Arno Breitmeyer

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Arno Breitmeyer (around 1933).

Arno Heinrich Alexander Breitmeyer (born April 19, 1903 in Berlin ; † uncertain: 1944/1945) was a German rower , sports journalist and political functionary of the NSDAP . Among other things, he held the office of Reich Sports Leader from 1943 to 1944 , after having been Deputy Reich Sports Leader from 1933 to 1943.

Live and act

Breitmeyer began rowing in his youth . His greatest successes were winning the German rowing championship in 1926 and 1927 in the eight and four.

From 1921 Breitmeyer also worked as a sports journalist. Politically, he had been a member of the NSDAP ( membership number 1.090.031) since May 1, 1932 . In early 1933 at the latest, Breitmeyer became the head of the sports department of the Völkischer Beobachter as "sports editor" . He succeeded Ludwig Haymann .

In the summer of 1933 Breitmeyer was appointed press officer in the Reichssportführung by Hans von Tschammer und Osten, who had been appointed Reichssportführer at the time. His office was the so-called Reich Sports Office in Berlin. In September 1933, Breitmeyer also took over the position of deputy Reich Sports Leader. In this capacity he held a leading position in 1936 in organizing the preparations for the Summer Olympics in Berlin . He was also a member of the official organizing committee. In the administrative service Breitmeyer achieved the rank of senior government councilor in 1936 as part of his work in the Reichssportführung and in 1939 the rank of government director in the Reichssportamt.

As deputy Reich Sports Leader, Breitmeyer performed numerous representative functions. He often attended sporting events as a representative of the state or the organization of sport, presented trophies and medals to the winners of competitions or honored deserving athletes for their achievements with basic awards ("for his services to German sport" and the like) . Together with Hitler's personal photographer Heinrich Hoffmann , Breitmeyer began in 1934 with the publication of a four-volume series of illustrated books abundantly illustrated with photographs on sport in the Nazi state , of which only two ultimately appeared. In the context of his influence on the organizational component of German sport, Breitmeyer was "notorious for his sharp anti-Semitic course".

Breitmeyer was also a member of the Sturmabteilung (SA), in which he last reached the rank of SA Brigade Leader on April 20, 1944, skipping several ranks .

On the occasion of the Reichstag election of April 1938 , Breitmeyer ran unsuccessfully on the "List of the Führer to the Greater German Reichstag" for a seat in the National Socialist Reichstag .

During the Second World War, Breitmeyer commuted between his position in the Reich Sports Office and active engagement as a member of the Wehrmacht , with which he took part in the attack on Poland , the French campaign and the Russian campaign. Most recently he achieved the rank of captain and battery chief.

After Tschammer und Osten died in March 1943, Breitmeyer was appointed the new (acting) Reich Sports Leader. In the words of Dirk Bitzer, however, this appointment was practically only "a mere formality: Because sport [...] [had] long since become meaningless against the background of the total war [at this point in time]". However, this only concerned the international sport. Under the motto physical exercises now all the more! an attempt was made to demonstrate normality in sport. There were German championships until 1944, so that Breitmeyer, as Reich Sports Leader, initially had many organizational tasks, precisely because the difference between the destroyed and non-destroyed sports facilities made day-to-day business more difficult and impaired planning security. Nevertheless, he retained the post of Reich Sports Leader for almost a year and a half until he volunteered for service in the Wehrmacht (or was drafted) in September 1944 , where he received the rank of captain. His successor as Reichssportführer was Karl Ritter von Halt , who was appointed as the last Reichssportführer on September 18, 1944 - and was then only able to liquidate.

From 1943 to 1944 Breitmeyer also acted as President of the German Olympic Committee .

Different information is available about Breitmeyer's death: Wolfgang Niersbach and Hans Joachim Teichler both give 1945 as the year of his death, while Volker Kluge gave the year 1944, which is also often given on the Internet.

Fonts

As editor:

  • Essence and Structure of German Sports , 2 vols., Berlin 1934. (together with PG Hoffmann on behalf of the Reich Sports Leader with the assistance of A. Baeumler)

literature

  • Hans Joachim Teichler: International Sports Policy in the Third Reich , 1991, v. a. P. 48.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Birth register StA Berlin XI, No. 1087/1903
  2. ↑ Menorah. Yearbook for German-Jewish History , 1994, p. 337.
  3. ↑ Dirk Bitzer: Storming for Germany, 2003, p. 125.
  4. ↑ Arnd Krüger : "Physical exercise now more than ever!" Sports in World War II. In: Arnd Krüger, Hans Langenfeld (Hrsg.): Sport in Hannover - from the founding of the city until today . Göttingen: Die Werkstatt 1991, 185–188; Arnd Krüger: Germany and Sport in World War II, in: Can. Journal of the History of Sport 24 (1993), 1, 52-62.
  5. ↑ 1936. The Olympic Games and National Socialism. A documentation. The Olympic Games and National Socialism. A documentation. Edited by Reinhard Rürup . Argon Verlag, Berlin 1996, p. 48. ISBN 3-87024-350-3 .
  6. ^ Wolfgang Niersbach: Hundert Jahre DFB , p. 293.
  7. ↑ Hans Joachim Teichler: Internationale Sportpolitik im Third Reich , 1991, p. 48
  8. ↑ Volker Kluge: Max Schmeling. A biography in 15 rounds , 2004, p. 537.
personal data
SURNAME Breitmeyer, Arno
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Breitmeyer, Arno Heinrich Alexander (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German rower, sports journalist and political functionary of the NSDAP
DATE OF BIRTH April 19, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: 1944 or 1945