Office Rosenberg

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The term Amt Rosenberg (ARo) in the narrower sense denotes a department for cultural policy and surveillance policy of the Nazi chief ideologist Alfred Rosenberg , which was established in 1934 in connection with his appointment as the leader's representative for the surveillance of the entire intellectual and ideological training and education of the NSDAP (DBFU for D he B eauftragte of Fu ehrers) under the name "service Rosenberg" (DRBG) in the Margaretenstraße 17 in Berlin-Zoo (opposite the Matthäuskirche in diplomatic area was set). Due to the long name of Rosenberg's DBFU-Dienststelle (office of the "Commissioner of the Führer for the supervision of the entire intellectual and ideological education of the NSDAP"), the abbreviation "Reichsüberwachungsamt" was also used from 1934 on. In the literature you can also find the terms "Rosenberg surveillance office" and simply "surveillance office".

Since the post-war period , the term Amt Rosenberg has also been used as a collective name for various Rosenberg offices that he maintained between 1928 and 1945 in the Weimar Republic and during the National Socialist era . In addition to the " Foreign Policy Office of the NSDAP " (APA), the Combat League for German Culture (KfdK) and the NS cultural community that later emerged from the KfdK (including the KdF Theater and the Reichsverband Deutsche Bühne ) are included; also the Nordic Society affiliated to the APA as well as the high school and the task force Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR). The historian Reinhard Bollmus did not include the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories (RMfdbO) in the "Rosenberg Office" because it was a "state organization". This article is exclusively about Rosenberg's office as DBFU.

History of origin

KfdK and Office Rosenberg

Although the term Amt Rosenberg was also used during the Nazi era in connection with the Foreign Policy Office of the NSDAP (1933-1943), it can be traced back to one of the historian Reinhard in its use as a collective name for various Rosenberg offices since the post-war period Bollmus published a font in 1970 with the same main title Amt Rosenberg . In this book, Bollmus highlighted in particular a structural connection to the “Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur” (KfdK) by emphasizing that “the emergence, structure and function of this office ” was partly “ derived from the history of the Kampfbund and its relationship to the party, like it even before the seizure of power developed can be explained ". Accordingly, George Leaman noted in 1994 that the so-called “Amt Rosenberg” (ARo) had the same address and telephone number as the “Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur” and, for example, Gotthard Urban was given leading positions in both organizations. From 1929 onwards, the KfdK was based at Barer Strasse 50 in Munich-Schwabing. From April 27, 1934, the Rosenberg office (DRbg) was located at Margaretenstrasse 17 in Berlin; between 1941 and 1943 in the former, converted "Hotel am Knie" (later Ernst-Reuter-Platz ) on Bismarckstrasse 1 in Berlin-Charlottenburg, which was destroyed by an air raid on November 22, 1943. Then the DRbg or the Rosenberg Office moved back to Margaretenstrasse.

Conceptual vagueness

In addition to the general designation of the term “Amt Rosenberg” for various Rosenberg's offices in the sense of an analytical category and collective name, Bollmus also used a narrower term in his book “ Das Amt Rosenberg ” in 1970 when he wrote: “ On January 24, 1934, Hitler commissioned Rosenberg with the supervision of the entire intellectual and ideological training and education of the NSDAP, which was the reason for the establishment of the agency, the development of which we want to investigate. He retained the leadership of this office when he was appointed Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories on July 17, 1941. “In 1970, Bollmus dated the establishment of the Rosenberg office to 1934 and, in contrast to a contemporary use from 1935, tied the term more closely to Rosenberg's office of the DBFU than to the APA. These are two different offices of Rosenberg. For example, the historian Ernst Piper differentiated the office of the " Führer 's representative for monitoring the entire intellectual and ideological training and education of the NSDAP " (DBFU) from the Foreign Policy Office of the NSDAP. However, there was a partial overlap with regard to a common address: In 1941, some APA departments that were not transferred to the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories (RMfdbO) were housed as tenants in the "Rosenberg Office" on Bismarckstrasse 1. The consequence of the different conceptual representations in the literature is that there has so far been no uniform and therefore unambiguous use of the term Rosenberg's office in the narrower sense. The term was related to both Rosenberg's office of the DBFU and the APA. For example, Rosenberg's colleague Franz Theodor Hart wrote about the APA in 1935: “ By the second half of 1934, Alfred Rosenberg's office had received over 10,000 foreign visitors. In a number of cases, the APA is also to be thanked for a strong initiative to increase German foreign trade. "

DBFU and Rosenberg Office

In his book, published in 1970, Bollmus laid down himself in the first sentence of his introduction by writing that the DBFU's office was "commonly called Amt Rosenberg ". The appointment of Rosenberg to the DBFU by Adolf Hitler took place on January 24, 1934 on the basis of a proposal by Reich Organization Leader Robert Ley ; the official announcement took place on February 1, 1934. Rosenberg's mandate as DBFU referred in particular to the NSDAP, all "harmonized associations" and the political organization Kraft durch Freude (KdF). After the appointment, Gotthard Urban gave up his post at a bank, subsequently moved from Munich to Berlin and helped to build Rosenberg's office in Rosenberg under the auspices of "educational leadership". The official establishment of the Amt Rosenberg in the narrower understanding of Bollmus took place on June 6, 1934. The historian Jan-Pieter Barbian avoided the term Amt Rosenberg in a book he published in 1995 and spoke specifically with reference to the establishment of Rosenberg's agency on this date from the office of the DBFU. On the same day, on June 6, 1934, the KfdK was merged with the “Deutsche Bühne” and was given the new name “ National Socialist Kulturgemeinde ” (NSKG), or “NS-Kulturgemeinde” (NS-KG) for short. From now on the NSKG was to take over the leadership of the cultural life within the NS-community “Strength through Joy” as well as through programming for the art and cultural life supported by it and also within the framework of the whole party. Furthermore, as Rosenberg noted in his diary, her task was to create and mentally develop a youth organization, " in whose life new forms of cultural life should develop, which the large organization as a whole was intended to take up in a more educational manner. "

Office Rosenberg as office of the DBFU

Departments and People

Rosenberg appointed the theater scholar and dramaturge Walter Stang as his deputy head of the NSKG , who, alongside Gotthard Urban, became the most important employee of Rosenberg in the office of the DBFU. As head of staff in the Rosenberg office, Urban was responsible for coordinating the offices; Helmut Stellrecht took over this function in mid-September 1941 after Urban’s death . Rosenberg's surveillance office quickly became a prime example of bureaucratism , which unfolded particularly uninhibitedly during the Nazi era. In the early days, the Rosenberg Office consisted of the following four departments:

  • Office training under the direction of Otto Gohdes , from 1934 Max Frauendorfer , from 1936 Friedrich Schmidt and from 1942 Heinrich Bruhn . The area of ​​responsibility of this department lay in the Reich teaching community and the Reich working group for the training of the entire movement . In 1938 was official training in official teaching planning renamed, 1942 Main Office training and education .
  • Office of Art Care , which was under the direction of Walter Stang.
    1. In the first years after 1933, personal checks that were carried out by the Kulturpolitisches Archiv (later: the “Kulturpolitisches Archiv” office) were important. The archive was under the control of the Department of Art Care and was initially headed from January 1935 by Herbert Gerigk , who was succeeded by Hermann Killer in this position at the beginning of January 1939 .
    2. The head of the main “visual arts” (later: “visual arts” office) in the arts care office was the art journalist Robert Scholz , who was also the editor of the journal Die Kunst im Deutschen Reich , published by Rosenberg . Scholz was directly involved in the ERR's art theft, because from a technical point of view he was the head of the art historians of the “Special Staff for Fine Art” of the Reichsleiter Rosenberg's operational staff in the occupied countries.
    3. Head of the main department “Music” (later: Office “Music”) in the Office of Art Care was initially Friedrich W. Herzog and from January 1935 the musicologist Herbert Gerigk , who also temporarily headed the cultural and political archive in the Office Rosenberg. Gerigk was also editor of the journal Die Musik, published by Rosenberg, and co-editor of the Lexicon of Jews in Music .
    4. Further departments of the Art Care Office were "Dramaturgisches Büro" and "Theater".
  • Office for the maintenance of literature , which was headed by Hans Hagemeyer . In the beginning the office was completely identical to the Reich Office for the Promotion of German Literature .
  • Department for Prehistory and Early History under Hans Reinerth , which became a main office in 1937. In 1940 this department was set up as a separate office.

By the end of 1934 the Rosenberg Office was expanded to include the following departments:

  • Archive for questions of church politics under the direction of Matthes Ziegler (from 1937 Office of Philosophical Information; from 1942 Main Office of Supranational Powers)
  • Science department under Alfred Baeumler , from 1941 Heinrich Härtle and from 1942 Walter Groß (the Prehistory and Early History department was incorporated here in 1943)

And from 1938 these departments followed:

  • Office for Jewish and Freemason issues under August Schirmer (incorporated into the main office for supranational powers in 1942), according to Patricia Kennedy Grimstedt, Gerd Wunder held this office for a time .
  • Development Office for High School under Alfred Baeumler (officially from 1942; activity since 1938)

In the book Constitution and Administration in the Greater German Reich from 1939, the following information can be found under the heading “The leader's representative for the supervision of the entire ideological and intellectual training and education of the NSDAP and its affiliated associations”: “In this capacity he has to guard the purity of the National Socialist idea. His office is divided into administrative office, office for training, office for art maintenance, main office science (philosophy and pedagogy, history, Aryan ideology), office literature maintenance, department for ideological information, office prehistory, main office Nordic questions, main office press. ”He also has the To oversee the “Reich Office for the Promotion of German Literature” and the “Reich Association for German Prehistory ”. He is also responsible for the “newly founded working group for German folklore , which was brought into being in January 1937 as a result of an agreement between the Reichsleiter Darré , Hierl , Himmler , Rosenberg and von Schirach, in view of the constantly growing importance of folklore issues for the training and education work of Party to bring about permanent cooperation. "

resolution

In the Control Council Act No. 2 , enacted on October 10, 1945 by the Allied Control Council , the Rosenberg office as a National Socialist organization was banned and its property was confiscated.

literature

  • Reinhard Bollmus: The Rosenberg Office and its opponents . Studies on the power struggle in the National Socialist system of rule. Stuttgart 1970. DNB 456157557 (2nd edition, Munich / Oldenbourg 2006, ISBN 3-486-54501-9 .)
  • Raimund Baumgärtner: Weltanschauung struggle in the Third Reich . The dispute between the churches and Alfred Rosenberg. Mainz 1977, ISBN 3-7867-0654-9 .
  • Michael H. Kater: The »Ahnenerbe« of the SS: 1933–1945 . A contribution to the cultural policy of the Third Reich. Stuttgart 1974. (4th edition, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-486-57950-9 .)
  • George Leaman: German Philosophers and the "Rosenberg Office" . In: Ilse Korotin (ed.): "The best spirits of the nation" . Philosophy and National Socialism, Vienna 1994, ISBN 3-85452-257-6 , pp. 41–65.
  • Jan-Pieter Barbian: Literary politics in the »Third Reich« . Institutions, competencies, fields of activity, Nördlingen 1995, ISBN 3-423-04668-6 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jan-Pieter Barbian: Literary Policy in the "Third Reich" . Institutions, competencies, fields of activity. Nördlingen 1995, ISBN 3-423-04668-6 , p. 276; the term “ideological surveillance office of the NSDAP” was also used, cf. Reich Propaganda Headquarters of the NSDAP (ed.): Our will and way. In: Monthly sheets of the Reich Propaganda Management of the NSDAP . Munich 1934, p. 195.
  2. ↑ E.g. Hildegard Brenner: The art in the political power struggle 1933/34. In: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte . 10th year (1962), issue 1, pp. 34 and 41 ( online as PDF ; 1.2 MB).
  3. ↑ a b c Reinhard Bollmus: Office Rosenberg . In: Wolfgang Benz u. a. (Ed.): Encyclopedia of National Socialism . 5th, updated and expanded edition dtv, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-423-34408-1 , pp. 400–402.
  4. ^ A b Franz Theodor Hart: Alfred Rosenberg . The man and his work. 2nd edition, Munich 1935, p. 47. DNB 573662746
  5. ↑ Reinhard Bollmus: The office of Rosenberg and its opponents . Studies on the power struggle in the National Socialist system of rule. Stuttgart 1970, p. 27.
  6. ↑ George Leaman: German Philosophers and the "Office Rosenberg" . In: Ilse Korotin (ed.): "The best spirits of the nation" . Philosophy and National Socialism, Vienna 1994, p. 60.
  7. ↑ a b Reinhard Bollmus: The office of Rosenberg and its opponents . Studies on the power struggle in the National Socialist system of rule. Stuttgart 1970, pp. 31, 252 and 265.
  8. ↑ Reinhard Bollmus: The office of Rosenberg and its opponents . Studies on the power struggle in the National Socialist system of rule. Stuttgart 1970, p. 20. (Adaptation of the quotation to the ref. German law)
  9. ^ Ernst Piper : Alfred Rosenberg . Hitler's chief ideologist, Munich 2005, p. 296.
  10. ↑ Andreas Zellhuber: "Our administration is heading for a catastrophe ..." The Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories and German occupation in the Soviet Union 1941–1945. Munich 2006, ISBN 3-89650-213-1 , p. 76. (Source: Letter from Rosenberg to Lammers, May 2, 1941, BA R 6/21, p. 27 f.)
  11. ^ Franz Theodor Hart: Alfred Rosenberg . The man and his work. 2nd edition, Munich 1935, p. 47.
  12. ↑ a b Reinhard Bollmus: The office of Rosenberg and its opponents . Studies on the power struggle in the National Socialist system of rule. Stuttgart 1970, p. 20.
  13. ↑ a b Reinhard Bollmus: The office of Rosenberg and its opponents . Studies on the power struggle in the National Socialist system of rule. Stuttgart 1970, pp. 20, 54 ff. And 59; see. also Alfred Rosenberg: last records , Göttingen 1955, p. 176. DNB 575891793
  14. ^ Alfred Rosenberg: Last records , Göttingen 1955, p. 168.
  15. ↑ Jan-Pieter Barbian: Literary Policy in the "Third Reich" . Institutions, competencies, fields of activity. Nördlingen 1995, p. 275.
  16. ↑ Reinhard Bollmus: The office of Rosenberg and its opponents . Studies on the power struggle in the National Socialist system of rule. Stuttgart 1970, p. 66 ff.
  17. ↑ Hans-Günther Seraphim: The political diary of Alfred Rosenberg . 1934/35 and 1939/40. Göttingen / Berlin / Frankfurt 1956, p. 37.
  18. ↑ Reinhard Bollmus: The office of Rosenberg and its opponents . Studies on the power struggle in the National Socialist system of rule. Stuttgart 1970, p. 31.
  19. ↑ Reinhard Bollmus: The office of Rosenberg and its opponents . Studies on the power struggle in the National Socialist system of rule. Stuttgart 1970, pp. 68, 263.
  20. ^ A b Ernst Piper: Alfred Rosenberg . Hitler's chief ideologist, Munich 2005, p. 326.
  21. ↑ Reinhard Bollmus: The office of Rosenberg and its opponents . Studies on the power struggle in the National Socialist system of rule. Stuttgart 1970, p. 137f.
  22. ^ Rainer Sieb: The access of the NSDAP to the music. To set up organizational structures for music work in the divisions of the party. Osnabrück 2007, p. 89 ff.
  23. ↑ Reinhard Bollmus: The office of Rosenberg and its opponents . Studies on the power struggle in the National Socialist system of rule. Stuttgart 1970, p. 260. (Note 3).
  24. ↑ Reinhard Bollmus: The office of Rosenberg and its opponents . Studies on the power struggle in the National Socialist system of rule. Stuttgart 1970, p. 101ff., P. 289 (note 43).
  25. ^ Organization book of the NSDAP , 7th edition, 1943, pp. 312a – 312b
  26. ↑ Jan-Pieter Barbian: Literary Policy in the "Third Reich" . Institutions, competencies, fields of activity. Nördlingen 1995, p. 275 f.
  27. ↑ a b Reinhard Bollmus: The office of Rosenberg and its opponents . Studies on the power struggle in the National Socialist system of rule. Stuttgart 1970, p. 68.
  28. ↑ Patricia Kennedy Grimsted: Roads to Ratibor: Library and Archival Plunder by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg. In: Holocaust and Genocide Studies , Volume 19, Issue 3, Winter 2005 (December 1, 2005), pp. 390–458, doi : 10.1093 / hgs / dci041 . Notes about Gerd Wunder under number 53.
  29. ^ A b Rudolf Kluge, Heinrich Krüger: Constitution and administration in the Greater German Empire . Reich Citizenship. 2., rework. Ed., Berlin 1939, p. 197.

Coordinates: 52 ° 31 '  N , 13 ° 22'  E