One of Adolf Hitler’s worst enemies

One of Adolf Hitler’s worst enemies was a Jewish lawyer who put him on the stand in the 1930s

In 1931, Hans Litten earned himself a top spot on the future dictator’s enemies list when he humiliated him in court. The Jewish attorney cross-examined Hitler for 3 hours during a manslaughter trial. Hitler didn’t run Germany yet, but he was a well-known public figure, the head of the Nazi Party, and had his own private paramilitary force, the SA. Four SA members had attacked a dance hall frequented by German communists, and three people were killed. Hitler testified that the SA was a peaceful democratic organization, but Litten destroyed that claim in cross-examination, making Hitler lose his composure on the stand.

Hitler held a grudge for years after the trial. Litten refused to flee Germany when Hitler rose to power, and Hitler had him arrested, tortured, and sent to some of the Nazi regime’s worst concentration camps. Litten took his own life in a concentration camp in 1938.

 
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