** Hans Koch ** (16 August 1893 – 24 April 1945) was a German lawyer, a member of the Confessing Church and a member of the German resistance against Nazism. The plotters of 20 July slated Koch for President of the Reichsgericht in post-Nazi Germany.

Early life

Koch was born in Bartenstein, East Prussia (modern Bartoszyce, Poland), he graduated in law from the University of Königsberg. In 1923, he began working at the Prussian Ministry of Trade and later as the second state commissar of the Berlin stock exchange. In 1927, he opened his own law office.

Opposition against the Nazi regime

In 1937, he helped win an acquittal for pastor Martin Niemöller. During World War II, he developed contacts with the 20 July plot conspirators, including Hans von Dohnanyi and Hans Oster from the military-intelligence. In the 20 July plot, once the Nazis had been routed, Koch was slated to become the presiding judge of the Reichsgericht, the highest court in the German Reich. The plot failed, however, and Koch sheltered Hans Bernd Gisevius, one of the conspirators. An informer denounced him and Koch and his family were arrested. He was killed extrajudicially in Berlin by a SS-Sonderkommando of the Reich Security Main Office on 24 April 1945.

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