Friedrich Karl Müller-Trefzer

Friedrich Karl Philipp Müller-Trefzer (born October 4, 1879 in Karlsruhe , † January 13, 1960 in Baden-Baden ) was a German ministerial official in the Baden Ministry of the Interior .

Life

Friedrich Karl Müller grew up as the son of a teacher in the middle-class milieu of Karlsruhe. After graduating from secondary school in Karlsruhe, he studied law at the universities of Heidelberg and Freiburg . As a student he was half-heartedly involved in the Association of German Students . After his first state examination in law, he worked as an intern in Karlsruhe, Pforzheim and Bühl. In 1906 he passed the second legal exam and intended to get a job in the Baden interior administration. However, due to the job situation, this was not possible and so began several years of work as an assessor in many communities in Baden. Finally, his years of traveling ended in 1913 in the Ministry of the Grand Ducal House, Justice and Foreign Affairs, where he got a job as legation secretary . He was able to serve on the home front in World War I and was employed, among other things, for awarding orders, medals of merit and titles.

After the war, he remained active at the ministry, which was no longer a grand ducal but an obligation to the republic and thus became the state ministry. He was involved in the German People's Party . In 1922 he married Mathilde, the daughter of District Court President Alfred Trefzer , and thus received his double name.

In 1926 he was promoted to the Upper Government Council .

After the seizure of power , Müller-Trefzer replaced the disgraced Karl Frech and thus took over the management of the Baden State Chancellery (initially temporarily). He then joined the NSDAP , having dissolved his membership in the DVP just a few days after the Reichstag election . He later stated that this was mainly due to the party's claim to totalitarianism and an idea of ​​the state and the people. However, he did not take over a party office. He was significantly involved in the Reich reform debate between 1933 and 1935, a role that he later belittled. Due to his position, he had contact with all important political actors within the Baden NSDAP. From 1939 to 1945 he also worked in the Baden Ministry of the Interior. Among other things, he was also involved in the administration of occupied Alsace.

Bombed out in 1944, he had to live in his mother-in-law Varnhalt's house , where he also witnessed the end of World War II . He was retired on December 15, 1944.

After the occupation of Baden, he was dismissed from service by the French military government due to his senior position and his early entry into the NSDAP, and his salaries were frozen. In the denazification proceedings before the US administration, he belittled his role and took advantage of the Baden NSDAP's internal power struggles to portray himself and other senior officials as opponents of the party apparatus. Finally, in April 1948, he was sentenced as a “fellow traveler” to a fine of 1500 Reichsmarks . The French occupation zone, which was also responsible because of his place of residence, tried to condemn him as a “minor offender” (a higher grouping), but finally confirmed the Karlsruhe verdict.

After a further legal battle, he was finally paid a pension based on his position as Ministerial Director.

In research today, he is largely seen as a “collaborator from the very beginning” and as a “cyclist”.

Works

• Memories from my life (1879-1949): A Baden ministerial official in the German Empire, Republic and dictatorship . Edited by Frank Engehausen and Katrin Hammerstein. Kohlhammer W., GmbH (July 5, 2017). ISBN 978-3170335769

literature

• Frank Engehausen: Friedrich Karl Müller-Trefzer: Political exponent of National Socialism in the Baden ministerial bureaucracy or opponent of the party apparatus? In: perpetrators, helpers, free riders. Nazi victims from the south of what is now Baden-Württemberg . Kugelberg Verlag, 2017, ISBN 978-3-945893-08-1 , pp. 220-234 .

Web links

• Friedrich Karl Philipp Müller-Trefzer on LEO-BW

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Joachim Scholtyseck: Friedrich Müller-Trefzer: A "collaborator from the very beginning" in the Baden State Ministry in 1933. In: History of the State Ministries in Baden and Württemberg in the time of National Socialism. January 7, 2015, accessed January 30, 2019 .