Friedrich Alpers

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Friedrich Ludwig Herbert Alpers , also called Fritz Alpers (born March 25, 1901 in Sonnenberg ; † September 3, 1944 near Mons , Belgium ), was a German NSDAP politician, Minister of the Free State of Braunschweig , SA and SS member, general forest master , State Secretary and SS-Obergruppenführer . Alpers is jointly responsible for numerous crimes committed by the National Socialists in Braunschweig.

Life

Early years

After graduating from the Martino-Katharineum in Braunschweig, Alpers was a member of the Maercker Freikorps from May 1919 to March 1, 1920 and took part in its battles in Saxony and Thuringia. He then studied law and political science at the universities of Heidelberg , Munich and Greifswald . In 1921 he became a member of the Corps Brunsviga Munich . In 1923 he was initially a legal trainee , but then for two years as a commercial trainee (including in Switzerland and Great Britain), so that he did not pass the second state examination to become a legal assessor until early 1929. He then worked as a lawyer in Braunschweig until 1933.

NSDAP and SS member

In June 1929 Alpers joined the NSDAP ( membership number 132.812), in May 1930 the SA and on March 1, 1931 the SS (SS number 6.427). He was very active in the SA and SS and quickly made a career in both organizations; In 1932 he became Sturmbannführer , 1933 SS-Standartenführer and 1943 SS-Obergruppenführer , his highest rank. Since October 1930 he was a member of the Braunschweig State Parliament .

Due to complaints from the NSDAP about excesses of violence on the part of Alpers during the Nazis ' seizure of power in Braunschweig, he was temporarily suspended twice as SS leader. In 1933 he attended personally that Brunswick Bar Association and the Brunswick parliament into line were.

Minister in the Free State of Braunschweig

Rieseberg murders

After the National Socialists came to power on May 8, 1933, Alpers became Minister of Finance and Justice of the Brunswick state government (until 1934) under NSDAP Prime Minister Dietrich Klagges . In addition to Klagges and the Gestapo leader and later convicted war criminal Friedrich Jeckeln , Alpers was another person primarily responsible for the synchronization and persecution of political opponents in the Free State of Braunschweig.

He was responsible for the SS auxiliary police created by Klagges, which were notorious for their brutal actions, for example in actions against the “ Volksfreund ” house of the SPD and the Stahlhelm-Bund . Alpers was directly or indirectly responsible for the Rieseberg murders and for the persecution of political opponents, such as the Brunswick Prime Minister Heinrich Jasper and Matthias Theisens . As a minister he was known for not shying away from breaking and / or breaking the law , so he tried to get the Braunschweigische Staatsbank under his control.

General forest master

In 1934 Alpers was appointed "Gaujägermeister" for the newly created "Jagdgau Braunschweig" and in this capacity had the Reichsjägerhof "Hermann Göring" and the Reichsfalkenhof near Riddagshausen , east of Braunschweig, built for "Reichsjägermeister" Hermann Göring from 1935 . In addition, he had a "consecrated place" built in the Hainberge near Bockenem for the "Reichshubertus Celebrations" of the German Hunters' Association that have been taking place every year since 1933 . Göring, with whom Alpers got on well, appointed Alpers to be Walter von Keudell's successor in the office of the Prussian General Forester and State Secretary in the Reich Forestry Office with effect from November 1, 1937 . The official seat was the Sacrow Palace near Potsdam, which was rebuilt in the typical Nazi neoclassicism. Because of various disputes over competence, there were repeated differences with Oberstjägermeister Ulrich Scherping . From 1938 to 1944, Alpers succeeded Keudells as head of the German Forestry Association .

Sacrow Castle

Alpers was no longer Minister of Justice and Finance; he was appointed to the office of the newly established "Braunschweig Ministry of Forestry and Hunting".

Involvement in hunger policy 1941

Alpers was involved in planning the hunger policy at Operation Barbarossa in 1941. On May 2, 1941, seven weeks before it began, he was a member of Hermann Göring's Economic Management Staff East and took part in a meeting between state secretaries and senior Wehrmacht officers “about Barbarossa”, the minutes of which stated that “the war can only be continued ) if the entire Wehrmacht is fed from Russia in the 3rd year of the war. Without a doubt, tens of millions of people will starve to death if we get what we need out of the country. "

Voluntary front service

In February 1944 he resigned from all offices after volunteering for the front in 1941 . His successor in office was his friend Dietrich Klagges . With the rank of major, he was transferred to the Western Front as leader of the 1st Battalion of the 9th Paratrooper Regiment . After the death of the first regimental commander Kurt Stephani Alpers took the lead of the regiment on 21 August 1944. On 3 September 1944 Alpers committed, at Mons badly wounded suicide .

Awards

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 1939–1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 190.
  2. ↑ Kösener Corpslisten 1960, 105 , 229.
  3. ^ SS Personnel Office: List of seniority of the NSDAP Schutzstaffel, as of October 1, 1934, serial no.109.
  4. ↑ Alex J. Kay : Starving as a Mass Murder Strategy. The meeting of the German state secretaries on May 2, 1941. In: Hans-Heinrich Nolte (Hrsg.): Zeitschrift für Weltgeschichte . Year 11, issue 1/2010, pp. 81–105, here p. 81 f. (Quote) and p. 95 (participants).
  5. ^ Klaus D. Patzwall : The Golden Party Badge and its honorary awards 1934-1944 . Patzwall, Norderstedt 2004, ISBN 3-931533-50-6 , p. 63 .
personal data
SURNAME Alpers, Friedrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Alpers, Fritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer, politician (NSDAP), SA and SS member
DATE OF BIRTH March 25, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Sonnenberg near Braunschweig
DATE OF DEATH September 3, 1944
Place of death Mons , Belgium