Clemens Kentrup

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Clemens August Kentrup (* 11. January 1897 , † 24. June 1945 ) was a German NSDAP - Gau Economics Adviser and President of the Chamber of Commerce Baden 1933-1936.

IHK President

Kentrup, who holds a doctorate in law, came from Dortmund , was initially managing director of the Mönchengladbach Chamber of Crafts and then headed the Baden regional directorate of the West German Insurance Company in Dortmund as an insurance manager until 1932 . In 1933, the Baden NSDAP Gauleiter Robert Wagner appointed him his Gau economic advisor. After the DC circuit of the Chambers of Commerce in 1933, he was in personal union with this function, President of the Chamber of Commerce Baden summarized and where all the formerly independent chambers of commerce of the country of Kentrup after Führerprinzip were conducted. The individual chambers, such as the one in Mannheim under its President Fritz Reuther or the Freiburg Chamber with President Emil Tscheulin , who was also newly appointed in 1933 , remained formally in place, but were subordinate to Kentrup and his Baden unified chamber, based in Karlsruhe.

As a staunch National Socialist, Kentrup had set himself the goal of subordinating the tasks of the chambers of the party. In 1936, for example, he attempted to replace the three managing directors of the Mannheim Chamber of Industry and Commerce with party comrades against the resistance of its President Fritz Reuther. Since only a few industrialists from Baden were close to the NSDAP before 1933, Kentrup saw in his office the task of " promoting the dissemination of National Socialist ideas in the economy" and linking them as far as possible to the party. In order to achieve this, he merged the positions of regional economic adviser and the president of the newly founded IHK Baden, set up his party office as regional economic adviser to the NSDAP in the premises of the IHK and transferred considerable funds from the IHK to the party. He also used his functions to personally inappropriately benefit himself financially.

In his efforts, which were supported in principle by Gauleiter Wagner, he encountered resistance from Baden's Prime Minister Walter Köhler . Köhler, who was finance and economics minister in Baden at the same time, claimed for himself the influence on economic policy, a field that the otherwise power-conscious Gauleiter and Reich Commissioner Wagner left to him. In the dispute with Wagner around 1935/36, Köhler also succeeded in pushing back the influence of the Baden NSDAP on the economy, which district economic advisor Kentrup had set himself to promote. Köhler set up a Baden Chamber of Commerce , which inevitably competed with the Baden Chamber of Commerce and Industry run by Kentrup . In order to deny Gauleiter Wagner the opportunity to hand over the management of this chamber to Kentrup, Köhler took it over himself and obtained the approval of Reich Economics Minister Schacht , since the chambers should not be managed by members of the government as a rule. This significantly weakened Kentrup's influence at the level of the economic chambers. In contrast, he retained his office as NSDAP regional economic adviser until 1945. After his replacement as President of the Baden Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Kentrup was initially director of the Badische Kommunale Landesbank in Karlsruhe.

Gau economic advisor

One of the tasks of the Gau economic consultants was to promote the “de-Jewification of the economy”. This gave them an essential role in the “ Aryanization ” of Jewish assets. While many regional economic advisors are known to have enriched themselves indirectly through procedures for the Aryanization of Jewish assets, for example from Karl Eckardt (Gau Hessen-Nassau) or Oskar Hinterleitner (Gau Upper Austria), Kentrup personally acquired an "Aryanized" company. In 1939 he became the owner of the Oscar Weil metal works in Lahr , a company that manufactured steel wool and still exists today.

This takeover is also remarkable because it took place in cooperation with the IHK Freiburg, which basically had to approve the purchase agreements between Jewish owners and “Aryan” buyers. Its president Emil Tscheulin, who presumably also financed the takeover of the Jewish plant by his son-in-law Kentrup, was the owner of the aluminum plant, at which Kentrup was employed as director from 1937.

Kentrup also had the function of a “ State Commissioner for the Baden Economy” and was a member of the “Upper Rhine Armaments Commission” during the war. He was married to Gretel Tscheulin, a daughter of the Freiburg Chamber of Commerce President Emil Tscheulin. Kentrup died in French captivity in 1945.

literature

  • Hermann Teschemacher (Hrsg.): Handbook of the structure of the commercial economy, Volume 3: Reichswirtschaftskammer, Wirtschaftskammer, Industrie- u. Chamber of Commerce. 461 p. 1937 Lühe Verlag, Leipzig
  • Roland Peter: Arms policy in Baden. War economy and labor in a border region during World War II . 405 S. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 1995 ISBN 978-3-486-56057-2 .
  • Frank Bajohr : "Aryanization" in Hamburg. The displacement of Jewish entrepreneurs 1933–1945. (= Hamburg contributions to social and contemporary history , Volume 35) Christians, Hamburg 1997, ISBN 3-7672-1302-8 .
  • Roland Peter: The chambers under the swastika. In: Bernd Boll , Ursula Huggle (Ed.): The Chamber of Commerce and Industry Southern Upper Rhine. History and field of activity of the Freiburg and Lahr Chambers. Edited on behalf of the Southern Upper Rhine Chamber of Commerce and Industry. With contributions by Bernd Boll et al. - IHK Südlicher Oberrhein, Freiburg 1998, pp. 145–174, ISBN 3-00-002797-1 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Peter, R. (1995: 401)
  2. ^ Peter, R. (1998: 140ff)
  3. ↑ Burrer, F. Peter, R. (12/2005: 12)
  4. ↑ Peter, R. (1995: 50)
  5. ↑ Peter 1995: 50
  6. ^ Teschemacher, H. (1937: 55)
  7. ↑ Bajohr: 1997: 174 ff.
  8. ↑ Peter, R. (1998: 160)
personal data
SURNAME Kentrup, Clemens
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kentrup, Clemens August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Nazi business leader
DATE OF BIRTH January 11, 1897
DATE OF DEATH June 24, 1945