Hanns “Stone Face” Sharff
Master Interrogator
Big-Joe-Radio
6/22/2014
History cannot
give us a program for the future, but it can give us a fuller understanding of
ourselves, and of our common humanity, so that we can better face the future. —
Robert Penn Warren
Today
I want to give my own little introspective on some of life’s experiences mixed
with what we all know as American history. Particularly I want to write about
the history of interrogations during World War 2. In the mean time I also want
to introduce to you the most successful interrogator from WW2, Hanns Scharff.
First
of all I want to state that as human beings we are on this journey that
sometimes seems like a rhythmic circle “of life” if you will. We have all seen
the Disney movie, Lion King, so that phrase should instantly pop up an image in
your head. But what exactly does that mean? I personally think it means that we
remember the questions and struggles of life from our youth. We cannot see the
meaning of the current struggles that we face, or the reasons that we will
continue to face struggles for the better part of our lives.
I
believe the “full of life” years that we live in are both a blessing and a
curse. First of all we are filled with the desires to grab life by the horns
and go as hard and as far as we want. We have not quite learned the boundaries
of our existence yet. These years are full of our beauty yet completely lacking
of our wisdom. We will learn many hard lessons during these years. The good
thing is that we will be beautiful on the outside while doing it. Life will be
in the process of scaring us, so until then, this is why our bodies are at our
most lustful and sexual selves as well. Our loins are filled to the brim with
life, but our minds are nearly empty and void of all reason to control that
life.
Now
back to the history at hand. Specifically let’s consider Hanns Scharff. The
young man is born in East Prussia (modern day Poland). He is the son of a
military man who eventually goes into the textile business. Hanns follows his
father and learns the trade. He also goes to South Africa to learn how to
become a salesman. Gentleman, as an economics man, myself, that tells me that
he learned the theory that to become a good salesman, you have to put your
clients, or customers’ needs and wants above yourself. Even ancient economics
writers would explain that to draw the demand of consumers, one must be almost
a market psychologist. By that I mean he must understand not only the function
of the market in which he plans to sell his products, but more importantly, the
perspective of the customers in which he plans to draw his profit. Hanns would
later use these skills in a totally different and dangerous environment. He
would use those skills to become the most feared interrogator for the NAZI war
machine.
So
recently I have been reading the book, “Man’s Search for Meaning”, by Viktor E
Frankl. He was a Jewish psychologist who eventually found himself as a prisoner
at Auschwitz and Dachau. He describes in full detail the horror that many other
books go into very deep detail. I would prefer not to venture down that road. During
his imprisonment at theses death camps, Frankl discovers and creates his own
theory called logotherapy. This theory stresses a man’s freedom to transcend
suffering and find meaning even in his worst of moments.
His
imprisonment becomes to a psychologist, the most practical testing ground for
this theory. In his book, there are basically three stages to captivity. Before
a person enters the first stage there is what is called a “delusion of
reprieve”. Imagine you are a prisoner on death row. For this conversation,
let’s assume that you know without a doubt that you know you belong there. Yet
on or before the day of your execution, you are filled with emotions that
somehow the governor or court of appeals will give you reprieve and so you will
be able to go back to your former way of life. This is that “delusion of reprieve”
that I am talking about. What almost always happens though is that transitional
period where your past life ends, and the immediate and swift change or
consequence in your life immediately destroys your ability to go back and thus thrusts
you into your new stage of living.
This
transitional period is also what almost every Jewish prisoner felt on the
trains to their new destinations. Once in captivity, stage one of captivity
happens. This is the “Shock and awe” moments. In the initial captivity moments
you learn quickly that you are no longer in control. Your identity has been
stripped down to where you are not much more than skin and flesh covering a
soul. The time when you are showered and processed into your new dwelling place
only enhances that new truth. You’re no longer a name, social class, work
title, or anything that would allude to the fact that you have any sort of
relationship with another human being in this world. In fact you are just a
number and so your own human identity is immediately damaged and discarded. It
is very scary stuff. Inside you may even laugh morbidly at your own “delusion
of reprieve” that you had experienced prior to your new world becoming open to
you.
The
next phase of captivity is what is called the “settling in” stage. Your mind is
a very powerful thing. I personally think it is the most powerful weapon on
this planet. The book I am reading only goes on to solidify that belief. Even
through the shock of the previous stage, your brain will actually create
defense mechanisms that are unconsciously at work to help you adapt and
overcome even the worst of circumstances. That is what logotheropy is all
about. In his book, Frankl goes into deep detail on a spiritual experience that
he had with his wife during his captivity. He spoke about in his soul how he
had that spiritual closeness with her and even remembers to this day the words
that they spoke with each other in captivity. What throws you off is that began
to realize that Frankl never hear from or saw his wife ever again when they
were separated before the train ride. Yet he in his circumstances learned to
make not only peace with such a horrible experience, but he saw the beauty of
life amid the death that surrounded him and was a constant threat to his life
every day.
Let’s
go to another setting shall we! Hanns Scharff is quite the character of death
himself. Yet it was not to any Jewish prisoners, but to American and British
prisoners of war. Prisoner of War camps are filled with a “softening up”
technique. A prisoner who has arrived with secrets is not just going to open
the beans about what he knows inside his head. He has to be softened up, or
otherwise put in a situation where he has endured so much pain or mental
anguish that he wants nothing more than the “Pain-Train” to stop. This is where
torture comes into play.
There
are many methods of torture. Many American POWs in Korea and Vietnam went
through some of the most horrible tortures you can imagine. Think of having
your elbows tied together behind your back. Then your ankles are tied to your
hands which are behind you, and you are then systematically hung upside down
from the roof and continually beaten sometimes until bones are broken. There
are instances of Iraqi POW beaten across the face with a bag over their head
with a 4x4. When that did not work, extreme electrocution wires were placed in
the mouth of said pilots so that inevitably all the teeth would be broken as
the body convulsed violently at this treatment.
These
instances of torture teach one thing; the only thing that you truly own in
captivity is your confession. But there is a breaking point. If your captor
wants it bad enough, he will get some sort of information from you. Few…and I
mean very few of us are strong enough to ride the pain-train all the way until
there is no more track to follow and we never return.
Hanns
Scharff never mistreated his prisoners like this. If there was a softening up
phase, it was before the prisoners entered into his presence. What happened
next is the reason Hanns was so effective as an interrogator. He was a complete
gentleman to all his prisoners whom he questioned. He used his sales training
to learn how to get inside of a prisoners mind without the prisoner even
knowing what Hanns was looking for in the first place. He was very much using
sales techniques to in essence make his subjects his “customers” so to speak.
He didn’t brutalize them but in fact showed them complete respect. He even
offered them a cigar and wine. Hanns would eventually become the interrogator
for not only bomber pilots, but the most VIP pilots of high rank and
information. He knew how to get into their state of mind. He was the master of
getting their motivations, which is what all sales, business, economics, and
market psychology is all about.
Most
if not all the POW’s that would succumb to his techniques were amazed at how
they divulged information to Hanns without even realizing it. One prisoner of
war even stated that Hanns would make small talk about the weather, or
something that would be considered non consequential, yet somehow they had
fallen into his trap. After the war, the United States actually invited Hanns
Scharff to the country to learn about his techniques. Many of his techniques
are still used today in our own interrogation methods. Hanns was eventually
allowed to become a citizen of the same country that he was at war against.
Hanns eventually settled into doing art mosaics and other skills that he had
learned in his father’s textile business. His art is seen in the capital
building of California, many universities, and brace yourself for this little
known fact; one of his well-known mosaics is the art piece for the Disney movie,
“Cinderella”. Talk about the circle of life.
Sources…
1.
https://globalecco.org/learning-from-history-what-is-successful-interrogation-
2.
Man’s Search for Meaning. Viktor E Frankl.
A Jewish Psychologist and former prisoner of the Nazis at Auschwitz and Dachau.
3. Skindrud, Erik "The Good Soldier: Lessons from the past for
this generation’s military interrogators" www.ocweekly.com September 9, 2004
4. Smith, Mary and Barbara Freer Stalag Luft I Online "The Luftwaffe Interrogators:
Dulag Luft - Oberursel"
5.
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