Friedrich Georg Berni

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Friedrich Georg Berni (born March 5, 1900 in Pirmasens , † February 20, 1946 in Altenglan ), known as Fritz Berni , was a German National Socialist . He was a member of the NSDAP and the SS . He was SS Standartenführer from 1929 to 1931 . Despite massive alcohol problems and several misconducts, including the accidental killing of a party member, he received the NSDAP's golden party badge back as an old fighter in 1942 .

Life

Berni grew up as the son of an electrical engineer in Pirmasens. From 1906 to 1913 he attended elementary school there . He then trained first as a construction fitter , then as an electrician. In 1924 he worked in the telephone exchange in Pirmasens, later he was a chauffeur at the local district office .

During the Rhineland occupation in February 1924, Berni was involved in the assault on the Pirmasens district office, which was occupied by Palatinate separatists . 15 separatists and 7 of the attackers were killed. After the building was stormed, Berni fled to Heidelberg, where the Bavarian government at the time was providing the defense groups against the separatists with weapons.

Berni had already become a member of the NSDAP local group in Pirmasens in 1922 ; He received his membership number 23,270 on November 7, 1925. On August 10, 1926, he joined the SS (membership number 178) and founded the SS-Sturm Pirmasens, which is said to have remained the only SS-Sturm in the Palatinate until 1929. Within the party, he was involved in a dispute with Ernst Ludwig Leyser . He also claimed to have founded the first SS storm in the Palatinate, on September 28, 1925 in Neustadt an der Haardt .

Until 1929 Berni was the leader of the only remaining SS storm in the Palatinate. In 1929 he was appointed SS-Standartenführer in the Palatinate and in the Saar area . In 1929, Berni was commissioned by the Reich leadership to set up further SS storms, and he was named "Standard Administrator" according to his own admission. On July 2, 1930, “the Palatinate SS storms were summarized in Standard XXXII”, and until November 1931 Berni was the leader of the 290-strong standard that was carried as the 10th SS Standard “Palatinate” from 1932 onwards.

Pirmasens bomb affair

On the night of June 22, 1931, an explosives attack was carried out on the house of the Pirmasens NSDAP local group leader Rudolf Ramm , which caused minor property damage. A short time before, Ramm, supported by Berni, had replaced his rival Richard Mann as local group leader. Two young men were convicted of the attack who claimed to have acted out of apolitical motives. According to anonymous letters to the investigative authorities, Berni had organized the attack; it was intended as an "advertisement" for the new local group leader Ramm. As far as we know today, it is very likely that the attack was organized by Berni with Ramm's knowledge.

In October 1931, Berni brought 40 explosive devices to Pirmasens, which Theodor Eicke , leader of the 2nd Sturmbann of the 10th SS Standard, had produced on Berni's orders. The existence of the explosive device became known to Berni's internal party opponents in Pirmasens. According to internal party investigations, Berni was expelled from the party and the SS on November 7th because his behavior contradicted the party’s strategy at the time to take power legally. On February 16, 1932, Berni was accepted back into the party and the SS, a common practice of the NSDAP at the time. His successor Theodor Eicke kept the leadership of the 10th SS Standard.

Berni reported himself to the Pirmasens police on November 30, 1931, but denied all allegations. It is not known whether he acted out of “banal stupidity” or insisted that the Nazi-related Pirmasens police would not conduct any serious investigations. Investigations by the Ludwigshafen police and statements by Berni and by Eicke, who was arrested in March 1932, led to charges being brought against Berni, Eicke and other National Socialists. On July 15, 1932, Berni was sentenced to two years in prison by the Pirmasens District Court . The historian Niels Weise describes the judgment as scandalous; the court was "desperately looking for arguments that could be used on behalf of the defendants"; relevant investigations were not taken into account. For example, the previous life of the accused - apart from "a small fine" Bernis - is described as "impeccable" in the judgment. Berni's criminal record included convictions for damage to property (1923), assault (1926), assault and negligent homicide (1931), and a two-month jail sentence for further assault (1932). The "Pirmasens bomb affair", as the events were later called, "caused a great sensation beyond the Palatinate".

time of the nationalsocialism

After the transfer of power to the National Socialists, Berni was released prematurely from Ebrach prison on March 11, 1933 . First leader of the auxiliary police in Pirmasens, he belonged to SS-Section XXIX in the SS from 1934 to 35, then switched to SS-Standarte 10 and on April 1, 1936 became SS-Standartenführer in the upper section southwest of Standard 10. He was thus Site leader of the SS in Pirmasens.

On December 19, 1936, while drunk, Berni shot SS man Georg Haus at a Christmas party while attempting to shoot a beer bottle off his head. Berni's alcohol problems were known in the party. He was then removed from office, lost his awards and spent the turn of the year in “ protective custody ” in the Dachau concentration camp . On January 12, 1937, he was sentenced to two years in prison. Gauleiter Josef Bürckel campaigned for Berni in April 1937 in a petition for clemency to Philipp Bouhler : According to Bürckel, Berni was an "extremely deserved fighter of the party"; he is the longest-serving Standartenführer in Germany. The procurement of the explosives in 1931 was carried out on a higher order, said Bürckel. The sentence was suspended from September 20, 1937. Berni then earned his living as an operations manager at Saartal AG . On May 25, 1941, after being warned by Adolf Hitler, he was re-admitted to the NSDAP. In 1942, at the instigation of Bürckel, he received the golden party badge back.

literature

  • Franz Maier: Biographical organization manual of the NSDAP and its structures in the area of ​​today's state of Rhineland-Palatinate (=  publications of the commission of the state parliament for the history of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate . No. 28 ). 2nd Edition. v. Hase & Koehler, Mainz / Zarrentin 2009, ISBN 978-3-7758-1408-9 , p. 140-143 .
  • Hans-Georg Meyer, Hans Berkessel: The time of National Socialism in Rhineland-Palatinate. Volume 1. "A National Socialist Revolution is a thorough matter." Hermann Schmidt, Mainz 2000, ISBN 3-87439-451-4 , pp. 84f.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Hans-Joachim Heinz: NSDAP and administration in the Palatinate . Ed .: Hubertus Seibert (=  history in context . No. 1 ). Gardez! Verlag, Mainz, ISBN 3-928624-19-9 , pp. 56 .
  2. ^ Gerhard graves, Matthias Spindler : The Palatinate Liberators. People's anger and state violence in the armed struggle against Palatinate separatism 1923/24. Pro Message, Ludwigshafen am Rhein 2005, ISBN 3-934845-24-X , pp. 125, 154.
  3. ^ Hans-Joachim Heinz: NSDAP and administration in the Palatinate . 1993, p. 341 .
  4. ↑ a b Michael Schepua: "Socialism of Action" for the "Bulwark in the West": Development and characteristics of National Socialism in the Palatinate . In: Heinz-Günther Borck and Wolfgang Laufer (eds.): Yearbook for West German State History . 25th year. Landesarchivverwaltung Rheinland-Pfalz, 1999, ISSN  0170-2025 , p. 572-573 .
  5. ^ Franz Maier: Biographical Organizational Manual of the NSDAP and its structures in the area of ​​what is now the State of Rhineland-Palatinate (=  publications of the Parliament's commission for the history of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate . No. 28 ). 2nd Edition. Zarrentin v. Hase & Koehler, Mainz 2009, ISBN 978-3-7758-1408-9 , pp. 64 .
  6. ↑ Niels Weise: Eicke. An SS career between a mental hospital, concentration camp system and Waffen-SS. Schöningh, Paderborn 2013, ISBN 978-3-506-77705-8 , pp. 104, 106, 115f, 131.
  7. ^ Weise, Eicke , pp. 102, 110f.
  8. ^ Weise, Eicke , p. 110f.
  9. ↑ a b Weise, Eicke , p. 129.
  10. ^ Weise, Eicke , p. 167.
  11. ^ Weise, Eicke , pp. 77f, 106.
personal data
SURNAME Berni, Friedrich Georg
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Berni, Fritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German National Socialist
DATE OF BIRTH March 5, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Pirmasens
DATE OF DEATH February 20, 1946
Place of death Altenglan