Hans Georg Calmeyer
Hans Georg Calmeyer was born on June 23rd, 1903 in Osnabrueck, Germany and died in September 1972. As a lawyer, he was able to save thousands of Jews from certain death during the German occupation of the Netherlands in the years 1941 until 1945.
Calmeyer studied Law in Freiburg/Breisgau, Marburg and Munich. In 1923, as a member of “The Rightwing Freikorps" (Reichswehr), he took part in Hitler’s attempted Putsch. Later, he opened his law practice in Osnabrueck where he enjoyed an excellent reputation as a lawyer.
In 1933 his license to practice law was revoked because of his activity and leaning towards Communist lines of thought. Ten months later his license was reinstated once he had joined the National Socialist Motor Compound. He was also a member of the Federation of the National Socialist German Lawyers, but not the NSDAP(National Sozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter Partei).
In 1940 Calmeyer served as a soldier, a member of an Air Defense news bureau, and took part in the invasion of the Netherlands by the German Army. 1941 he was active in the Reich's Commissioner's (Reichskommissariat) Office in charge of all occupied districts in the Netherlands. While there, Calmeyer was appointed Director for the Interior Administration, which handled the Jewish Department, thus enabling Calmeyer, as an administrative lawyer, to clear ambiguous Jewish cases for the German occupational administration in The Hague.
Unlike the policy in Germany, people of Jewish descent could express their doubt about being registered as "full blooded Jews" by documenting and showing proof of ancestry through word of mouth and birth certificates as being "half-Jewish", "quarter-Jewish", or of Arian descent. Calmeyer described how he used his position to help in his own words: "To build a lifeboat." He accepted falsified papers of ancestry which documented the subject person as Arian or "half- Jewish". He also gave hints and advice on many different stratagems and excuses. Despite warnings from the Nazi Regime, he continued his work.
Approximately 5,700 individual were designated as doubtful cases through Calmeyer’s office, and at least 3,700 of these people were spared certain death. Yet the decision of dubious cases concerning the remaining 2,000 individuals were the equivalent to a death sentence, sharing the fate of 140,000 Jews transported by the Germans to various concentration camps for extermination. Seventy-five percent of them died on the way to their final destination.
According to a description of Calmeyer by the German Bundespresident Johannes Rau: "Calmeyer joined the ranks of human beings who helped, but who were also guilty of being caught up in the unjustifiable wrongdoings of the regime". His work was almost forgotten until an movement to honor him came about during the 1980s. On March 4th, 1992, Yad Vashem honored Hans Calmeyer posthumously with the title "A Just Man Among Nations". On January 2nd, 1995 the town of Osnabrueck awarded Calmeyer its highest award posthumously: "The Moesermedaille". Present at the ceremony were his son Dr. Peter Calmeyer and the Ambassador of Israel, Avi Primor.
Literature: Joachim Castan/Thomas (Hg):Hans Calmeyer and the Rescue of the Jews in the Netherlands; Cataloge for the exhibition, same title. Goettingen:V&Runipress 2003 ISBN 3-389971-122X(optimum introduction of the topic.)
Peter Niebaum: A Just Man among Peoples. Hans Calmeyer in his time (1903-19720 Published by Rolf Duesterberg, Siegfried Hummel and Tilman Westphalen. Branch:Rash Publishing 2003 (2 corrected and extended editions) ISBN2-89946-002-2
Internet: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans Georg Calmeyer
Categories: Man/German/Person (Osnabrueck) Member-Freikorps/ Just Man among Peoples/ born 1903/Died 1972