Hans Litten (19 June 1903-5 February 1938) was a German-Jewish KPD lawyer who represented opponents of the Nazi Party in trials from 1929 to 1932 and even cross-examined Adolf Hitler for three hours in 1931. He was later sent to the Dachau concentration camp, where he committed suicide in 1938.
Biography[]
Hans Litten was born in Halle an der Saale, German Empire in 1903, and he came from a wealthy family of Jewish converts to Lutheranism. Litten rebelled against his national conservative father by taking up an interest in Judaism and socialism, and he qualified as a lawyer in 1927 and opened a law office in 1928. A communist, Litten operated "Red Aid", defending clients who were otherwise too poor to afford representation. Litten often defended opponents of the Nazi Party, and he cross-examined Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in 1931, confronting him over his orders for his Sturmabteilung to engage in political violence. While the judge ultimately ordered Litten to cease his cross-examination after three hours, and Hitler was eventually investigated for perjury, Litten's cross-examination of Hitler rattled him and caused him to demand that Litten's name never be spoken in front of him. On 28 February 1933, Litten and several other communists were arrested after the Reichstag fire, and he was sent to Spandau Prison, the Sonnenberg concentration camp, the Lichtenburg concentration camp, Buchenwald, and finally Dachau, where he and the other Jewish prisoners were segregated from the gentile prisoners. After several brutal interrogations, Litten hanged himself on 5 February 1938.