This Date in History: August 9

 

Dr. Otto Wagener, confidant to Adolf Hitler and head of the Economic Policy Section of the Nazi Party 1929-1933, born April 29, 1888 in Durlach/Baden, member of the Reichstag, spent 7 years in British and Italian internment, died on August 9, 1971 in Chieming am Chiemsee, on Adolf Hitler: “…Hitler was so naïve that he saw only what was good in others.  He could see the bad only when it was obvious; but even then, he judged it bad only if it limited or damaged the freedom of his thoughts and the pursuit of his aims.”  (2,000 Quotes From Hitler’s 1,000-Year Reich)

**********

Herbert A. Kleinbeck, Jr. (Army Service Number 16100440,) a Technician Fifth Grade and assistant hangman to Master Sergeant John C. Woods for the execution of William C. Downes on February 28, 1945 at Étienville, Finistere, France, was born on August 9, 1920 in Chicago, Illinois.  He was single, had one year of college at the University of Illinois and was also trained as an apprentice tool and die maker.  Kleinbeck, who listed his residence as Elmhurst, Illinois, was inducted in Chicago on August 14, 1942.  He stood 5’10” tall and weighed 164 pounds.  After basic training, he attended military police school, where he trained as a clerk, light truck driver and motor dispatcher.  Discharged from the Army at Fort Sheridan, Illinois on December 24, 1945, for his service, he was awarded the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal and the Good Conduct Medal.  (American Hangman, MSgt. John C. Woods: The United States Army’s Notorious Executioner in World War II and Nürnberg)