Herbert Hans Haupt

Herbert Hans Haupt (b. Stettin, Germany, December 21, 1919, d. Washington, D.C., USA, August 8, 1942) was a German-American United States citizen executed as an enemy agent for the Germans in World War II.

Early life

Haupt was the son of Hans Max Haupt and Erna Haupt (Froehling). Hans Haupt was a World War I veteran who came to Chicago to find work in 1923. His son and wife followed in 1925. Herbie Haupt became a US citizen when his parents were naturalized in 1930. Herbie Haupt attended Lane High School and later worked at the Simpson Optical Company as an apprentice optician.

World War II

In 1941, Herbie Haupt, along with two friends, Wolfgang Wergin and Hugo Troesken, set off on a world wide trek. Troesken was turned back at the Mexican border for lack of proper identification, but Haupt and Wergin continued on. Neither Haupt nor Wergin had been able to secure an American passport in the United States, but each was able to secure a German one from the German Embassy in Mexico City. The pair then traveled on to Japan, where they took employment on a German freighter bound for France. Haupt and Wergin made it to France via Cape Horn and landed in France as the United States and Germany went to war. Haupt then went to his grandmother's home in Stettin, Germany.

Haupt was awarded an Iron Cross by the Germans for spotting a British warship while serving as a lookout during the Allied blockade around France. Wergin went into the Army, but Haupt was recruited to return to America as a saboteur.

Operation Pastorius

Main article: Operation Pastorius

Operation Pastorius consisted of 12 English speaking Germans who were trained at the Brandenburg Sabotage School. Eight eventually graduated and were sent to the United States via U-Boat to blow up war factories. Haupt and three others landed on Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida on June 17, 1942. The other four landed on Long Island. Haupt took a train out of Jacksonville to return to his home in Chicago to see his parents and girlfriend. Two of the Long Island group got cold feet and gave up the mission to the FBI. Haupt and his parents were arrested on June 27th in Chicago. Erna was eventually deported back to Germany in 1946; Hans Haupt was deported in 1957.

Trial and death

Main article: Ex parte Quirin

Herbert Haupt and the other seven "U-Boat Raiders" were sent to Washington D.C., where they faced a military tribunal. All were found guilty of being enemy agents, and though they were caught before carrying out any sabotage, they were sentenced to death. The two informants received a lesser sentence and were deported in 1947. The other six, Herbert Hans Haupt, Edward Kerling, Hermann Neubauer, Werner Thiel, Henrich Heinck and Richard Quirin, were executed on August 8, 1942 in the District of Columbia's electric chair. It was the largest mass execution by electrocution ever conducted.

Young Haupt broke down just before the execution but recovered and, according to a military witness, "died like a real man". It took Haupt seven minutes to die in the chair. His last undelivered letter to his father read, "Try not to take this too hard, I have brought nothing but grief to all of my friends and relatives who did nothing wrong, my last thoughts will be of Mother."

Haupt was buried with the five others in the Potters Field in Blue Plains, D.C. (see the Find a Grave listing with photos). The graves were originally marked by wooden boards with numbers but eventually a small monument was put over the graves in 1982. Government officials removed the monument recently, leaving all those buried at Blue Plains in un-marked graves in a wooded, fenced-in area.

Modern relevance

In 2001, Haupt was in the news again as President Bush attempted to use military tribunals to try American citizens after the 9-11 attack. A Supreme Court ruling on Haupt, the only US citizen executed in the affair, was cited again. (Ex parte Quirin)