Official German immigration and return office

The Official German Immigration and Return Office (ADERSt) was a German office established in South Tyrol in 1939 , which was responsible for the entire technical and bureaucratic handling of the resettlement of the optants from South Tyrol and the Canal Valley in Friuli to the German Reich .

history

Letterhead of ADERSt Merano from 1942 with official stamp

ADERSt started its work on September 15, 1939. Its main office was in Bolzano in the Hotel Bristol in Raingasse, which was demolished in the post-war period . There were also branch offices in Brixen , Bruneck , Meran and Sterzing as well as in Tarvis in the Canal Valley. In addition, the main office in Bolzano had a Ladin branch in Ortisei .

The office was subordinate to the control center for immigration and return established in June 1939 under SS brigade leader Ulrich Greifelt . In mid-October 1939, the control center was converted to the office of the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Ethnicity and was responsible for all NS resettlement projects.

From June 1939 to mid-October 1941, the ADERSt was headed by SS-Obersturmbannführer Dr. Wilhelm Luig , formerly head of the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle VoMi. On his instructions, on January 30, 1940, the ADERSt transferred the entire care of the resettlers to the previously illegal Völkischer Kampfring of South Tyrol , which amounted to its official recognition and legalization and was expressed in the renaming of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Optanten für Deutschland (AdO). The ADERSt was authorized to issue instructions to the AdO and financed it. Due to overlapping competencies, tensions arose again and again between the two institutions, which put a strain on the cooperation.

Luig's successor was the High Commissioner of the Reich government for the South Tyrolean resettlement Ludwig Mayr-Falkenberg . At the beginning of 1941 ADERSt had over 560 almost exclusively Reich German employees, but by the end of 1941 the staff was reduced due to the faltering resettlement.

After German troops marched into Italy on September 8, 1943 and a Nazi civil administration was set up in South Tyrol , the resettlement was stopped and the Bolzano headquarters closed. In October 1944 the remnants of the authority were incorporated into the Office of the Supreme Commissioner.

tasks

The tasks of the ADERSt included:

Examination of the option applications
Preparation for naturalization in Germany
Placement of work and living space
Organization of relocation

In addition, the ADERSt handled the transport of the voluntarily registered optants for the Wehrmacht , Waffen-SS and SS skull associations recruited by the South Tyrolean Völkischer Kampfring , who left South Tyrol in 1940 in particular.

At the ADERSt in Bolzano there was also the cultural commission of the SS Ahnenerbes under the direction of SS Obersturmbannführer Wolfram Sievers . Under his leadership, about 60 scientists worked on the registration and removal of the cultural heritage of the Optanten.

literature

Index of the service instructions and organization plans of the DAT, DUT and organization plan of the ADERSt, Innsbruck 1947 (online)

Margareth Lun: Nazi rule in South Tyrol. The Alpine Foreland operational zone 1943-1945 . Studienverlag, Innsbruck 2004, ISBN 978-3-7065-1830-7 .

Ludwig Walter Regele: Meran and the Third Reich . Studienverlag, Innsbruck 2007, ISBN 978-3-7065-4425-2 .

Michael Wedekind: National Socialist Occupation and Annexation Policy in Northern Italy 1943 to 1945. Oldenbuorg Verlag, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-486-56650-4 .

Web links

Heinrich Himmler: Authority to issue instructions in South Tyrol 1941 (PDF; 17 kB)

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b ^c Michael Wedekind: National Socialist Occupation and Annexation Policy in Northern Italy 1943 to 1945. P. 130.
↑ Michael Wedekind: National Socialist Occupation and Annexation Policy in Northern Italy 1943 to 1945. P. 130, 134.
^ Südtiroler Landesarchiv (Ed.): Archive VKS / AdO (Völkischer Kampfring Südtirols Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Optanten für Deutschland). Edited by Andreas Titton, Bozen 2007, S. V ( PDF ).
↑ Thomas Casagrande: South Tyroleans in the Waffen-SS: Exemplary attitude, fanatical conviction. Raetia, Bozen 2015, ISBN 978-88-7283-539-5 p. 30.
^ Michael Wedekind: National Socialist Occupation and Annexation Policy in Northern Italy 1943 to 1945. P. 131.

[Wedekind130-1] A ^b ^c Michael Wedekind: National Socialist Occupation and Annexation Policy in Northern Italy 1943 to 1945. P. 130.

[2] Michael Wedekind: National Socialist Occupation and Annexation Policy in Northern Italy 1943 to 1945. P. 130, 134.

[3] Südtiroler Landesarchiv (Ed.): Archive VKS / AdO (Völkischer Kampfring Südtirols Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Optanten für Deutschland). Edited by Andreas Titton, Bozen 2007, S. V ( PDF ).

[4] Thomas Casagrande: South Tyroleans in the Waffen-SS: Exemplary attitude, fanatical conviction. Raetia, Bozen 2015, ISBN 978-88-7283-539-5 p. 30.

[5] Michael Wedekind: National Socialist Occupation and Annexation Policy in Northern Italy 1943 to 1945. P. 131.