Litten, Hans (1903-1938): correspondence (microfilm) - AIM25

Identity area

Reference code

GB 1556 WL 572

Title

Litten, Hans (1903-1938): correspondence (microfilm)

Date(s)

1933-1938 (Creation)

Level of description

Collection

Extent and medium

356 frames

Context area

Name of creator

Litten , Irmgard

Biographical history

Hans Litten, the son of a Jewish father and a protestant mother was born in 1903 in Halle an der Saale. Despite his interest in art and music, he commenced his studies in law at the beginning of the 1920s. In 1928, having qualified, he began his career as a lawyer in Berlin. He worked closely with Ludwig Barbasch, lawyer for the 'Rote Hilfe', legal support group for the German Communist Party.

Litten became renowned for his defence of workers in the infamous 1931 'Edelpalast' trial, in which he sought to demonstrate how the deaths and injuries which occurred as the result of a group of Nazi stormtroopers attacking a gathering of workers, was the result of a deliberate policy of violence. He called Hitler as a witness in this trial.

On the night of 28 February 1933 he was one of the first to be arrested in a purge of political undesirables in the aftermath of the Reichstag fire. He was imprisoned in the following prisons and concentration camps: an SA Kaserne in Moabit, Sonnenberg, Esterwege, Lichtenburg, Buchenwald and Dachau. During this period he was tortured and he made several suicide attempts, finally succeeding on 5 February 1938 whilst in Dachau.

Throughout the period of his incarceration, his mother, Irmgard Litten, made every effort to get him released, writing to the Gestapo, the commandant of various camps, Göring, Hess all to no avail.

Repository

Wiener Library

Archival history

GB 1556 WL 572 1933-1938 collection 356 frames Litten , Irmgard

Hans Litten, the son of a Jewish father and a protestant mother was born in 1903 in Halle an der Saale. Despite his interest in art and music, he commenced his studies in law at the beginning of the 1920s. In 1928, having qualified, he began his career as a lawyer in Berlin. He worked closely with Ludwig Barbasch, lawyer for the 'Rote Hilfe', legal support group for the German Communist Party.

Litten became renowned for his defence of workers in the infamous 1931 'Edelpalast' trial, in which he sought to demonstrate how the deaths and injuries which occurred as the result of a group of Nazi stormtroopers attacking a gathering of workers, was the result of a deliberate policy of violence. He called Hitler as a witness in this trial.

On the night of 28 February 1933 he was one of the first to be arrested in a purge of political undesirables in the aftermath of the Reichstag fire. He was imprisoned in the following prisons and concentration camps: an SA Kaserne in Moabit, Sonnenberg, Esterwege, Lichtenburg, Buchenwald and Dachau. During this period he was tortured and he made several suicide attempts, finally succeeding on 5 February 1938 whilst in Dachau.

Throughout the period of his incarceration, his mother, Irmgard Litten, made every effort to get him released, writing to the Gestapo, the commandant of various camps, Göring, Hess all to no avail.

Litten family

Correspondence of Irmgard Litten, mother of the lawyer Hans Litten (1903-1938), regarding attempts to secure his release from prison, including a letter dated 11 February 1938 from Dachau, containing a list Hans Litten's personal effects.

Chronological

Open

Copies can be made for personal use. Permission must be sought for publication.
German

Microfilm

Description exists to this archive on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk

Wiener Collection, Tel Aviv University, Israel.

Litten, Irmgard, A Mother fights Hitler, (George Allen and Unwin, 1941)

Entry compiled by Howard Falksohn. Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997. October 2007 Administration of justice Antisemitism Buchenwald concentration camp Civil and political rights Concentration camps Dachau concentration camp Humanitarian law Human rights Legal procedure Lichtenburg concentration camp Litten , Hans Achim , 1903-1938 , lawyer Nazism Political doctrines Political prisoners Racial discrimination Third Reich Totalitarianism War crimes

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Litten family

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Correspondence of Irmgard Litten, mother of the lawyer Hans Litten (1903-1938), regarding attempts to secure his release from prison, including a letter dated 11 February 1938 from Dachau, containing a list Hans Litten's personal effects.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Chronological

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Open

Conditions governing reproduction

Copies can be made for personal use. Permission must be sought for publication.

Language of material

English

Script of material

Latin

Language and script notes

German

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

Description exists to this archive on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

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Related descriptions

Publication note

Notes area

Note

Alternative identifier(s)

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