Theo Hupfauer

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Theo Hupfauer , also: Theodor (* July 17, 1906 in Dellmensingen ; † August 31, 1993 in Munich ) was a high functionary in National Socialism and at the end of the war - formally - penultimate Reich Labor Minister by definition in Hitler's political will .

Life

Hupfauer attended high school. After graduating from high school , he actually wanted to become a sports reporter, but then wanted to become a lawyer because an uncle had promised him to join a law firm. At times, Hupfauer studied in Geneva and Lausanne . During his studies in 1926 he became a member of the Germania Würzburg fraternity . According to his own statements, he attended meetings of the League of Nations as a spectator and heard speeches by Gustav Stresemann and Aristide Briand , which increased his political interest. After completing his legal doctorate in 1932 in Würzburg on " The different provisions in war wounded law according to relevant conventions from 1906 to 1929 ", he joined the NSDAP ( membership number 339.580). In 1941 he became a Sturmbannführer in the staff of the Reichsführer SS (SS No. 17.197).

In 1935 he was staff chairman in the Munich main office of the NS factory cell organization before he became head of the office of the German Labor Front (DAF) in 1936 . He quickly made a career in the German Labor Front. He became head of the Office for Social Arbitration, which was responsible for forced arbitration between employers and employees during the National Socialist era . In 1942 he became the DAF's liaison to the Armaments Ministry .

On March 29, 1936, he ran for the Reichstag election , but received no mandate, just as he did not receive a seat on April 10, 1938 for the Greater German Reichstag.

As Hupfauer said after 1945, he was appalled by the start of the war in 1939. However, the quick military victories against Poland and France prompted him to give up his high position in the DAF and volunteer for the Wehrmacht . As a sergeant he took part in the attack on the Soviet Union . In 1941 he was appointed castle commandant of the SS School Ordensburg Sonthofen with the rank of SS standard leader . In addition to this position, Hupfauer continued his career in the Armaments Ministry under Albert Speer . In 1944 he became head of the Central Office of the Ministry of Armaments and thus one of the two most important men under Minister Speer alongside Karl Saur . His NS career was formally crowned by his appointment as Reich Labor Minister in Hitler's political will.

Shortly after the surrender , he was arrested by the Americans , who were not aware of Hupfauer's important role during the Third Reich , and was initially interned in Kransberg Castle. He was questioned not as a defendant but as a witness for the Nuremberg war crimes trials . On July 31, 1946, he testified in a public session about the situation in the DAF and the situation of foreign forced laborers . After his release, he was considered a minor offender in denazification .

Legally undisturbed, Hupfauer was able to build a new career in the economy in the Federal Republic of Germany , without his role during the Nazi era having been examined again. After Albert Speer's release in 1966, he organized "conventions" for him with his former employees.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hitler's political testament
  2. ↑ a b c Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945 . Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Second updated edition, Frankfurt am Main 2005, pp. 275–276.
  3. ↑ Gitta Sereny: Albert Speer - The struggle with the truth and the German trauma. Munich, Kindler 1995, pp. 793f. Sereny interviewed Hupfauer for her book in 1986, p. 246.
personal data
SURNAME Hupfauer, Theo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hupfauer, Theodor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION last Reich Labor Minister during the Nazi era
DATE OF BIRTH July 17, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Dellmensingen
DATE OF DEATH August 31, 1993
Place of death Munich