Wappenhans was born in Berlin the son of a professor, attended a cadet school in Karlsruhe from 1902 and then the Prussian Military Academy in Lichterfelde.

Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union, he held a number of SS and Police Leader (SSPF) posts in the Reichskommissariat Ukraine (RKU).

[4] Throughout Wappenhans' tenure in the RKU, SS and Order Police battalions together with Einsatzgruppen personnel were engaged in mass murder of the Jewish population.

[5] From October 1943, Wappenhans was an SSPF for special assignment to the Supreme SS and Police Leader (HöSSPF) "Ukraine," Hans-Adolf Prützmann, and was commander of a Kampfgruppe (battle group) until January 1944.

Towards the very end of the war he received orders to report to Berlin but, unable to reach the encircled city, instead made his way to Hahnenklee, where his family lived.

[1] Wappenhaus went underground under the false name "Hans Seemann," working as a farm hand, and then as a property management administrator for the British occupation authorities in Hanover.

In November 1949, his true identity was discovered by Wolfe Frank, a reporter for the New York Herald Tribune who had served as the chief interpreter at the Nuremberg trials.