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Hans Brenner (* 1927)

• he was born on February 1st, 1927 in Zschopau

• his father was a teacher and member of the NSDAP, his mother was a member of a Nazi women’s association

• he started school in 1933 and went to primary school for five years

• in 1938, he started secondary school

• in 1939, he was sent to the Adolf-Hitler-school in Sonthofen

• later, he transferred to the Adolf-Hitler-school in Pirna to finish his High School diploma

• in 1943, he worked as an assistant at an anti-aircraft gun (flak) for a year

• afterwards, he was sent to Sonthofen again, where he received training to become an assistant art teacher

• October 1944 – January 1945, he was in basic military training for the infantry division “Großdeutschland”

• he was positioned in Northern Germany where he got taken prisoner-of-war

• he was sent to a British prisoner-of-war-camp in Belgium

• after the detainment in a British prisoner-of-war-camp, he was released to the British occupation zone

• he travelled to the Soviet occupation zone, where he was detained for another 2 weeks in a Soviet releasing-camp

• he returned home to Zschopau and started working in the expediting department of the Zschopau cotton-spinning mill, where he packed up and lifted crates

• a few months later, he was recruited as primary school teacher even though he had no proper training

• he retired in 1990

• he conducted extensive research about National Socialism in Germany and in 2018, he published a textbook about Nazi terror in Saxony

We spoke with Hans Brenner, who was born on February 1st, 1927 in Zschopau, a small town in the mountains Erzgebirge.

Hans Brenner grew up as middle child in a family of five. His father taught at a vocational college and while his mother was mainly a housewife, she occasionally worked as substitute teacher as well. When the Nazis seized power, Hans Brenner’s father felt pressured to join the National Socialist Party (NSDAP), in order to keep his job. While his wife did not join the NSDAP, she was active in a Nazi women’s association.

In 1933, Hans Brenner started school in his hometown Zschopau. He went to primary school for five years, as was usual back then. He then continued his education at a regular secondary school, until he was selected for the Adolf-Hitler-school in Sonthofen in 1939. The Adolf-Hitler-schools were under the patronage of Reichsorganisationsleiter (“National Organisation Leader”) Robert Ley and Reichsjugendführer (“National Youth Leader”) Baldur von Schirach. Their goal was to select, train and indoctrinate a new elite who could lead the Nazi party and the country in the future. These schools were same-sex boarding schools, where a big focus was put on physical exercise. To finish his high school diploma, Hans Brenner transferred from the Adolf-Hitler-school in Sonthofen to the one in Pirna. This school was located close to the Sonnenstein Euthanasia Centre, where people with disabilities or mental disorders were systematically murdered. Hans Brenner still remembers the smell from the crematorium where the corpses were burned.

When the tide of the war changed for Germany in 1942 and more and more cities fell victim to air-raids, the German army recruited schoolboys to assist at anti-aircraft guns, so-called “flaks”. In this context, Hans Brenner was stationed at Bremen, in the Flak Division 1 as gun pointer. His job was to adjust the flak in order to target approaching aircrafts. At the time, he did not reflect on his actions – he simply wanted to do his best. He vividly recalls an episode, where he and his fellow cannoneers successfully shot down a British bomber. Since he had pointed the gun and thus targeted the aircraft, Hans Brenner assumed that he would get the honours. To his disappointment, it was not him, a mere assistant, not even a soldier, but the commanding corporal who was decorated with the Iron Cross, 2nd class. The only thing he sustained after a year at the flak, was a severe hearing impairment.

After serving at the Flak Division 1 for a year, Hans Brenner was summoned to Sonthofen again. There he was supposed to participate in a training course that would prepare him to become an assistant art teacher. He was selected for this course because he was a former student of the then renowned Adolf-Hitler-schools and because he had distinguished himself in his schooldays with his artistic talent. He received a cultural education, which also included a trip to Prague where he and the other students visited historic monuments and viewed important works of art. But the war did not stop at the school gate. Hans Brenner’s instructor was only stationed at the school because he had lost his leg in battle and was therefore declared unfit for action. And before he could finish his course, Hans Brenner got drafted to the Wehrmacht.

From October 1944 until January 1945, he completed a basic military training in Cottbus. He was assigned to the infantry division “Großdeutschland”, at 17 years old. Hans Brenner’s unit was stationed in Northern Germany, close to the Dutch border. Here, they fought the approaching British army while retreating further and further to the southeast. One day, when the unit was situated between a forest and a range of open fields, that were surrounded by hedges, they expected a British attack. In order to prepare, the soldiers had to dig foxholes, where they could seek cover. Hans Brenner remembers digging a particularly deep hole that day. Most of his comrades situated themselves on the edge of the forest, but Hans Brenner was in front of them, a bit further in the fields. At nine or ten o’clock in the morning, the British forces sent a reconnaissance aircraft that located the German positions. Then, the British forces used smoke grenades to mask the movements of their tanks, as the artillery targeted the German positions. Hans Brenner’s unit had expected the British tanks to move across the open field, but got surprised when they burst out of the hedges bordering the individual fields. One tank came out of the hedge right next to Hans Brenner. Before he could duck his head, the tank passed his foxhole so closely, that all the sand and gravel slid into the hole, trapping the young soldier.

Hans Brenner remained quiet, hoping to fly below the radar of the British forces. He moved his legs, so that the sand slid off and he would be able to crawl out of his foxhole. His plan was to wait for nightfall to come out of his position and escape to the east. So after the sun had set, he took off his helmet to avoid the glint of the metal, and cautiously lifted his head. As soon as he did, he heard a voice saying, “Come out, f*****g bastard!”. He turned his head and saw a British soldier standing behind him, pointing his machine pistol at him. So Hans Brenner crawled out of his foxhole and was patted down by the British soldier. While doing so, the British soldier found Hans Brenner’s watch, a family heirloom that his uncle had already worn in World War I. The British soldier took it for himself, adding it to numerous watches, that he presumably took from other German prisoners of war. Afterwards, Hans Brenner was brought to the nearby forest, where a dozen of his comrades already sat in a line, all now British prisoners. They were surprised to see him alive, as they had assumed, he had been run over by the tank that trapped him in his foxhole. The British forces made a list with their captives’ names and then sent them on an open wagon to a prisoner-of-war-camp in Belgium, where they spent the remainder of the war.

In 1646, Hans Brenner was released from his detainment. As he had been a British prisoner-of-war, he was released into the British occupation zone in Germany. Now he was faced with the problem that his family lived in the Soviet occupation zone and border crossings were not intended. Between border posts, Hans Brenner sneaked into the Soviet occupation zone. Here, he had to spend another two weeks in a Soviet releasing-camp near Hoyerswerda. The living conditions were severe, as the detained suffered from malnutrition and insufficient hygienic conditions in the bug-ridden, wooden barracks that they had to live in.

After spending two weeks in this camp, Hans Brenner received a certificate of discharge and was allowed to take a train home to Zschopau, where his parents still lived. As former member of the NSDAP, Hans Brenner’s father was originally not intended to continue working as a teacher. However, there was a big shortage of teachers, which is why he was reinstalled after a short period of time. At first, he was transferred to a school in a neighbouring town, but as an old injury from World War I caused him troubles walking, he got his old post at the school in Zschopau again. There he taught shorthand and got later promoted to school principal. He stayed in this position until he retired.

Because Hans Brenner had only ever been a student and a soldier, he could not find any work as skilled worker after his return to Zschopau. So instead, he worked in the expediting department of the local cotton-spinning mill. There, he packed up crates full of spools of thread, weighed them and prepared them for the pickup. This was physically demanding but dull work, for which he was paid only a fraction of the regular wage, because he was under 21, thus counting as a minor and therefore only receiving a minor’s wage. One day, the district school inspector visited the mill. Because Hans Brenner knew the school inspector’s son, he was recognised by him. The school inspector encouraged him, to become a Neulehrer – a possibility to become a teacher without any proper training because the Soviet occupation zone was in dire need of teachers. The next day, Hans Brenner stood in front of a class of over forty second graders and was supposed to teach them. He stayed a teacher for 43 years, until his retirement. After his retirement, Hans Brenner started to do research, specifically about Nazi terror in Saxony. In 2018, he published a book titled “NS-Terror und Verfolgung in Sachsen – Von den frühen Konzentrationslagern bis zu den Todesmärschen” (“Nazi terror in Saxony – from early concentration camps to the death marches”). For this critical appraisal of the German past, he received the Order of Merit of the Free State of Saxony in 2021.