Legacy of Sorrows (10 page)

For Kuller, the world around him had turned into something he despised. What with the partition of his beloved Fatherland into two separate countries and the Jews being allowed to return to Germany, he strongly felt the injustice of it all. Now the Jews even have their own country called Israel, which was supported by Americans and the United Nations. What next? A Jewish Chancellor in Germany?

The one thing that he really looked forward to was the quarterly gathering of his former comrades in the SS. The 16th Waffen SS Old Comrades Association. They met in hotels throughout West Germany and Austria with the strict rule that no outsiders were allowed to attend, especially members of the press. After one such meeting in 1978 in Frankfurt, Kuller and a few ex-comrades were drinking in their hotel bar in the city centre, and were still in celebratory mode after their meeting, when he saw a man wearing a Jewish skullcap walking past them in the bar. Kuller, fuelled by alcohol, threw all caution to the wind and attacked him. He never even spoke a word to him. He waited until he was just passing before he turned to face him and smashed his glass tumbler on the bar and thrust it into the Jews face, much to the amusement of his other comrades. The Jew fell to the ground in agony and Kuller, apparently not satisfied with the result of his unprovoked attack, stood on the man's face grinding the glass further into his wounds. The police were called and Kuller was arrested. He was handcuffed and spent the night in a police cell. The following morning, he appeared before a Magistrate and pleaded guilty. He was given a three-year sentence. The Magistrate said in his summation of the case, ‘In all my years on the bench I have never witnessed such savagery. Your victim is permanently blinded by your attack and faces life as a disabled man. I am also appalled by your lack of contrition and I have no hesitation in sentencing you to the maximum sentence I am allowed by law to give; a three-year prison term to be served in all its entirety.' Kuller showed no emotion as he was led away.
There was a time in this country when I would have received a commendation for what I did!
– he thought -
Curse these Jewish vermin and their allies. They have deceived the world into thinking they are the victims of a conspiracy against them, when the truth is they are the ones who have formed a world-wide Zionist conspiracy to control the worlds banking systems.

For Kuller to be in the disciplined environment of a prison was no great shock or ordeal. Because he had spent many years as a disciplined soldier taking orders, he felt no great discomfort meeting the requirements of the prison regime. His fellow inmates were unsure of how to approach him at first because of his obvious size and strength, and he simply became known as “the quiet man” to the prison population. Kuller's approach to prison servitude was simply to do his time and to do it without bitterness. He was guilty as charged but in his eyes, he couldn't understand all the fuss surrounding the attack: after all, it was only a Jew he had assaulted.

He took to physical exercise as a duck takes to water. He found it the perfect release for his pent-up frustration at being cooped up in prison.

One afternoon, as he was training, a new guard he hadn't seen before came on duty in the gym. Kuller watched as he made his rounds introducing himself to all the inmates exercising there. When he came to Kuller he stopped and said, ‘Hello, what's your name?' Kuller looked at him and stopped his training on the barbells. ‘My name is Hans Kuller, guard. What's yours?'

The guard gave a smile and said ‘My name is Guard Cohen.'

Kuller stared at him with obvious hatred in his eyes. ‘Are you a Jew?'

The Guard's smile vanished as he said, ‘Is that a problem, Kuller?'

‘It certainly is, I didn't think we had missed any of you bastards so it's a surprise to find one left.'

Cohen moved closer to Kuller and said, ‘Remember, Kuller, the roles are reversed now. I'm in authority here, not you bloody Nazis.'

Kuller smiled at him, ‘How could I forget, Guard Cohen. Just watch your back.'

Cohen turned on his heels and walked out the gym.

Later that night, Kuller heard the sound of voices gathered outside his cell. His instincts told him it meant he was in trouble. He had just stood up to face the door, when it opened and Guard Cohen stood there with three other guards. Cohen turned to Kuller's cellmate and said ‘Take a walk with the guard; we want to have a chat with your friend.' When the prisoner had left with his escort, Cohen turned to Kuller saying ‘Is there anything else you would like to mention about me being Jewish, you piece of shit?' Kuller laughed in his face, ‘Pity your people didn't show the same bravery when they went to their deaths like lambs.'

Cohen and his two companions entered the cell and closed the door behind them. They then set about Kuller with their batons, taking care not to hit his face. The blows fell on his shoulders, sides and midriff until Kuller fell to the ground winded and in pain. He never cried out or asked them to stop the beating. It just wasn't in his makeup to ask for mercy. Cohen then kicked him a few times in the groin, just as a parting gift.

When they had finished with the beating, Guard Cohen stood over Kuller and said, ‘Is there anything else you would like to say, Kuller?'

Kuller slowly pulled himself up to a sitting position and looked Cohen directly in the eye before saying, ‘No Guard Cohen, I've said all I ever want to say to you.'

Cohen and his friends left him on the floor and locked the cell door after them.

When his cellmate came back, he asked Kuller what had happened to him. Kuller stared at him before answering, ‘I fell off the top bunk and I think I must have broken a few ribs.'

Word soon got round the other prisoners that Kuller was a marked man with the guards. He never told anyone what happened that night, and he never gave an opinion on any of the Guards. He just bided his time for an opportunity to strike back.

As he lay in his cell, he worked on a plan and finally after a few days he was ready to put it into action.

Every morning, at the beginning of the working day, the prisoners had to stand outside their cells for inspection by the guards, and Kuller had worked it out that it was Cohen's turn to inspect the prisoners every fourth day. His cell was on the upper floor at the end of a row beside a metal staircase leading to the ground floor, and on the appointed morning when Cohen was inspecting the prisoners, Kuller was standing waiting on him approaching him. When he did, he briefly stopped in front of Kuller and said, ‘Well, is there anything you would like to say to me?'

Kuller just shook his head and just stared at the ground.

As Cohen walked past him to use the stairway, Kuller timed his move to perfection. He stuck his foot out in front of Cohen's legs, causing him to stumble and fall head first down the staircase. He bounced a couple of times off some metal treads and lay on the ground with his neck sitting at a strange angle.

Kuller could see that the fall had killed Cohen outright. The prison authorities interviewed all the prisoners on the upper floor and asked them what they had seen. No one had noticed anything unusual and certainly hadn't seen Kuller's leg trip the guard. When Kuller was interviewed, he told them he had seen nothing except Guard Cohen flying past him down the staircase. The prison authorities held an official enquiry into the “accident” and even though they suspected Kuller's involvement, they couldn't pin anything on him. The official verdict on Cohen's death was that it was accidental and that no prisoner was involved. Kuller kept quiet on the “accident” and never even hinted to anyone that he had anything to do with it. In his own mind, he thought thatmust be the only benefit that democracy offers, that you are innocent until proven guilty.

Once again, the prison grapevine told the story that he had killed Cohen and that the other prison guards involved in the beating would be next.

Kuller was approached in his cell soon after by one of the guards who had taken part in the beating. He said to him, ‘Kuller, I don't know if what they say about you is true, but I know your past history in the SS. I'm a married man with a family and I don't want an accident happening to me.' As a final retort he added, ‘I also served in the military and, like you, was also an infantry soldier at Stalingrad.' Kuller studied him for a moment in silence before saying to him,' ‘What you did to me was out of loyalty to a comrade. Misplaced loyalty to a Jew over a German, but you still showed commendable loyalty. I would have done the same as you did. Don't worry about any accidents happening to you.' The guards thanked him and was about to leave when Kuller added, ‘Tell your other friends that I also respect their loyalty in this affair, but to never again choose a Jew over a German, especially one who has served his country.'

Kuller spent the rest of his sentence being respected as a man not to be trifled with by prisoners and guards alike, and he never had any further problems.

He was released in 1981 and immediately returned home to be with his family. His wife, who wasn't sure what to expect from her returning spouse, was greeted by a slap round the head for not having a meal ready and waiting for him, and so life returned to what passed for normality in the Kuller household.

At the next meeting of the Old Comrades Association, Kuller was treated as a celebrity who had upheld the values that they all espoused. He was asked to give an impromptu speech to the gathering which he readily did.

‘Dear comrades, the honour you give me is indeed touching. You all know that because of the Jewish menace, we now find ourselves with a divided country and Bolshevism living next door to us. Let us not forget what our Führer taught us, the values of purity of race, obedience and honour. It is our sacred duty to re-educate the German people in this and to remain faithful to our oath.'

The room erupted with wild cheering and hand-clapping. Former SS soldiers thumped the tables and impromptu singing broke out. Kuller felt elated as the words of the Horst-Wessel-Lied rose up all around him. As he gave the Nazi salute, tears filled his eyes as his comrades followed his example.

Sometime later in 1984, as he was driving in Munich with Gertrude sitting beside him, he was involved in an accident when another car came speeding out of a side street and crashed into the side of his vehicle. Thankfully, no one was injured. Kuller got out of his car and approached the other driver, who by this time was inspecting the damage to the vehicles. The driver was very apologetic to Kuller, ‘I am so sorry, sir. It is my fault entirely, please accept my apology.' This seemed to pacify Kuller until it came to exchanging insurance details. Kuller looked at the man's name in amazement, ‘Your name is Goldman. Are you Jewish?'

Herr Goldman, not knowing the fury that was about to fall on him answered, ‘Yes I am. Is that a problem?'

‘Problem, problem,' roared Kuller, as he stepped forward and punched Herr Goldman in the face with such ferocity that he was knocked to the ground. As Goldman tried to get up Kuller kicked him repeatedly in the face, on his body, anywhere he could. Gertrude tried to stop him but Kuller slapped her round the face a few times, knocking her to the ground as well.

He began shouting out as the blows rained down on Goldman, ‘There was a time when we could treat Jewish scum like you anyway we wanted.'

Eventually he stopped. A crowd had gathered on the pavement watching with amazement what had happened. Kuller helped his wife to her feet and they walked away towards their car. They drove off without another word. When the police arrived, Mr Goldman couldn't tell them who his assailant was, as he had no idea of his name. In the small crowd that had gathered, apparently, no one had thought to take down Kuller's licence number. Even though Kuller had lived in the area with his wife for many years, no one admitted to recognising him. The description given of a tall blonde man could have fitted a high percentage of the German male population in the town, so Kuller was not traced. He realised that the damage to his car was a giveaway, so he visited an auto-body shop belonging to a former comrade and the car was repaired with no record of the work being done and no questions asked.

When the police, on a routine enquiry, asked the owner of the auto-body shop if he knew anything about a damaged black Volkswagen Beetle, he just shrugged his shoulders and said no.

Herr Goldman was in hospital for some time with a fractured jaw, broken limbs and ribs. However, the greatest damage done to him was that once again he had become frightened to walk German streets as a Jew.

Kuller first heard the news that Walter Reder could possibly be released from his Italian prison from someone at the Old Comrades meeting. Apparently, Reder had apologised to the Italian Government through an open letter. Kuller laughed at this and called it nonsense, a mere ruse by Reder to help him in his campaign for release.

He wrote to Reder congratulating him on his expected release and to ask him if he would when freed be the guest speaker at a reunion dinner of the 16th Waffen SS Old Comrades Association, which would be held in his honour in his home city of Vienna. Reder answered that he would be delighted to, and also that he was pleased to hear from others that sergeant Hans Kuller was still being faithful to his SS oath. Kuller laughed.
I knew that Walter Reder could not change. Even after all these years of imprisonment, this man of steel is still the same. His beliefs have not diminished and the flame of National Socialism still burns true in his heart.