Johannes "Hans" Max Clemens (February 9, 1902 – September 9, 1976) was a German functionary of respectively the SS, ''

Sicherheitsdienst ' (, "Security Service"), full title ' ("Security Service of the ''Reichsführer-SS''"), or SD, was the intelligence agency of the Schutzstaffel, SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Established in 1931, the SD was the first Nazi intelligence ...

'' (SD, Security Service) was primarily the intelligence service of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Clemens was also known as the Tiger of Como while serving as a captain in the SS. During the war, he participated in the

Ardeatine massacre The Ardeatine massacre, or Fosse Ardeatine massacre (), was a mass killing of 335 civilians and political prisoners carried out in Rome on 24 March 1944 by German occupation troops during the Second World War as a reprisal for the Via Rasell ...

. Clemens, together with other SS officers, including

Herbert Kappler Herbert Kappler (23 September 1907 – 9 February 1978) was a key German SS functionary and war criminal during the Nazi era. He served as the commander of German security police and security services (''Sicherheitspolizei'' and SD) in Rome d ...

, Karl Hass, Carl-Theodor Schütz, and

Erich Priebke Erich Priebke (29 July 1913 – 11 October 2013) was a German mid-level ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) commander in the ''Sicherheitspolizei'' (SiPo) of Nazi Germany. In 1996, he was convicted of war crimes in Italy for commanding the unit which was res ...

, formed the first firing squad, which shot the first 12 victims. After the war, however, Clemens was acquitted of involvement by an Italian military court. He was released and returned to

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

in 1949. Clemens joined the

Gehlen Organization The Gehlen Organization or Gehlen Org (often referred to as The Org) was an intelligence agency established in June 1946 by U.S. occupation authorities in the United States zone of post-war occupied Germany, and consisted of former members of the ...

and with

Heinz Felfe Heinz Paul Johann Felfe (18 March 1918 – 8 May 2008) was a German spy. At various times he worked for the intelligence services of Nazi Germany, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and West Germany. It is still not clear when he started wo ...

, started feeding information to the Soviets. Before this work was discovered, he worked with the successor of the Gehlen Org, the ''

Bundesnachrichtendienst The Federal Intelligence Service (, ; BND) is the foreign intelligence agency of Germany, directly subordinate to the Federal Chancellery of Germany, Chancellor's Office. The Headquarters of the Federal Intelligence Service, BND headquarters is ...

'', the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), the foreign intelligence agency of the modern German government, under the control of the Chancellor's Office. Clemens was part of a group of Soviet spies who were put on trial in 1963. His co-defendants were Heinz Felfe and Erwin Tiebel. Clemens and Felfe admitted to having transmitted great amounts of secret information to the Soviets, including 15,000 classified documents. All three were convicted, with Clemens receiving a 10-year sentence for espionage. He was released from prison on health grounds in 1968.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Clemens, Hans 1902 births 1976 deaths 1963 in politics BND agents convicted of crimes Double agents German mass murderers Military personnel from Dresden People from the Kingdom of Saxony People acquitted of war crimes People acquitted of international crimes Foreign nationals imprisoned in Italy Reich Security Main Office personnel West German people convicted of spying for the Soviet Union SS-Hauptsturmführer Nazis convicted of crimes Nazi war criminals