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Hans Koch (lawyer)
German resistance member From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Hans Koch (16 August 1893 – 24 April 1945) was a German lawyer, a member of the Confessing Church and a member of the German resistance against Nazism. The plotters of 20 July slated Koch for President of the Reichsgericht in post-Nazi Germany.
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Early life
Koch was born in Bartenstein, East Prussia (modern Bartoszyce, Poland),[1] he graduated in law from the University of Königsberg.[2] In 1923, he began working at the Prussian Ministry of Trade and later as the second state commissar of the Berlin stock exchange.[3] In 1927, he opened his own law office.
Opposition against the Nazi regime
In 1937, he helped win an acquittal for pastor Martin Niemöller.[4][2] During World War II, he developed contacts with the 20 July plot conspirators, including Hans von Dohnanyi and Hans Oster from the military-intelligence.[5] In the 20 July plot, once the Nazis had been routed, Koch was slated to become the presiding judge of the Reichsgericht, the highest court in the German Reich.[5][6][7] The plot failed, however, and Koch sheltered Hans Bernd Gisevius, one of the conspirators.[8] An informer denounced him and Koch and his family were arrested.[6] He was killed extrajudicially in Berlin by a SS-Sonderkommando of the Reich Security Main Office on 24 April 1945.[2][6]
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