Paul Hacker: Nazi Dossier

Paul Hacker (1913–1979) NSDAP and SA Membership Records On April 13, 2020, I posted a message to the Religion in South Asia (RISA) Section of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) in which I referred to Paul Hacker (former Professor of Indology at the University of Münster) as “Nazi Indologist Paul Hacker.” Aleksandar Uskokov (Sanskrit lector, South Asian Studies Council, Yale University) promptly called for me to be “red carded” on the grounds that “labeling him [Hacker] ‘Nazi’ is just obnoxious name calling.” Antonia Ruppel (Lektorin in Sanskrit, Institut für Indologie und Tibetologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) immediately “seconded” the call. In order to clarify that my reference was intended merely as a statement of historical fact, I hurriedly uploaded the file containing Hacker’s Nazi documentation to https://www.academia.edu/42725519/Paul_Hacker_Nazi_Dossier. Since I had to respond immediately to Uskokov’s unexpected attack, I didn’t have the time to separate out materials. I have since done so. The materials here now relate only to Paul Hacker. For the Thieme materials see here: https://www.academia.edu/42749714/Paul_Thieme. For those who might not know what they are looking at, I append the following explanation. The Hacker materials consist of three parts: 1. NSDAP Gaukartei (NSDAP District Membership Card): Membership records for the NSDAP, consisting of a central and a district card (Zentralkartei and Gaukartei), were maintained in Munich. Fortunately, they escaped the wholesale destruction planned for them at the end of the War (however, it is estimated that only ca. 80% of them survived). Hacker’s Gaukartei lists his name, date and place of birth, and current address. His party membership number is 4612687 and date of admission is May 1, 1937 (these details are confirmed in his personal questionnaire; see the next point). The handwritten entry next to “Aufnahme beantragt am,” giving the date of application as 20.6.1937 is possibly an error. 2. Fragebogen für Parteimitglieder (Questionnaire for Party Members): This was a questionnaire all party members had to fill out for a party statistical survey (parteistatistische Erhebung) conducted in 1939. Besides submitting personal information, party members had to list their rank and cooperation with the party and its sub-organizations. The handwriting is almost certainly Paul Hacker’s own. He lists the date of his joining as May 1, 1937 and his membership number as 4612687. Under sub-organizations he lists the SA (Sturmabteilung) and the NSVolkswohlfahrt (aka NSV, the National-Socialist People’s Welfare organization). No political functions are listed. The questionnaire is signed. 3. SA Nachrichtenschein (Certification from the News Division of the Sturmabteilung [Nachrichten-SA]): The Sturmabteilung (lit., “Assault Division”), aka stormtroopers or brown shirts, was a paramilitary terrorist organization known for voter intimidation, extortion, political assassination, and Jewish pogroms. It played a key role in the NSDAP’s rise to power, but 1 membership in the party was not identical with SA membership. Hacker personally attests to his membership (see previous point, no date is given); this record provides additional information on his role and status: Sturmman (a rank equivalent to Gefreiter) deputed to the Marine 77 (probably a reference to the marine division of the SA, the so-called Marine-SA). I wish to emphasize once again that the evidence that Paul Hacker was a Nazi is so clear-cut that it would be irresponsible of scholars not to acknowledge it. Its use is not rhetorical. By contrast, where my research reveals the contrary (see the dossier for Paul Thieme), I am equally scrupulous in reporting it. 2