Fritz Kranefuss

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Friedrich Carl Arthur Kranefuß (born October 19, 1900 in Herford ; † allegedly 1945 ), or Fritz Kranefuß for short , was a German industrialist and was a member of the military economy leaders during the National Socialist era .

Life

After successfully completing high school in 1918, he became a marine on a training ship. As an officer candidate, he aspired to a career in the Imperial Navy . In the turmoil of the upheaval at the end of the war, he became a member of a volunteer corps , which had a major impact on his political orientation.

In the “Heidelberger Gelatine-Fabrik Stoess & Co. GmbH” in Ziegelhausen near Heidelberg, he completed a commercial apprenticeship with their co-managing director Wilhelm Keppler at the beginning of the 1920s. However, in his life expectancy he was still connected to seafaring, although he also devoted his attention to politics.

Nevertheless, he remained in the field of business, changing his place of residence and also the type of employment several times. In the end he leaned back to Keppler, who had meanwhile become co-owner and co-director of the gelatine factory “Chemische Werke Odin GmbH” in Eberbach. Here Kranefuß worked as an employee.

After this activity, the trained businessman went to Hamburg and worked there for three years in a shipping company. He then worked for a Jewish-owned bank in Hanover for five years . Kranefuß became a member of the NSDAP as early as 1932 (membership number 964.992). Since 1932 he belonged to the Keppler circle, which he converted in 1934 into the Friends of the Reichsführer SS . Here Kranefuß became the absolute general secretary , who could propose business leaders for promotion to the SS and who managed the business of the Freundeskreis with Karl Wolff , head of Heinrich Himmler's personal staff .

After the " seizure of power " at the beginning of 1933, Kranefuss took a leading position in the economic department of the NSDAP, reporting directly to Rudolf Hess . This liaison staff served as a mediator between the NSDAP and the Reich ministries and the Reich Chancellery . Through this intermediary position, Kranefuß gained a considerable position in business circles when an entrepreneur in the Nazi regime sought a successful measure.

This increased influence was evident when he was appointed to the board of the Braunkohle-BENZ-AG ( Brabag ) in November 1934 .

He joined the SS in March 1933, where he also served in the SD with Reinhard Heydrich . In the autumn of 1933, Kranefuß was indicted in a party court of the NSDAP for his work in a Jewish bank in Hanover. He was able to avert this accusation through Himmler's intercession. Himmler's duo friend Keppler “vouched” for Kranefuss's reliability as a National Socialist. The fact that the proceedings did not harm him in any way resulted from the fact that he was promoted twice within the SS at the end of 1933 and even at the beginning of 1934 was admitted to the personal staff of the Reichsführer SS , of which he was a member until the end of the war.

The position of adjutant Himmler, who placed great confidence in him, was connected with this ascent.

Under State Secretary Paul Körner he worked in 1936 and 1937 in the authority for the four-year plan . In March 1941 he became a founding member of the supervisory board of Continentale Öl AG (Conti-Öl), which performed semi-governmental tasks. In the Reich Office for Economic Development , he initially headed the personnel department in the mineral oil sector and, from July to October 1942, the general management department .

After the beginning of the Second World War , Kranefuß became the special representative of the RFSS in the occupied territories. During the occupation of the Netherlands , he traveled to The Hague for two months in June 1940 , where he supported the HSSPF Hanns Albin Rauter in bringing about political conformity and Nazi orientation in the Netherlands . In addition, he maintained close relationships with the Dutch business leader Meinoud Rost van Tonningen , which were also continued in his later activities in Berlin.

At the beginning of October 1941 he went with Himmler to the Ukraine , where they received a report on the extermination measures of the SS against the Jewish population in Nikolajew from Otto Ohlendorf , commander of the Einsatzkommando 11a, and returned to Berlin on October 5th. In the following month, Kranefuß went back to the Netherlands to meet with SS-Standartenführer Wilhelm Harster , who headed the special section "J" in which the measures against the Jewish population were planned.

On September 2, 1942, Kranefuss visited State Secretary Albert Ganzenmüller , who was in charge of the organizational measures for the deportation of Jews. The transport costs of the SS deportation trains were discussed. Ganzenmüller agreed that his predecessor Kleinmann would continue to be the contact person for the SS.

The previous activities for Himmler were recognized by him, so that on January 30, 1944, Kranefuß was promoted to SS Brigade Leader . Until the end of the war, Kranefuß dealt with the issues of the supply of operating materials and the use of prisoners in production. a. in the Brabag. In May 1945 he is said to have been arrested and transported to the East, as was alleged in a Brabag trial in the 1960s.

literature

  • Tobias Bütow, Franka Bindernagel: A concentration camp in the neighborhood. The Magdeburg satellite camp of Brabag and the "Freundeskreis Himmler". 2nd edition, Böhlau, Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-412-04904-2 . ( Review by Christine Wolters at H-Soz-u-Kult )
  • Stephan Jegielka: Monopolies and Gestapo - The corporate defense officer of the Braunkohle Petrol AG Circular 1 BAG Antifascism 2016, ISSN 1864-3833.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945 . Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Second updated edition, Frankfurt am Main 2005, p. 335.
  2. ^ Curriculum vitae of Kranefuß from August 30, 1937 in the Federal Archives , formerly Berlin Document Center , summarized in: Bütow, Bindernagel: A concentration camp in the neighborhood . Cologne 2003.
  3. ↑ Martin Henkel: Heinrich Stoess. A pioneer of photo gelatine , in: Peter Blum (Hrsg.): Pioneers from technology and economy in Heidelberg . Aachen 2000, p. 94ff.
  4. ↑ 50% owned by Eastman Kodak Ltd., London. See Martin Henkel: Heinrich Stoess. A pioneer of photo gelatine , in: Peter Blum (Hrsg.): Pioneers from technology and economy in Heidelberg . Aachen 2000, p. 94ff.
  5. ↑ Seniority list of the NSDAP Schutzstaffel z dnia 01.12.1936 r. część I. Retrieved May 21, 2019 (Polish).
  6. ^ Peter Longerich: Hitler's deputy. Leadership of the party and control of the state apparatus by the Hess staff and the party chancellery Bormann . Munich 1992, p. 17.
  7. ^ Ernst Klee: The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich . Frankfurt / Main 2003, p. 335.
  8. ^ Brabag archive in the Landesarchiv Berlin and a statement by Erich Würzner, deputy board member of Brabag
personal data
SURNAME Kranefuss, Fritz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kranefuss, Friedrich Carl Arthur
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Business leader in the time of National Socialism
DATE OF BIRTH October 19, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Herford
DATE OF DEATH around 1945