Heinrich Heinz

Heinrich Heinz was a German Nazi officer during World War II. He fought for the Germans in France, until he was caught hiding Holocaust victims in the attic of his house. He was sent to the front lines at Omaha Beach, and was killed there.

Biography

Heinrich was born on June 28, 1920, in Hamburg, Germany. He was born into a Germany still suffering under depression, and his parents, Fritz Heinz and Maria Heinz, struggled to give Heinrich the best in life.

Heinrich was horrified at the amount of pain his parents went through to give him a quality life. At an early age, he quit his education and began working in a textile factory. Enraged at the terrible working hours and quality of his workspace, Heinrich joined a rising political party: The Nazi's. Heinrich very quickly rose through the ranks, and by 1939, he became a Oberdienstleiter, or Senior Service leader.

When the war started in 1940, Heinrich commanded a small group of 10 in the invasion of Poland. He was awarded several distinctions, among them the Iron Cross which he earned through bravery in battle. While being transferred to the western front to fight the French, he was momentarily stationed at Auschwitz. Horrified by the treatment of the Jews, Heinrich made it a point to be lenient to the Jews kept there. For two months, Heinrich slowly earned the name that was spoken only in whispers by the Jewish community: "Die Bewundernswerte Wache" (the Admirable Guard).

When he finally arrived at France, he made it his personal business to hide fugitive Jews in the Attic of his temporary home, given to him by the Nazi army.

Fueled by rumors of hidden Jews, the Schutzstaffel (Hitler's elite soldiers) broke into his temporary house, and found the Jews he had hidden in the Attic.

Heinrich was taken to court, and rather than sentence him to death in the concentration camps, Hitler saw fit to send him to the front lines at the place where American Forces would soon land, Omaha Beach.

When the Allies landed on June 6, 1944, Heinrich was killed, and given a dishonorable burial in his hometown of Hamburg.

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