Krebs:Die Paasches und die Hammersteins

Among the exiles in Japan was the Paasche family, who arrived in 1935. Husband Hans Joachim was the son of the pacifist Hans Paasche, who was murdered by Freikorps men in 1920, and his wife Maria Therese was the daughter of Hitler opponent General Kurt Freiherr von Hammerstein-Equord. Due to his partially non-Aryan background, Hans Joachim Paasche was unable to complete his law studies at the University of Berlin, so he turned to Oriental studies and obtained a language diploma in Japanese in 1935. In exile, they were assisted by Eugen Ott, a confidant of General Hammerstein-Equord, who had been the military attaché since 1934 and became ambassador in Tokyo in 1938. Their life, sustained by occasional jobs, was tough, but fortunately, they were able to live rent-free in the summer house of a German benefactor. Some of the general's daughters leaned towards communism. They helped Jews and regime opponents and spied on their father’s house for the KPD. Hammerstein-Equord himself was the great hope of military and civilian coup plotters but died in 1943. Two of his sons were involved in the coup attempt on July 20, 1944, and went into hiding. Other family members were dragged through concentration camps for months but all survived. After the war, the Paasches emigrated to the USA and struggled to get by. Hans Joachim completed his degrees, earning a BA and an MA. A brief stint in Germany remained just a minor episode.