Heinrich Wessel

Heinrich Wilhelm Theodor Christian Wessel (born October 12, 1868 in Lucklum , † September 12, 1939 in Wolfenbüttel ) was a German politician of the German People's Party (DVP). In the course of the process of naturalization of Adolf Hitler , Wessel came up with the decisive idea of obtaining German citizenship for Adolf Hitler by making him a citizen of the Free State of Braunschweig , by giving Hitler a job at the Braunschweig embassy at the Reichsrat in Berlin . In this way, Hitler became German on February 25, 1932.

Life

The son of a landowner passed his Abitur in Goslar in 1890 and then moved to Braunschweig to study engineering at the TH Braunschweig from 1891 to 1895 . By marriage he became the owner of a publishing house. In 1929 the TH Braunschweig awarded him an honorary doctorate .

Politician

Wessel was first a city councilor in Wolfenbüttel from 1909 to 1917 . In 1918 he became a member of the German People's Party (DVP). From 1911 to 1933 he was a member of the Braunschweig State Parliament , which he chaired three times as President. When the bourgeois parties represented in the state parliament, for example the Bürgerliche Einheitsliste (BEL), formed a coalition with the NSDAP , which was also represented in the state parliament , Wessel tended to cooperate with the Social Democratic Party (SPD). In 1933 he lost all offices.

Naturalization of Adolf Hitler

Between 1925 and 1932 there had been at least seven attempts from different sides to give Hitler , who was stateless at the time, through naturalization, the German citizenship required for the 1932 presidential election .

After six failed attempts, including one in Braunschweig - Hitler was supposed to be awarded a professorship for "Organic Society and Politics" at the Technical University - the NSDAP member and President of the Braunschweig Parliament, Ernst Zörner, turned to his brother-in-law, the DVP- Board member Carl Heimbs , with a request for assistance in the matter. Zörner, Heimbs and Hitler's legal advisor Hans Frank then met in a hotel in Braunschweig, where Heimbs agreed to campaign for Hitler's naturalization through Wessels, then vice-president of the state parliament. In a conversation, Wessel then expressed the idea of getting Hitler a job as a member of the government of the Free State of Braunschweig, which would automatically give Hitler German citizenship.

The DVP board approved the Wessel proposal, which made Heinrich Wessel a key figure in the naturalization of Adolf Hitler. The DVP chairman Eduard Dingeldey also gave his party's approval to this procedure by telephone from Berlin, so that Wessel and his party colleague Albert Brandes were able to inform the Interior Minister of the Free State of Braunschweig and NSDAP member Dietrich Klagges and Ernst Zörner that the DVP was behind the Project stand. Thereupon Klagges and the Brunswick Minister-President Werner Küchenthal of the German National People's Party (DNVP) signed the relevant papers that officially made Hitler a German.

literature

Beatrix Herlemann , Helga Schatz: Biographical Lexicon of Lower Saxony Parliamentarians 1919–1945 (= publications of the Historical Commission for Lower Saxony and Bremen. Volume 222). Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 2004, ISBN 3-7752-6022-6 , pp. 387-388.
Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Günter Scheel (Ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 19th and 20th centuries . Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 1996, ISBN 3-7752-5838-8 .
Manfred Overesch : The naturalization of Hitler in 1930. In: Quarterly books for contemporary history. 40th year, 4th issue, Munich 1992, ISSN 0042-5702 .
Ernst-August Roloff : Bourgeoisie and National Socialism 1930–1933. Braunschweig's way into the Third Reich. Publishing house for literature and current affairs, Hannover 1961, DNB 575882018 .
Ursula Schelm-Spangenberg: The German People's Party in Braunschweig. Foundation, development, sociological structure, political work. In: Braunschweiger workpieces. Volume 30, Braunschweig 1964.

Individual evidence

^ Ernst-August Roloff : Bourgeoisie and National Socialism 1930–1933. Braunschweig's way into the Third Reich. Hanover 1961, p. 93 f.
↑ ^a ^b Ernst-August Roloff: Bourgeoisie and National Socialism 1930-1933. Braunschweig's way into the Third Reich. Hanover 1961, p. 96.
↑ Manfred Overesch: The naturalization of Hitler's 1930. In: Quarterly books for contemporary history . 40th volume, 4th issue, Munich 1992, p. 554
↑ Ernst-August Roloff: How brown was Braunschweig? Hitler and the Free State of Braunschweig. Braunschweiger Zeitung (Ed.), Braunschweig 2003, p. 25.
^ Ernst-August Roloff: Bourgeoisie and National Socialism 1930–1933. Braunschweig's way into the Third Reich. Hanover 1961, p. 93.
^ Ernst-August Roloff: Bourgeoisie and National Socialism 1930–1933. Braunschweig's way into the Third Reich. Hannover 1961, p. 94 (footnote).

personal data
SURNAME	Wessel, Heinrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Wessel, Heinrich Wilhelm Theodor Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German publisher and politician
DATE OF BIRTH	October 12, 1868
PLACE OF BIRTH	Lucklum
DATE OF DEATH	September 12, 1939
Place of death	Wolfenbüttel

[1] Ernst-August Roloff : Bourgeoisie and National Socialism 1930–1933. Braunschweig's way into the Third Reich. Hanover 1961, p. 93 f.

[Roloff-96-2] Ernst-August Roloff: Bourgeoisie and National Socialism 1930-1933. Braunschweig's way into the Third Reich. Hanover 1961, p. 96.

[3] Manfred Overesch: The naturalization of Hitler's 1930. In: Quarterly books for contemporary history . 40th volume, 4th issue, Munich 1992, p. 554

[4] Ernst-August Roloff: How brown was Braunschweig? Hitler and the Free State of Braunschweig. Braunschweiger Zeitung (Ed.), Braunschweig 2003, p. 25.

[5] Ernst-August Roloff: Bourgeoisie and National Socialism 1930–1933. Braunschweig's way into the Third Reich. Hanover 1961, p. 93.

[6] Ernst-August Roloff: Bourgeoisie and National Socialism 1930–1933. Braunschweig's way into the Third Reich. Hannover 1961, p. 94 (footnote).