Günther Gräntz

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Günther Gräntz

Günther Gräntz (born July 26, 1905 in Frankfurt am Main , † April 30, 1945 in Berlin ) was a member of the SA and the NSDAP .

Professional and political biography

Wilhelminism and the Weimar Republic

After graduating from high school in 1924, he first completed a two-year business apprenticeship and then began studying economics and law at the University of Frankfurt am Main and the Westphalian Wilhelms University in Münster , which he broke off in 1930.

In 1922 he joined the SA and three years later he joined the NSDAP ( membership number 5274). A little later came the re-entry into the SA, where on September 15, 1932 he advanced to SA Standartenführer in the SA Group West.

National Socialism

He benefited from the transfer of power to the National Socialists in 1933 insofar as, as a member of the NSDAP faction, he received a mandate in the Prussian state parliament from March 5, 1933 , which he held until its formal dissolution on October 14, 1933. At about the same time he was also a member of the Wiesbaden Municipal Parliament and the Hessen-Nassau Provincial Parliament in Kassel. Further political upgrades followed, for example in 1933 he was briefly the adjutant of the SA subgroup Hessen-Nassau-Süd and between September 15, 1933 and March 31, 1934 leader of the SA Brigade 49 (Frankfurt am Main). In the SA group in Hesse he was SA Oberführer.

Between February and April 1934 he was councilor of the city of Frankfurt am Main. From June 9, 1934 to November 30, 1935 he was department head in the Personnel Office of the Supreme SA Leadership (OSAF). On November 9, 1934, he was promoted to SA Brigade Leader. From December 1, 1935 to September 30, 1936 he was the leader of the SA Brigade 162 "Minden-Nienburg". From October 1, 1936 to January 31, 1942 he was the leader (until April 1, 1937 responsible for the leadership) of the SA group "Westmark" or (after renaming from July 1, 1941) of the SA group "Mittelrhein" in Koblenz. On May 1, 1937, he was promoted to SA group leader.

After he had already run unsuccessfully in the Reichstag election on March 29, 1936, Gräntz moved into the aligned "Greater German" Reichstag on April 10, 1938 , where he was represented as a member until his death. After being appointed SA-Obergruppenführer on January 30, 1941, he was the last leader of the SA group "Lower Saxony" (seat: Hanover) from February 1, 1942 to December 31, 1943. He then did military service as captain d. R. in an infantry regiment. In 1944 he was appointed Major d. R. released from the armed forces.

From January 1, 1944 until his death, Gräntz was the leader of the SA group "Berlin-Brandenburg" (seat: Reich capital Berlin). From October 1944 he was also the leader of the " German Volkssturm " in Gau Berlin ; In this function he was active there especially from the beginning of 1945 as the organizer of the "Volkssturm" and in April 1945 a fanatical follower of the harsh Nazi propaganda chief, Gauleiter and Reich Defense Commissioner Joseph Goebbels in contested Berlin . During the last house and street fights in the Reich capital against the advancing Soviet troops, Gräntz died on the last day of April 1945 at about the same time as Adolf Hitler shot himself in the "Führerbunker" in the Zehlendorf district at the age of 39.

literature

  • Ernst Kienast (Ed.): The Greater German Reichstag. IV. Term. Beginning April 10, 1938. Extended until January 30, 1947 . Berlin, new edition Nov. 1943.
  • Jochen Lengemann : MdL Hessen. 1808-1996. Biographical index (= political and parliamentary history of the state of Hesse. Vol. 14 = publications of the Historical Commission for Hesse. Vol. 48, 7). Elwert, Marburg 1996, ISBN 3-7708-1071-6 , p. 151.
  • Joachim Lilla , Martin Döring, Andreas Schulz: extras in uniform. The members of the Reichstag 1933–1945. A biographical manual. Including the ethnic and National Socialist members of the Reichstag from May 1924. Droste, Düsseldorf 2004, ISBN 3-7700-5254-4 .
  • Nassau parliamentarians. Part 2: Barbara Burkardt, Manfred Pult: The municipal parliament of the Wiesbaden administrative district 1868–1933 (= publications of the Historical Commission for Nassau. Vol. 71 = Prehistory and history of parliamentarism in Hesse. Vol. 17). Historical Commission for Nassau, Wiesbaden 2003, ISBN 3-930221-11-X , No. 112.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Gräntz, Günther
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician (NSDAP), MdR and SA member
DATE OF BIRTH July 26, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH April 30, 1945
Place of death Berlin