Karl Haushofer
Karl Ernst Haushofer (27 August 1869 – 10 March 1946) was a German general, professor, geographer, and
diplomat. Haushofer's concept of
Geopolitik influenced the ideological development of
Adolf Hitler.
Rudolf Hess was also a student of Haushofer, and during Hess and Hitler's incarceration by the
Weimar Republic after the
Beer Hall Putsch, Haushofer visited
Landsberg Prison to teach and mentor both Hess and Hitler. Haushofer also coined the political use of the term ''
Lebensraum'', which Hitler also used to justify both
crimes against peace and
genocide. At the same time, however, Gen. Haushofer's half-Jewish wife and their children were categorized as ''
Mischlinge'' under the
Nuremberg Laws. Their son,
Albrecht Haushofer, was issued a
German Blood Certificate through the influence of Rudolf Hess, but was arrested in 1944 over his involvement with the
July 20th plot to assassinate
Adolf Hitler and overthrow the
Nazi Party. During the last days of the war, Albrecht Haushofer was summarily executed by the SS for his role in the
German Resistance.
After being interrogated by Fr.
Edmund A. Walsh, who recommended to
Robert H. Jackson that Haushofer be prosecuted at the
Nuremberg Trials for complicity in
Nazi war crimes, Karl and Martha Haushofer died together in a
suicide pact outside of their home in the
American Zone of
Occupied Germany.
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