16 Facts About Hans Fritzsche

Hans Fritzsche was the preeminent German broadcaster of his time, as part of efforts to present a more popular and entertaining side of the Nazi regime, and his voice was recognised by the majority of Germans.

Hans Fritzsche was born in Bochum to a Prussian postal clerk.

Hans Fritzsche volunteered in the German Army in 1917 as a private soldier, and served in Flanders.

Hans Fritzsche was made a member of the Academy for German Law.

Hans Fritzsche dictated a letter to Soviet Army General Vasily Chuikov, requesting a temporary ceasefire and ordered German General Hans Krebs to deliver it.

Hans Fritzsche left the room to try to take matters into his own hands.

Hans Fritzsche replied that he was going to do just that.

Hans Fritzsche then left his office and went over to the Soviet lines and offered to surrender the city.

Hans Fritzsche was confined to a "standing coffin", a 3-square-foot cell where it was impossible to sleep, and placed on a bread and hot water diet.

Hans Fritzsche was sent to Nuremberg, and tried before the International Military Tribunal.

Hans Fritzsche was charged with conspiracy to commit crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Hans Fritzsche was acquitted because the court was "not prepared to hold that [his broadcasts] were intended to incite the German people to commit atrocities on conquered peoples".

Hans Fritzsche was one of only three defendants to be acquitted at Nuremberg.

Hans Fritzsche was later classified as Group I by a denazification court, which sentenced him nine years of hard labor in a labor camp.

Hans Fritzsche was released under an amnesty in September 1950.

Hans Fritzsche married his second wife, Hildegard Springer, in 1950.