Albert Henze (teacher)

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Albert Henze (* 12. June 1900 in Oedelsheim ; † 1. October 1994 in Lübeck ) was a German teacher , school inspector, Gauschulungsleiter and Senate leader.

Live and act

Albert Henze completed his training as a primary school teacher at a teacher training college in Einbeck . From 1920 to 1933 he worked at the Borbis private school in Hamburg . After he had passed the school leaving examination as an external student in Schleswig in 1923 , he studied at the University of Hamburg from 1923 to 1929 . Here he took the subjects of German, history, education and philosophy and completed training as a gymnastics and sports teacher. Henze had been a member of the Askania Hamburg armed forces since 1923 . He passed the state examination and completed practical training as a teacher at three higher schools in Hamburg. From 1932 he worked for a year at the private Wahnschaff school.

Henze had been a member of the NSDAP since October 1, 1932 . After the seizure of power he got a job in the state school system. Three and a half months after taking up this position, he was appointed a teacher and a life official. On October 1, 1933, he held an apprenticeship position with full hours and deputy headed the Gauführerschule of the NSDAP in Hamburg. On April 1, 1937, the National Socialists made him head of the Gauführerschule as a deputy senior teacher. In this position, the NSDAP accepted him into its leader corps in 1939.

Henze did a total of eight months of military service and then returned to Hamburg. Here he became a member of the school administration on October 1, 1940, and shortly afterwards a high school councilor and senate councilor. Since the previous head of the school administration, Karl Julius Witt , was drafted into military service at that time, Henze received extensive powers over matters of the school system in Hamburg from Reich Governor Karl Kaufmann . Henze, who was considered an anti-Semite , instructed the teaching staff to put together incriminating material that was supposed to show "the wickedness of the Jew". From 1940 to 1943 he worked closely with the Gestapo against the swing youth active in Hamburg . Many young people who were actually or presumably active in the swing youth were expelled from school, arrested, interrogated and tortured. The people were taken to the Fuhlsbüttel and Moringen concentration camps . Henze reassigned the headmasters of the Johanneum and Christianeum , in whose schools the swing youth was particularly active, to other positions. He visited the Christianeum several times and personally instructed teachers and students to report suspicious persons.

Henze was in charge of the Hitler Youth school department . In this position, he ordered that the respective Hitler Youth school leader should have an advisory role in assessing the exams and selection procedures of his classmates. This should ensure that the “extracurricular political readiness of the examinees” was sufficiently taken into account. As a result, activities in the Hitler Youth had a greater weight in assessments than school performance. Henze used an ideological subject newly introduced at vocational schools with the title "Reichskunde" to politically control and monitor the students. Henze belonged to the inner circle of employees of Gauleiter Karl Kaufmann , with whom he was friends. For this reason Henze received the War Merit Cross 2nd Class without swords in 1942 because of “special probation” . In 1944 Henze joined the SS .

After the end of the Second World War , Henze spent three years in prison. His National Socialist past was dealt with in two panel proceedings . The assessments of Henze's work were surprisingly benevolent. He had neither enriched himself nor attacked people. He was also not accused of being head of the Gau School or of activities directed against students and young people. Henze had known concentration camps and their intended use since 1933 , but was only sentenced to a fine of 1200 marks, which, however, was considered to have been paid because of the prison sentence he had served. In retrospect, Henze assessed the judgment as an acquittal. In addition, he judged it to be a grave injustice that after 1945 he did not regain the official status that he had given up in 1943.

In 1952, a former employee of the National Training Office in Henze arranged a position at the Oberschule zum Dom . Henze taught here as an employee from 1952 to 1975 and was in charge of the school's library. He taught German, history and sports. He also took on teaching activities at an evening grammar school and a technical college for the Federal Border Police. The school magazine and the headmaster's staff reviews describe Henze as hardworking, ready to work, lovable and always helpful.

Albert Henze died after a serious illness in October 1994 in a nursing home in Lübeck.

According to the historian Uwe Schmidt , Henze described the assumption of office as head of regional training after 1945 as the decisive mistake of his life. However, Schmidt said he never came to terms with his personal past. Towards the end of his life, Henze believed himself and his family to be victims of National Socialism.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Willy Nolte (Ed.): Burschenschafter Stammrolle. Directory of the members of the German Burschenschaft according to the status of the summer semester 1934. Berlin 1934. P. 190.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Henze, Albert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German teacher, high school councilor, regional training director and Senate director
DATE OF BIRTH June 12, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Oedelsheim
DATE OF DEATH October 1, 1994
Place of death Lübeck