Horace Hahn
Encyclopedia
Horace L. Hahn was an American
best known for working with Cecil B. DeMille
on several films as a young man, including a supporting role in This Day and Age
(1933). He also served in the Office of Strategic Services
(OSS) during World War II
, and assisted Justice Robert H. Jackson
as an interrogator in connection with the prosecution of Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg Trials
.
in 1915, and was adopted at a very early age by William L. and Lois Hahn. William Hahn was the Maytag Corporation representative in Denver. The family later moved to Los Angeles
, California
, where William Hahn founded the Maytag West Company, which later became a subsidiary of the Maytag Corporation. Horace Hahn attended John Burroughs Middle School and Los Angeles High School
, where he placed first in the city-wide Shakespeare Competition in 1932, and was the winner of the Herald Oratorical Contest in 1933. He then attended the University of California, Los Angeles
, where he was the national forensic debate champion, graduating with an A.B. in Political Science. After graduating from Stanford Law School
, he embarked on a national speaking tour with Helen Gahagan Douglas, the wife of actor Melvyn Douglas
. Gahagan Douglas was elected to the United States House of Representatives
from California's 14th congressional district as a liberal Democrat
in 1944, and served three full terms. In 1950, Gahagan Douglas ran for the United States Senate against Republican
U.S. Representative Richard M. Nixon. In the race against Nixon, Gahagan Douglas coined a nickname for Nixon which became one of the most recognized in American politics: "Tricky Dick".
(1933), where he played the part of the student body president
(at the time, Hahn was senior class president at Los Angeles High School). In his book Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood, author Robert S. Birchard relates how DeMille wasn't sure screenwriter
Bartlett Cormack's
script
had a sense of current slang
, so he asked high school student Hahn to read the script and comment. Today we often laugh at the "Gee, that's swell" dialogue of early 1930s films but, according to Hahn at least, this was the way he and his fellow students talked. He wrote DeMille that the majority of the dialogue in Cormack's script was "really not typical of high school students. [It] Should be interspersed with a few exclamations like, 'heck' — 'gosh' — 'gee,' etc" Hahn also suggested that in Steve's speech about the murdered tailor the writer add: "Gosh, he was swell to us fellows." While attending high school and college Hahn was asked to review additional scripts, and helped out backstage on other films by DeMille, along with his close friend and classmate Buck Houghton
.
in the United States Army
in 1942. He was recruited into the Office of Strategic Services
(OSS) by Maj. Gen. William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan
, a New York antitrust attorney before the war, who founded the OSS.
In July 1942 Donovan obtained the approval of General George C. Marshall, the Army's chief of staff, to form units of bilingual volunteers that would organize and supply guerrilla bands, gather intelligence, and carry out commando
operations behind enemy lines. These men formed cells, each containing two sections of two officers and thirteen enlisted men, although the actual size of the teams in the field would vary greatly. Primarily infantrymen and demolitions experts, they also contained medical technicians and radio operators.
Hahn parachuted behind enemy lines into Czechoslovakia
, and later received an award
from the Czechoslovakian Government in exile
for his services in capturing a Nazi gauleiter
in that country.
for Justice Robert H. Jackson during the Nuremberg Trials. Another source states that Hahn aided Justice Jackson. Jackson had several assistants at the Nuremberg Trials, including Colonel Telford Taylor
, who was the U.S. prosecutor in the High Command case. The indictment in this case called for the General Staff of the Army and the High Command of the German Armed Forces to be considered criminal organizations; the witnesses were several of the surviving German Field Marshal
s and their staff officers.
Captain Hahn conducted interrogations, including that of Colonel
of the Luftwaffe
Bernd von Brauchitsch, who served on the staff of Reich Marshal Hermann Göring
. Justice Jackson referred to Hahn's interrogation during the cross examination of Colonel von Brauchitsch. Colonel von Brauchitsch was interrogated by Hahn about the deaths of 50 Allied Air Force
officers who were supposedly shot trying to escape. This incident was portrayed in the film The Great Escape
(1963), an American film starring Steve McQueen
about an escape by Allied prisoners of war from a German
POW camp during World War II. The film was based on the book The Great Escape
by Paul Brickhill, which is a novelization
of the true story of a mass escape from Stalag
Luft III.
When Justice Jackson resigned his position as prosecutor after the first (and only) trial before the IMT
and returned to the U.S., Colonel Telford Taylor was promoted to Brigadier General
and succeeded him on October 17, 1946, as Chief Counsel for the remaining twelve trials before the U.S. Nuremberg Military Tribunals. In these trials at Nuremberg, 163 of the 200 defendants who were tried were found guilty in some or all of the charges of the indictments. It is not known if Captain Hahn assisted Taylor during these trials.
When World War II came to an end the Allies competed for access to top Nazis. SS General
Walter Schellenberg
was one of the most important (General Schellenberg was Adolf Hitler's
last Chief of Foreign Intelligence
). The British
took Schellenberg into custody before the Americans or Russia
ns could reach him. Captain Hahn was one of the few Americans allowed to interrogate General Schellenberg.
, who was appointed to the bench of the Los Angeles Superior Court in 1967 and presided over the Charles Manson
murder trial. Hahn also served on various professional, corporate and civic boards. They included the Maytag Corporation of Newton, Iowa
, the Chart House restaurant chain, and the Boy Scouts of America
. At age 70, Hahn suffered an almost complete loss of vision
while hiking
in the Himalayas
. He became active in the San Diego Center for the Blind, eventually serving as Chairman of the Board
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
best known for working with Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil Blount DeMille was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies...
on several films as a young man, including a supporting role in This Day and Age
This Day and Age (film)
This Day and Age is a 1933 film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. It is one of his rarest films and has not been released on DVD. In his book Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood, author Robert S...
(1933). He also served in the Office of Strategic Services
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
(OSS) during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and assisted Justice Robert H. Jackson
Robert H. Jackson
Robert Houghwout Jackson was United States Attorney General and an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court . He was also the chief United States prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials...
as an interrogator in connection with the prosecution of Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
.
Early life
Hahn was born in ColoradoColorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
in 1915, and was adopted at a very early age by William L. and Lois Hahn. William Hahn was the Maytag Corporation representative in Denver. The family later moved to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, where William Hahn founded the Maytag West Company, which later became a subsidiary of the Maytag Corporation. Horace Hahn attended John Burroughs Middle School and Los Angeles High School
Los Angeles High School
Los Angeles High School is the oldest public high school in the Southern California Region and in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Its colors are blue and white and the teams are called the Romans....
, where he placed first in the city-wide Shakespeare Competition in 1932, and was the winner of the Herald Oratorical Contest in 1933. He then attended the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
, where he was the national forensic debate champion, graduating with an A.B. in Political Science. After graduating from Stanford Law School
Stanford Law School
Stanford Law School is a graduate school at Stanford University located in the area known as the Silicon Valley, near Palo Alto, California in the United States. The Law School was established in 1893 when former President Benjamin Harrison joined the faculty as the first professor of law...
, he embarked on a national speaking tour with Helen Gahagan Douglas, the wife of actor Melvyn Douglas
Melvyn Douglas
Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg , better known as Melvyn Douglas, was an American actor.Coming to prominence in the 1930s as a suave leading man , Douglas later transitioned into more mature and fatherly roles as in his Academy Award-winning performances in Hud...
. Gahagan Douglas was elected to the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from California's 14th congressional district as a liberal Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
in 1944, and served three full terms. In 1950, Gahagan Douglas ran for the United States Senate against Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
U.S. Representative Richard M. Nixon. In the race against Nixon, Gahagan Douglas coined a nickname for Nixon which became one of the most recognized in American politics: "Tricky Dick".
Acting and Film Career
Hahn acted in numerous Shakespeare stage productions during his years at Los Angeles High School, UCLA and Stanford Law School. Hahn also worked with Cecil B. DeMille on several films, including This Day and AgeThis Day and Age (film)
This Day and Age is a 1933 film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. It is one of his rarest films and has not been released on DVD. In his book Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood, author Robert S...
(1933), where he played the part of the student body president
Student body president
The President of the Student Government is the highest ranking officer of a student government or student union association on the high school, college, or university level...
(at the time, Hahn was senior class president at Los Angeles High School). In his book Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood, author Robert S. Birchard relates how DeMille wasn't sure screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
Bartlett Cormack's
Bartlett Cormack
Edward Bartlett Cormack was an American actor, playwright, screenwriter, and producer best known for his 1927 Broadway play The Racket, and for working with Howard Hughes and Cecil B. DeMille on several films....
script
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
had a sense of current slang
Slang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
, so he asked high school student Hahn to read the script and comment. Today we often laugh at the "Gee, that's swell" dialogue of early 1930s films but, according to Hahn at least, this was the way he and his fellow students talked. He wrote DeMille that the majority of the dialogue in Cormack's script was "really not typical of high school students. [It] Should be interspersed with a few exclamations like, 'heck' — 'gosh' — 'gee,' etc" Hahn also suggested that in Steve's speech about the murdered tailor the writer add: "Gosh, he was swell to us fellows." While attending high school and college Hahn was asked to review additional scripts, and helped out backstage on other films by DeMille, along with his close friend and classmate Buck Houghton
Buck Houghton
Archible Ernest "Buck" Houghton was an American television producer best known for producing the first three seasons of The Twilight Zone, as well as many other television programs from the 1950s through the 1990s...
.
Service in WWII
Hahn was commissioned as an officerOfficer (armed forces)
An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...
in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
in 1942. He was recruited into the Office of Strategic Services
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
(OSS) by Maj. Gen. William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan
William Joseph Donovan
William Joseph Donovan was a United States soldier, lawyer and intelligence officer, best remembered as the wartime head of the Office of Strategic Services...
, a New York antitrust attorney before the war, who founded the OSS.
In July 1942 Donovan obtained the approval of General George C. Marshall, the Army's chief of staff, to form units of bilingual volunteers that would organize and supply guerrilla bands, gather intelligence, and carry out commando
Commando
In English, the term commando means a specific kind of individual soldier or military unit. In contemporary usage, commando usually means elite light infantry and/or special operations forces units, specializing in amphibious landings, parachuting, rappelling and similar techniques, to conduct and...
operations behind enemy lines. These men formed cells, each containing two sections of two officers and thirteen enlisted men, although the actual size of the teams in the field would vary greatly. Primarily infantrymen and demolitions experts, they also contained medical technicians and radio operators.
Hahn parachuted behind enemy lines into Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, and later received an award
Award
An award is something given to a person or a group of people to recognize excellence in a certain field; a certificate of excellence. Awards are often signifiedby trophies, titles, certificates, commemorative plaques, medals, badges, pins, or ribbons...
from the Czechoslovakian Government in exile
Government in exile
A government in exile is a political group that claims to be a country's legitimate government, but for various reasons is unable to exercise its legal power, and instead resides in a foreign country. Governments in exile usually operate under the assumption that they will one day return to their...
for his services in capturing a Nazi gauleiter
Gauleiter
A Gauleiter was the party leader of a regional branch of the NSDAP or the head of a Gau or of a Reichsgau.-Creation and Early Usage:...
in that country.
Nuremberg War Trials
One source identifies Hahn as the chief attorneyLawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
for Justice Robert H. Jackson during the Nuremberg Trials. Another source states that Hahn aided Justice Jackson. Jackson had several assistants at the Nuremberg Trials, including Colonel Telford Taylor
Telford Taylor
Telford Taylor was an American lawyer best known for his role in the Counsel for the Prosecution at the Nuremberg Trials after World War II, his opposition to Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s, and his outspoken criticism of U.S...
, who was the U.S. prosecutor in the High Command case. The indictment in this case called for the General Staff of the Army and the High Command of the German Armed Forces to be considered criminal organizations; the witnesses were several of the surviving German Field Marshal
Field Marshal
Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...
s and their staff officers.
Captain Hahn conducted interrogations, including that of Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
of the Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
Bernd von Brauchitsch, who served on the staff of Reich Marshal Hermann Göring
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
. Justice Jackson referred to Hahn's interrogation during the cross examination of Colonel von Brauchitsch. Colonel von Brauchitsch was interrogated by Hahn about the deaths of 50 Allied Air Force
Air force
An air force, also known in some countries as an air army, is in the broadest sense, the national military organization that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army, navy or...
officers who were supposedly shot trying to escape. This incident was portrayed in the film The Great Escape
The Great Escape (film)
The Great Escape is a 1963 American film about an escape by Allied prisoners of war from a German POW camp during World War II, starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough...
(1963), an American film starring Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen
Terrence Steven "Steve" McQueen was an American movie actor. He was nicknamed "The King of Cool." His "anti-hero" persona, which he developed at the height of the Vietnam counterculture, made him one of the top box-office draws of the 1960s and 1970s. McQueen received an Academy Award nomination...
about an escape by Allied prisoners of war from a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
POW camp during World War II. The film was based on the book The Great Escape
The Great Escape (book)
The Great Escape is an insider's account by Paul Brickhill of the 1944 mass escape from the German prisoner of war camp Stalag Luft III for British and Commonwealth airmen. As a prisoner in the camp, he participated in the escape plan but was debarred from the actual escape 'along with three or...
by Paul Brickhill, which is a novelization
Novelization
A novelization is a novel that is written based on some other media story form rather than as an original work.Novelizations of films usually add background material not found in the original work to flesh out the story, because novels are generally longer than screenplays...
of the true story of a mass escape from Stalag
Stalag
In Germany, stalag was a term used for prisoner-of-war camps. Stalag is a contraction of "Stammlager", itself short for Kriegsgefangenen-Mannschafts-Stammlager.- Legal definitions :...
Luft III.
When Justice Jackson resigned his position as prosecutor after the first (and only) trial before the IMT
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
and returned to the U.S., Colonel Telford Taylor was promoted to Brigadier General
Brigadier General
Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...
and succeeded him on October 17, 1946, as Chief Counsel for the remaining twelve trials before the U.S. Nuremberg Military Tribunals. In these trials at Nuremberg, 163 of the 200 defendants who were tried were found guilty in some or all of the charges of the indictments. It is not known if Captain Hahn assisted Taylor during these trials.
When World War II came to an end the Allies competed for access to top Nazis. SS General
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
Walter Schellenberg
Walter Schellenberg
Walther Friedrich Schellenberg was a German SS-Brigadeführer who rose through the ranks of the SS to become the head of foreign intelligence following the abolition of the Abwehr in 1944.-Biography:...
was one of the most important (General Schellenberg was Adolf Hitler's
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
last Chief of Foreign Intelligence
Intelligence (information gathering)
Intelligence assessment is the development of forecasts of behaviour or recommended courses of action to the leadership of an organization, based on a wide range of available information sources both overt and covert. Assessments are developed in response to requirements declared by the leadership...
). The British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
took Schellenberg into custody before the Americans or Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
ns could reach him. Captain Hahn was one of the few Americans allowed to interrogate General Schellenberg.
Law career
Hahn returned to Los Angeles by 1947, where he was a founding member and director of the Los Angeles High School Alumni Association. Hahn was a founding member of two prominent Los Angeles law firms where he practiced business law for five decades. During 1951, at the age of 19, jockey Bill Shoemaker was making so much money (as much as $2,500 each week) that the Los Angeles Superior Court appointed Hahn as his guardian, with the consent of Shoemaker's parents. One of Hahn's law partners was Charles OlderCharles Older
Charles Herman "Chuck" Older was a member of the American Volunteer Group "The Flying Tigers" and one of its Aces. In his distinguished military career, he served in both World War II and the Korean War...
, who was appointed to the bench of the Los Angeles Superior Court in 1967 and presided over the Charles Manson
Charles Manson
Charles Milles Manson is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction...
murder trial. Hahn also served on various professional, corporate and civic boards. They included the Maytag Corporation of Newton, Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
, the Chart House restaurant chain, and the Boy Scouts of America
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
. At age 70, Hahn suffered an almost complete loss of vision
Visual perception
Visual perception is the ability to interpret information and surroundings from the effects of visible light reaching the eye. The resulting perception is also known as eyesight, sight, or vision...
while hiking
Hiking
Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...
in the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
. He became active in the San Diego Center for the Blind, eventually serving as Chairman of the Board
Chairman of the Board
The Chairman of the Board is a seat of office in an organization, especially of corporations.Chairman of the Board may also refer to:*Chairman of the Board , a 1998 film*Chairmen of the Board , a 1970s American soul music group...
.