Georg Berger (businessman)

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Georg Berger (born September 12, 1893 in Würzburg , † 1977 in Egglkofen ) was a German businessman, Hitler Youth leader and Ministerialrat . From October 1940 to July 1942 he was general director of the Wiener Ankerbrotfabrik , one of the largest food companies in the German Reich at the time. According to a scientific report by the historian Michael Wolffsohn , Berger was a “ profiteer ” but not a “perpetrator” of the Nazi regime.

Life

Berger attended elementary and secondary school and did a commercial apprenticeship. From 1911 to 1922 he was an accountant in various companies, interrupted from 1912 to 1918 by military service and participation in the First World War in the 8th Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment . Between 1922 and 1926 he was an authorized signatory in Reutte . From 1927 to 1934 he worked as a self-employed auditor, tax and legal advisor and accountant.

Berger lived in 1931/1932 in Gunzenhausen , an early stronghold of National Socialism , and joined the NSDAP there on June 1, 1931 ( membership number 547.083). He was a paying member until his expulsion in August 1944. In May 1934 he began working as a Reich Auditor in the Reich Audit Office of the Reich leadership of the NSDAP . In 1935 he was appointed head of the administration office of the Reich Youth Leadership. The function of Reich Treasurer of the Hitler Youth was connected with this office . In 1936 he was appointed area leader of the Hitler Youth. In 1937 he, like the Hitler Youth leaders Heinz John and Hartmann Lauterbacher , became civil servants and a ministerial advisor. In June 1939 he left the Reich Youth Leadership at his own request.

With the entry of January 18, 1941 at the District Court of Vienna, Berger (at that time already retired Ministerialrat), who had moved from Berlin to Vienna for this purpose, was appointed to the board of Ankerbrot Aktiengesellschaft in place of a resigned member of the board . On March 15, 1941, the Reich trustee of work , Gauleiter Alfred Proksch , introduced him to his office as an operator during the evening of the following evening for the anchor bread factory . At the extraordinary general meeting of the Ankerbrotfabrik-AG on September 15, 1942, he, who had already resigned as "Chairman of the Board of Directors" in July 1942, was replaced by the appointment of his successor.

Berger initially lived for ten months in the Hotel Erzherzog Rainer and then moved with his family into the " Aryanized " villa of the Jewish couple Heinrich and Laura Kerr in the 18th district ( Währing ), Sternwartestraße 75. He used the villa that was added to the anchor bread factory was as a company residence and had the supervisory board assure a right of first refusal. The right of first refusal was granted by the Gestapo on August 5, 1941, but according to the expert Wolffsohn , the Berlin tax office objected. Berger only remained a tenant.

In a report by the Gestapo dated June 20, 1942, it was criticized that Berger had expanded his villa “at an unheard-of effort, in stark contrast to the austerity measures required by the war situation”. He also hoarded food from the company for private purposes. In his report, Wolffsohn points out that Gestapo sources, as quoted by the Handelsblatt , cannot serve as a reproduction of facts without verification . It could have been an intrigue against Georg Berger in the unjust Nazi state. Michael Wortmann, the biographer of the NSDAP “Reichsjugendführer” Baldur von Schirach , suspects that he initiated and staged the Gestapo action against Georg Berger.

The Roland Berger Foundation also pointed out in the New York Times that the allegations against Georg Berger could have been politically motivated:

"The Roland Berger Foundation suggested that the accusations against Georg Berger might have been politically motivated, and that the charges of hoarding were merely a pretense.

'Nazi and Gestapo documents often have a denunciatory character and often reflect conflicts over power and influence within Nazi institutions,' the statement said. "

“The Roland Berger Foundation pointed out that the allegations against Georg Berger may have been politically motivated and that the hoarding charges were merely a pretext.

"Nazi and Gestapo documents often have a denunciation character and often reflect conflicts over power and influence in Nazi institutions," the statement said. "

Because of the allegations, Berger was charged with corruption in 1942 and suspended, but never convicted. However, after he had to leave the company due to numerous reports pending at the People's Court , according to which he had "lived in his 'Jewish villa' in luxury" at the expense of the anchor bread factory, "while food and clothing were rationed everywhere", he stayed with his family live in the villa, for which he only paid 305 Reichsmark rent, which did not cover costs. Despite the many efforts of the administrators, even beyond the time when the property had passed into the possession of the Reich Labor Ministry in May 1944, the Berger family could only be removed from the villa in the second half of 1944 due to the lack of a corresponding clause in the rental agreement.

Georg Berger was in Gestapo custody in Munich from July 26 to September 21, 1944. In 1945 he served as a soldier in Eastern Austria during World War II . From May 12, 1945 to September 12, 1945 he was a Soviet prisoner of war. After the war, according to his son, he returned a broken man. Georg Berger was arrested on April 8, 1946 and spent several months in various internment camps in Dachau , Regensburg and Ludwigsburg . In a denazification process in 1947 he was classified as a “minor offender”. He later worked as a sales representative.

He died in Egglkofen, the home of his second wife Thilde Altmann, where he was also buried. His son in his second marriage is the management consultant Roland Berger , before the marriage Roland Altmann.

Coming to terms with the past

For many years Roland Berger had portrayed his father as a victim of National Socialism, after his portrayal in good faith in the correctness of his father's statements. In 2019, he commissioned the German historians Michael Wolffsohn and Sönke Neitzel to come to terms with his father's past. The report was published on May 31, 2020.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Michael Buddrus : Total education for total war. Hitler Youth and National Socialist Youth Policy (= texts and materials on contemporary history. 13). Two parts. De Gruyter Saur, Berlin / Boston 2003, ISBN 978-3-11-096795-1 , p. 1121.
  2. ↑ Expert opinion: Enlightenment or character assassination? Roland Berger, his father and the Handelsblatt Published on www.walther-rathenau-akademie.de on May 31, 2020, accessed on May 31, 2020
  3. ↑ Consultant legend Roland Berger glorified his father for a long time. Now he has had his role in the Nazi dictatorship reviewed Published on www.nzz.ch on May 31, 2020, accessed on May 31, 2020
  4. ↑ Expert opinion: Roland Berger's father was not a perpetrator during the Nazi era Published on www.welt.de on May 31, 2020, accessed on May 31, 2020
  5. ↑ Michael Wolffsohn: Expert opinion synopsis; Summary comparison: Handelsblatt - Facts - Roland Berger . Published on www.walther-rathenau-akademie.de on May 31, 2020.
  6. ^ A b Michael Buddrus: Total education for total war. Hitler Youth and National Socialist Youth Policy (= texts and materials on contemporary history. 13). Two parts. De Gruyter Saur, Berlin / Boston 2003, ISBN 978-3-11-096795-1 .
  7. ↑ a b Interview: whitewashing or self-deception? Roland Berger faces the truth about his father Georg. Georg Berger was a member of the NSDAP early on and profited from Aryanization. Consultant Roland Berger and historian Michael Wolffsohn talk about these dark sides. In: Handelsblatt . October 17, 2019, accessed October 19, 2019 .
  8. ↑ a b c d e Sönke Iwersen, Andrea Rexer, Marina Cveljo, Hans-Peter Siebenhaar, Isabelle Wermke: Roland Berger, his Nazi father and the guilt of the German economy. For many years, Roland Berger stylized his father as a Nazi victim. In truth, however, he benefited from Aryanization - and promoted the NSDAP. In: Handelsblatt , October 18, 2019 ( full text online in the version of October 17, 2019 on yahoo! Finanzen, accessed on October 22, 2019.)
  9. ^ District Court Vienna, Section 133. On January 18, 1941: Changes: B 3828 Ankerbrot Aktiengesellschaft. In:  Völkischer Beobachter. Battle sheet of the national (-) socialist movement of Greater Germany. Vienna edition / Vienna observer. Daily supplement to the “Völkischer Beobachter” , official part, February 1, 1941, p. 9 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / vob
  10. ↑ hours of camaraderie. Retirement evening of the anchor bread factory. In:  Kleine Volks-Zeitung , March 18, 1941, p. 4 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / kvz
  11. ↑ New management of the anchor bread factory. In:  Das kleine Volksblatt , September 16, 1942, p. 5 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / dkv
  12. ↑ a b c d e f Michael Wolffsohn: Expert opinion; Enlightenment or character assassination? Roland Berger, his father and the Handelsblatt Published on www.walther-rathenau-akademie.de on May 31, 2020.
  13. ↑ Father's Nazi Past Overtakes German Business Guru In: nytimes.com November 27, 2019, accessed November 28, 2019.
  14. ↑ Roland Berger, his Nazi father and the guilt of the German economy. In: handelsblatt.com . October 18, 2019, accessed October 18, 2019.


personal data
SURNAME Berger, Georg
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH September 12, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Wurzburg
DATE OF DEATH 1977
Place of death Egglkofen