Günther von Stosch

Günther Georg Oskar Bernhard Graf von Stosch (born May 29, 1893 in Polish Kessel , district of Grünberg i. Schles. , † March 23, 1955 in Essen - Rüttenscheid ) was a German politician of the NSDAP , government official and district president in Minden and Münster.

Life

Stosch was born the son of a later general landscape representative and comes from an old noble family. He passed his matriculation examination at the grammar school in Wohlau in 1912. He then studied law and political science in Wroclaw . He joined the Prussian army as a one-year volunteer and took part in the First World War from 1914 to 1918 as a reserve officer with the highest rank of first lieutenant .

Gravestone of his divorced wife

On May 15, 1918, he married in Wolfsburg Renate Charlotte Julia Countess von der Schulenburg (born March 15, 1897 in Wolfsburg, † June 24, 1971 in Wolfsburg), a daughter of Werner-Karl-Hermann Graf von der Schulenburg-Wolfsburg and Frieda Countess von der Schulenburg, born Freiin von dem Bussche - Ippenburg called von Kessell. This marriage ended in divorce in 1931. A tombstone in the Rothenfelde cemetery still reminds of his former wife today .

In 1920 he passed his legal traineeship . In 1921 he was promoted to Dr. jur. PhD . In 1923 he passed the assessor examination.

He entered the Prussian civil service and was employed at the police headquarters in Breslau . At his own request, he left the service of Prussia in the year of his employment and went to Bergbau AG in Bochum as commercial director . He stayed there until 1933. Between 1930 and 1933 he was a member of the paramilitary Stahlhelm . In 1932 he also joined the right-wing conservative DNVP .

In mid-April 1933 and with Hitler's " seizure of power " he returned to the civil service as a government assessor, and on May 1, 1933 he joined the NSDAP. From April 1933 he was provisional and from April 1, 1934 finally headed the state police station of the Münster administrative district, based in Recklinghausen . In August 1934, Stosch was promoted to government councilor. From 1935 to 1941 he was Lord Mayor of the independent city of Bottrop . In January 1941 he joined the SA , where he rose to SA Obersturmbannführer until 1942. In 1941 he was appointed district president of the government in Münster . From April 6, 1943 (various sources also mention a provisional appointment on March 17 and confirmation on July 1) until the end of the Nazi era in East Westphalia in April 1945, he was regional president in the administrative district of Minden .

There he was replaced by the British military government by the politically unencumbered Paul Zenz . After his replacement, he was (presumably) interned by the British military government until 1948 (in the Recklinghausen camp ?). In 1949 he was tried because of his work at the Recklinghausen state police station in Bochum . He was accused of crimes against humanity and extortion of testimony through torture and ill-treatment in 237 cases, including two suicides following previous ill-treatment. The court acquitted Stosch and only convicted Stosch's subordinates for the offenses. Stosch himself was ignorant and even softened harassment as far as possible, according to the court. Von Stosch was classified in group IV (fellow travelers) during denazification .

In contrast, the Minister of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia decided in the early 1950s that Stosch's appointment as Lord Mayor in Bottrop and his appointment as District President should not be taken into account in the calculation of pension payments because of Stosch's close connection to National Socialism.

“Von Stosch owes his appointment as regional president in Münster to the influence of the then Gauleiter and Oberpräsident of Westphalia, Dr. A. Meyer . It can be assumed that Dr. Mayer supported Graf v. Stosch did not just use it for objective reasons, but also because Graf v. Stosch was particularly closely connected to National Socialism. "

Stosch lived in Essen until his death .

Aftermath

In 2008 his portrait was removed from the gallery of the regional presidents in the seat of the district government of Münster due to his National Socialist past. This was arranged by the District President Peter Paziorek . He added: "Unfortunately I have to state that the administrative actions of the regional presidents were characterized by unrestricted loyalty to the Nazi regime in general and to the Gauleiter [this is probably the Gauleiter for Westphalia North, Alfred Meyer ] in particular".

literature

• Hedwig Schrulle : Administration in Dictatorship and Democracy - The District Governments of Münster and Minden / Detmold from 1930 to 1960 . Schöningh, ISBN 3-506-76593-0 .
• Bernd Haunfelder : The Münster government presidents of the 20th century . District government of Münster, 2006 ( Google Books ).

• Joachim Lilla : Senior administrative officials and functionaries in Westphalia and Lippe (1918–1945 / 46). Biographical manual. Aschendorff, Münster 2004, ISBN 3-402-06799-4 , pp. 290f. ( Publications of the Historical Commission for Westphalia. 22, A, 16 = historical work on Westphalian state research. Economic and social history group. 16)

Web links

• Literature by and about Günther von Stosch in the catalog of the German National Library
• Short biography in the project Westphalian history

Individual evidence

1. ↑ individual sources also speak of Liegnitz , see z. B. Short biography in the Westphalian History project
2. ↑ Ernst Siemer: The district government in East Westphalia 1816 - 1991 . Ed .: The District President Detmold. 1st edition. Detmold 1991, ISBN 3-926505-04-4 , pp. 169 .
3. ↑ Ernst Siemer: The district government in East Westphalia 1816 - 1991 . Ed .: The District President Detmold. 1st edition. Detmold 1991, ISBN 3-926505-04-4 , pp. 170 .
4. ↑ Hyun-Ho Cha: The brown shadow on the district government . MuensterscheZeitung.de. November 21, 2008.