Georg Lenk

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Georg Lenk

Robert Georg Lenk (born December 12, 1888 in Schreiersgrün ; † between July 4, 1946 and January 30, 1947 ) was a German politician during the Nazi era , a member of the Reichstag and economic advisor to the NSDAP .

Life

Georg Lenk was the son of the contract embroidery machine owner Robert Lenk. He attended the 1st community school in Plauen and began a commercial apprenticeship in 1903 at the Reinhard Wagner lace and embroidery factory. At the same time he attended the commercial college in Plauen until 1906. After several internships abroad, he founded his own lace and lingerie factory in November 1911, which he had to close during the First World War in 1916 because he was called up for military service. Until January 1919 he was mainly used in the supply of the motor vehicle troops; In 1910, Lenk was dismissed after a few weeks of military service due to a chronic illness. In April 1919, he resumed production in his factory.

In 1924, Lenk became a member of the Völkisch Social Block , a cover organization of the NSDAP, which was banned at the time. Lenk officially joined the NSDAP on April 1, 1930 ( membership number 227,841); contemporary sources state that he was a party member as early as 1925. In 1930 he was elected to the city council in Plauen and in September 1930 in the constituency of Chemnitz-Zwickau in the German Reichstag.

After the transfer of power to the National Socialists, Lenk was appointed Minister of Economics of Saxony in May 1933 . Lenk closed his factory in Plauen and moved to Dresden , where he lived on the same street as Gauleiter Martin Mutschmann . Lenk and Mutschmann had known each other since 1924; There was a "relationship of trust between the two, which led to Mutschmann's promotion of Lenk". After Mutschmann's appointment as Prime Minister, Lenk also took over the Ministry of Labor and Welfare from Georg Schmidt in October 1935 . From January 1936 he was regional economic advisor to the NSDAP for Saxony; a function that he had already exercised before 1933. In November 1934, Lenk joined the SS (membership number 227,542). He was promoted several times in the SS, most recently in January 1939 to SS Brigadefuhrer .

As Minister of Economic Affairs, Lenk was confronted with the consequences of the global economic crisis in 1933 , which had led to high unemployment and problems, especially in the textile industry in Saxony . In 1933, Lenk tried unsuccessfully to restrict the export of textile machines in order to protect local industry. Despite lower unemployment, Lenk still complained in a memorandum in 1937 about the poor economic development in Saxony, the causes of which he saw in the emigration of workers, the border location and the lack of consideration for armaments contracts.

As a result of a falling out with Gauleiter Mutschmann, Lenk lost his offices in state and party between 1941 and 1943. Mutschmann's fears of internal party competitors are believed to be possible as a background to the rift. In statements made after the end of the war, Lenk dated the first differences of opinion with Mutschmann to the end of the 1930s. In September 1941, Lenk lost his position as regional economic advisor; in October 1941 Mutschmann asked him to give up his twelve posts in supervisory boards of Saxon companies. In March 1943, Lenk lost his ministerial office; the previous ministries were directly subordinated to Mutschmann as departments. At the beginning of 1944, party proceedings were opened against him for deficient administration and abuse of his position, as a result of which he received a severe warning and threatened to expel him from the party.

From November 1, 1944, Lenk was employed as Hauptsturmführer of the Waffen SS in the " Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler " in World War II . At the end of the war he was still employed by the OKW's authorized representative for vehicle use and registration . Lenk was captured by Soviet troops in Ehrenfriedersdorf on May 1, 1945 and brought to Moscow. On July 4 or 10, 1946, he was sentenced to death for aiding and abetting war crimes and “counter-revolutionary activity”. A pardon was rejected on August 6, 1946, the exact date of his death is not known. At the trial of Gauleiter Mutschmann on January 30, 1947, he was already dead. Lenk had incriminated Mutschmann with statements made in 1945 and 1946.

literature

  • Thomas Grosche: Georg Lenk. Economics Minister of Saxony. In: Christine Pieper, Mike Schmeitzner, Gerhard Naser (Eds.): Braune Karrieren. Dresden perpetrators and actors in National Socialism. Sandstein, Dresden 2012, ISBN 978-3-942422-85-7 , pp. 180-186.
  • 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 .
  • Klaus-Dieter Müller, Thomas Schaarschmidt, Mike Schmeitzner, Andreas Weigelt: Death sentences of Soviet military tribunals against Germans (1944–1947). A historical-biographical study . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2015, ISBN 978-3-525-36968-5 , short biographies on the enclosed CD, p. 405f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Grosche, Lenk , p. 181.
  2. ↑ Grosche, Lenk , p. 182.
  3. ↑ This assessment in Grosche, Lenk , p. 183.
  4. ↑ a b Klaus-Dieter Müller, Thomas Schaarschmidt, Mike Schmeitzner, Andreas Weigelt: Death sentences of Soviet military tribunals against Germans (1944–1947). A historical-biographical study , Göttingen 2015, short biographies on the enclosed CD, p. 405f.
  5. ↑ Andreas Hilger : "Let justice take its course"? The punishment of German war criminals and violent criminals in the Soviet Union and the Soviet Zone / GDR. In: Norbert Frei : Transnational politics of the past. How to deal with German war criminals in Europe after the Second World War. Wallstein, Göttingen 2006, ISBN 978-3-89244-940-9 , pp. 180–246, here p. 217
  6. ↑ Grosche, Lenk , p. 185.
personal data
SURNAME Lenk, Georg
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lenk, Robert Georg (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician (NSDAP), MdR
DATE OF BIRTH December 12, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Schreiersgrün
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: between July 4, 1946 and January 30, 1947