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First Sergeant Peter Ostmann
First Lieutenant Messmann (an alias) replaces Captain Hoffman as commander of Reserve Police Battalion 101’s Third Company after Major Trapp removes Hoffmann from the position during his mysterious illness. Messmann is initially the leader of a Gendarmerie unit that helps Third Company with a ghetto clearing several months after the massacre at Józefów. Ironically, before this, Hoffmann complained of Messmann’s Gendarmerie unit because they used excessive violence against the Poles in towns and villages in their district. This means that Messmann’s violent tendencies were common knowledge before he was brought into the battalion as a commander of the Third Company, but it’s not known whether he always had them or if he developed this disposition during World War II.
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First Lieutenant Messmann Character Timeline in Ordinary Men
The timeline below shows where the character First Lieutenant Messmann appears in Ordinary Men. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 13: The Strange Health of Captain Hoffman
...about 2,000 Jews. Third Company must help make Northern Lublin judenfrei along with First Lieutenant Messmann’s gendarmerie, about 100 Hiwis, and several SS men. In an unusual move, the Hiwis go...
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Chapter 14: The “Jew Hunt”
...in hiding sneak on and act like workers, so first Hoffmann and then his replacement Messmann periodically kill the excess Jews.
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