948, where he was designated Mitläufer - not a fully committed Nazi but one who nonetheless went along with Nazism. He was able to return to anthropological research at the Goethe University Frankfurt in November 1950 and subsequently also worked as a researcher and lecturer at the University of El Salvador, Tübingen Anthropology Institute and back at Frankfurt until 1968.

Along with Beger and Wolf-Dietrich Wolff Fleischhacker came under investigation for his time at Auschwitz. A case was not brought against the men until 1970. Ultimately the case against him was dismissed the following year as there was insufficient evidence to prove that he knew he was involved in extermination and only Beger was convicted.