German front

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The German Front (DF) was a national mass movement in the Saar area , which emerged from the German National People's Party (DNVP), the Center Party , the German-Saarland People's Party (DSVP), the Economic Party (WP) and the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) of the Saarland . The German Front was founded for the voting campaign for the Saar referendum and was intended to bundle the bourgeois and national camps. After the annexation of the Saar area to the German Reich , the German front was integrated into the NSDAP Saar.

history

Starting position

Josef Bürckel

The NSDAP in the Saar area was able to record some successes in the years 1929 to 1933, but remained "a party with little response". In 1933 it had around 25,000 members and a voter potential of 30,000. When Adolf Hitler came to power in the German Reich in the spring of 1933 , the Saar referendum, which involved joining the Saar area with either France or Germany or maintaining the status quo, was still two years away. Since Hitler reservations about the politically inexperienced Nazi leadership had he appointed Joseph Bürckel the Gauleiter , without, however, the incumbent Gauleiter Charles Bridge to impeach. Bürckel then dissolved the Gau Saar and subordinated the NSDAP to its Gauleitung with headquarters in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse . Brück tried to stop this development by turning to Robert Ley , Hitler's deputy, and then to Hitler himself, but was relieved of all posts and transferred to the Reich Organization Office of the NSDAP. The Government Commission of the Saar adopted shortly after a law obliging the parties in the Saar on the legal independence from the German Reich. Bürckel could therefore not remain Gauleiter. Instead, Alois Spaniol was appointed as Gauleiter, who was to act as Bürckel's straw man.

Foundation of the German Front

Jacob Pirro

The plan for the formation of a national mass movement that was to appear non-partisan was first put into writing in early 1933. It was primarily the idea of Carl Kuhlmann , later Saar advisor in the Propaganda Ministry , Karl Barth , personal advisor to Bürckel, and Heinrich Schneider , Saar advisor in the Prussian Ministry of the Interior . Preliminary negotiations started from DSVP member Hermann Röchling , who wrote to Adolf Hitler asking for the establishment of a kind of national united front . On May 15, 1933, a meeting between him and Hitler took place in the Reich Chancellery in which the most important points were discussed. Two months later, on July 15, it was finally announced that the center, DSVP, DNVP, the economic party and the NSDAP Saar wanted to merge. The German front was placed under the leadership of Alois Spaniol . In the First German Front, all parties were organized independently, which contradicted Bürckel's plans. It was not until late September and early October that all of the bourgeois parties, with the exception of the NSDAP, finally disbanded.

Spaniol confronted Bürckel because he wanted the NSDAP to continue as a party at the head of the DF. Bürckel's plan was to take the NSDAP out of criticism and to reach layers that were deterred by the street fighting of the NSDAP and especially the SA . When Spaniol finally gave an interview in a Swedish newspaper in which he compared Hitler with the Messiah , Bürckel was able to weaken his position and ultimately push him out of office. The NSDAP Saar was finally dissolved on February 26, 1934 and Jakob Pirro , a confidante of Bürckel, was appointed as the new head of the German Front. However, not all former NSDAP members agreed with the development. On March 2, 1934, Rudolf Hess finally declared in an announcement that for a later takeover in the NSDAP, it was not the NSDAP membership before 1934 that was decisive, but the compliance with the instructions of the state leader of the DF.

Although the position of the NSDAP was weakened somewhat by the establishment of the German Front, all important positions were occupied by National Socialists and the influence of other politicians was only marginal.

Voting battle and Saar vote

On July 18, 1934, Bürckel was officially commissioned by Joseph Goebbels to carry out the propaganda for the Saar referendum. Bürckel was almost solely responsible for this, only the Foreign Office and the Saar consultant acted in an advisory capacity. To finance the propaganda, grants in the millions from the Reich were used, which came from the various ministries, the Winter Relief Organization and the German Labor Front . There was also income from members and donations. Other funding sources included newspapers, commemorative coins and postage stamps.

Before the Saar referendum, the German Front succeeded in establishing an almost complete system of secret service activities and right-wing terror in the Saar area. This was partly reminiscent of the " Gleichschaltung" in Nazi Germany, especially since the Saar government commission appeared helpless. The DF was able to install its own system of police and officers in high positions in the Saar area. German national acts of violence were partly covered by the executive organs, but also by the courts.

However, the DF tried to broadcast a calm image to the outside world. To ensure this, the DF's press organs were used to convey non-politicized resistance to the annexation to France among the non-politicized population. The German Reich also did the rest and refrained from all kinds of marches and rallies 40 km from the border. Members of the SA and the Schutzstaffel were prohibited from entering the Saar area from December 1, 1934. Rumors about the establishment of a concentration camp in Neunkirchen (Saar) were also denied relatively quickly.

The German front relied primarily on cultural propaganda that mixed homeland ties with national sentiments. In terms of propaganda, the DF carried out actions of the entire National Socialist propaganda apparatus according to Joseph Goebbels . Large rallies, posters and mass marches were part of the inventory. Slogans such as “German is the Saar, everdar!” And “Heim ins Reich!” Were issued. The patriotic Saarland song by Hanns Maria Lux also attracted increasing attention.

After joining the German Reich

Already in secret, the DF had installed a complete synchronization system based on the model of the Third Reich, which could now put the official synchronization policy into effect immediately. The German front merged with the NSDAP and Josef Bürckel was now officially Gauleiter of Saarland.

organization

The organizational scheme of the German Front was based on the same principle as that of the Reich German NSDAP and was strictly hierarchical:

Country Management (Country Manager)

Circle (circle leader)
Local group (local group leader)
Cell (cell attendant)
Block (block attendant)

The lower levels were mainly occupied by non-National Socialists, who thereby experienced a feeling of real co-determination, but who in fact were only able to act within narrow limits. They were mainly responsible for the propaganda and cultural work.

Block attendant system

A cell should be a maximum of five blocks. The respective block attendants were responsible for about 20 voters. How the organizational density actually was can no longer be understood today. According to official information, the DF had over 40,000 “administrators”. The block attendants had two tasks: they were “ear tubes” and “mouthpieces”. The ear tube comprised intelligence services, while the mouthpiece was understood as active propaganda. The latter also included threats, extortion and poaching. In principle, the block warden system represented a kind of auxiliary police system for the party.

Working group of cultural associations

The German Front united civic-national associations in a so-called "Working Group of Cultural Associations". These served as a mobilization factor for rallies and other propaganda. The previously independent associations have now come together in a large, tightly organized community.

Security service

The Ordnungsdienst (OD) was the combat force of the German Front, which was formed on the model of the Sturmabteilung . Some of these took over police functions and also used violence against anti-fascists and communists . Within the party, the OD also monitored its own members. The OD was organized in smaller groups of 10 men, led by a steward. The system was used nationwide in the Saar area and amounted to around 10,000 units, including 1,500 female members. In addition to the road troops, there was also a motorized OD that was provided by the German Automobile Club (DAC).

Other organizational factors

  • the courts of honor were a kind of unofficial jurisdiction within the party
  • the Gestapo , known from the NSDAP, was also conspiratorially active in the Saar area
  • V-men and informers were also widespread

Known members

Head of the German Front

Other former members

literature

  • Gerhard Paul : "German mother - home to you!" The battle against the Saar from 1933 to 1935 . Bund.Verlag, Cologne 1984, ISBN 3-7663-0881-5 .
  • Gerhard Paul: The NSDAP of the Saar area 1920-1935 . Saarbrücker Druckerei und Verlag (SDV), Saarbrücken 1987, ISBN 3-925036-11-3 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gerhard Paul : The NSDAP of the Saar area 1920-1935 . Saarbrücker Druckerei und Verlag (SDV), Saarbrücken 1987, ISBN 3-925036-11-3 , p. 61 .
  2. ^ Gerhard Paul : The NSDAP of the Saar area 1920-1935 . 1987, p. 68 f .
  3. ^ Gerhard Paul : "German mother - home to you!" The battle against the Saar 1933 to 1935 . Bund-Verlag, Cologne 1984, ISBN 3-7663-0881-5 , p. 69-71 .
  4. ^ Gerhard Paul : "German mother - home to you!" The battle against the Saar 1933 to 1935 . 1984, p. 71-72 .
  5. ^ A b Maria Zenner: Parties and politics in the Saar area under the League of Nations regime 1920–1935 . Minerva-Verlag Thinnes & Nolte, Saarbrücken 1966, p. 299 .
  6. ^ Gerhard Paul : "German mother - home to you!" The battle against the Saar 1933 to 1935 . 1984, p. 74 .
  7. ^ Gerhard Paul : "German mother - home to you!" The battle against the Saar 1933 to 1935 . 1984, p. 75 .
  8. ^ Gerhard Paul : "German mother - home to you!" The battle against the Saar 1933 to 1935 . 1984, p. 86 ff .
  9. ↑ Kurt Pätzold: Demagoguery, terror and corruption in the imperialist influence of the Saar population . In: Colloquium of the History Section of the Humboldt University of Berlin (ed.): The struggle for the future of the Saar area 1934/35 . June 21, 1984, p. 69 .
  10. ↑ a b The Saar vote in 1935. German Historical Museum , accessed on July 20, 2012 .
  11. ^ Gerhard Paul : "German mother - home to you!" The battle against the Saar 1933 to 1935 . 1984, p. 77 .
  12. ^ Gerhard Paul : "German mother - home to you!" The battle against the Saar 1933 to 1935 . 1984, p. 78-80 .
  13. ↑ a b Gerhard Paul : "German mother - home to you!" The battle against the Saar from 1933 to 1935 . 1984, p. 81 .
  14. ^ A b c Gerhard Paul : "German mother - home to you!" The battle against the Saar from 1933 to 1935 . 1984, p. 82 ff .