Hans Hutzelmann was born on May 29, 1906 in Munich. He was the son of the postal clerk Michael Hutzelmann and his wife Rosa. He became a machine builder and worked as an assembler in the Munich engineering factory of the Friedrich Deckel AG. In 1923 he met Emma Holleis; a year later a son, Herbert, was born. Hans and Emma Hutzelmann paid little attention to conventions and first married in 1937. The family moved into Margaretenstraße 18 in 1925. Together with his wife Emma and friends, Hans Hutzelmann founded the “Antinazistische Deutsche Volksfront” (ADV, “Anti-Nazi People’s Front”) in August 1943. The main goals were to form an alliance with other resistance groups and overthrow the Nazi dictatorship. The group also supported the Russian underground movement “Bratskoje Sotrudnitschestwo Wojennoplennych” (BSW, “Brotherly Union of POWs”). Several secret meetings took place in Margaretenstraße 18. Infiltrated by an informer, the cover of the BSW was blown and in the following wave of arrests the members of the ADV were also detained. Although not part of the resistance group, Hans Hutzelmann’s brothers- and sisters-in-law were arrested: Ludwig, Andreas, and Rosa Holleis and Dora Eckstein. Hans Hutzelmann was tortured while in custody. Dora Eckstein later recalled that, brought face to face with him at an interrogation, he was beaten black and blue and covered in blood. On December 8, 1944 the Volksgerichtshof (People’s Court) sentenced Hans Hutzelmann to death. Following the verdict he was sent to Brandenburg-Görden prison. In his last letter, dated January 15, 1945, he wrote: “It’s now 11 in the morning, and today, at 2 in the afternoon, I’ll enter eternity.” Hans Hutzelmann was executed by guillotine on January 15, 1945. His wife Emma Hutzelmann also did not live to see the end of the war: although she successfully escaped from Stadelheim prison, she was then killed on November 27, 1944, when her hideout was hit during an air raid. (text Peter Hutzelmann, editor C. Fritsche, translation P. Bowman)
