Friedhelm Dräger

Friedhelm Draeger as a witness during the Nuremberg Trials

Friedhelm Dräger (born June 21, 1900 in Schöneberg near Berlin ; † January 24, 1993 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a German diplomat.

Live and act

Youth and education

Dräger was the son of police sergeant Robert Reinhold Dräger and his wife Anna Emilie Schülke. After attending elementary school, he was taught at a high school, which he left in June 1918 with the Abitur. He then took part in the First World War until December 1918 . Then he studied from 1918 to 1923 political science at the Friedrich-Wilhelms University in Berlin , where he in July 1923, Dr. rer. pol received his doctorate .

After completing his studies, Dräger began working as a bank clerk at the German-South American Bank in autumn 1923. Since he had already been close to the German People's Party as a student and had been a successful election speaker for this party from around 1923, he turned full-time into politics from 1925: In January 1925, Dräger became State Secretary of the German People's Party in Anhalt, a post he had almost three Dressed for years.

Foreign service career

In 1927, Dräger decided to join the Foreign Service: To this end, he had been studying language in England and France since October 1927. During this time he was temporarily employed at the German Embassy in Paris from November 1, 1927 to March 1928 . On his return, he was officially called up to serve at the Foreign Office in Berlin on April 21, 1928 . After taking up his post on May 1, 1928, he worked there in Department IV ("Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, East Asia"). On February 27, 1931 he passed the diplomatic-consular examination.

From March 11, 1931 to May 27, 1931, Dräger worked in Department III (British Empire, America, Orient). On April 18, he was seconded to the embassy in Mexico , where he arrived on June 18, 1931. He stayed there until April 16, 1934.

On March 24, 1934, Dräger - who had been promoted to Legation Secretary on March 19 - was transferred to the Consulate General in New York with the title of Vice Consul , where he began his service on April 20. In New York, Dräger initially acted as a consultant for foreign exchange matters. In 1935 or 1936 he took over the German department dealing with German cultural affairs in the states. In this position, Dräger was - of the since August 1, 1935 NSDAP belonged - among other things, responsible liaison between the NSDAP Foreign Organization and members of the Nazi Party in the northeastern United States . From December 1937 to June 1941, Dräger also looked after the NSDAP members in the New York district as a representative of the Foreign Office and the NSDAP foreign organization. In numerous American publications he is also associated with German propaganda, sabotage and espionage activities in the United States during the first two years of the war.

Dräger retained his position as vice consul or consul for almost seven years until the German consular authorities in the USA were closed in July 1941. During this time he was promoted to consul II class (October 25, 1937) and class I (December 21, 1940).

On July 16, 1941, Dräger left for Europe. Back in Germany, from August 7, 1941, he was temporarily employed in the human resources and administration department at the Foreign Office (commenced on August 7, 1941), where he held tasks in Section H (establishment of the foreign service abroad, personal details of senior civil servants, etc. ) done. After six months, Dräger was transferred to Kavalla in Bulgaria as head of the consulate general there in February 1942. He held this post until March 1944. He then worked at the German Embassy in Paris until August 1944. From August 1944 to April 1945, Dräger finally belonged to a department of the Foreign Office in Salzburg. After the dissolution of the same, he returned to his family.

post war period

Shortly after the end of the war, Dräger was arrested. In the following years he was interrogated as a witness in the context of the Nuremberg trials .

Fonts

• Municipal taxes and their structure during the war years based on the financial situation of the city of Berlin , 1923. (Dissertation)

literature

• Foreign Office: Biographical Handbook of the German Foreign Service, 1871–1945: A – F , 2000.

Web links

• IFZ: minutes of Dräger interrogations from 1947 in the IFZ archive (PDF; 3.8 MB)