Hermann Schäfer (propaganda functionary)

Hermann Schäfer (left in SA uniform) together with Joseph Goebbels , Sepp Dietrich , Wolf-Heinrich von Helldorff and (far right) an unidentified man (who knows him?).

Hermann Schäfer (* around 1894 ; † after 1964 ) was a German engineer, propaganda functionary, chief office manager of the Reich propaganda leadership of the NSDAP and SA leader , most recently with the rank of SA group leader .

Life and activity

Schäfer, a trained engineer, had been working as a loudspeaker technician in the NSDAP's propaganda department since 1932 at the latest .

Between 1933 and 1945, Schäfer assumed important roles in the Nazi state's propaganda apparatus as "Reichslautsprecherführer" and commander of the "Reichsautozug" (1933 to 1936) and "Reichsautozug Deutschland" (1936 to 1945) . As loudspeaker operator, Schäfer was responsible for the technical transmission of radio programs as well as the transmission of public speeches in front of a large audience, in particular the speeches of Adolf Hitler , whose frequent companion in speeches to mass audiences was Schäfer as the man responsible for sound engineering. As it was said in a portrait in the illustrated magazine Quick in the 1960s: “[he literally served] the voice of his master [...] [because] wherever his guide spoke, Hermann Schäfer was responsible for the technical transmission [...] when Whenever the destroyer of Europe needed a microphone, Herrmann Schäfer stood behind him. "

The original Reichsautozug was a corps of broadcast vehicles created in 1933 with funds from the Reich Treasurer of the NSDAP, Franz Xaver Schwarz , with the aim of being able to bring propaganda to the audience through loudspeakers at mass events. With effect from May 1, 1936, Schäfer and his Reichsautozug were officially incorporated as the “Reichsautozug Deutschland” into the Reich Propaganda Administration, to which they had de facto been subordinate. Since then, he has been responsible for managing the entire main office V (Reichsautozug Deutschland) within the business area of ​​the propaganda line and also managing Office IV ("Mobile Train"), which is located within this main office. In this capacity he also figured as a consultant for the broadcasting industry.

In May 1945, Schäfer hid eleven boxes with airtight iron cassettes containing unknown Hitler speeches from the NSDAP's sound archive, which had been transferred to chrome-nickel plates, in a hollow under a bridge on Lake Tegernsee . In 1964 he revealed this to Quick magazine, where eight boxes could still be found.

Promotions

• before 1936: SA Oberführer
• 1937: SA brigade leader
• 1941: SA group leader

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cornelia Schmitz-Berning: Vocabulary of National Socialism . 2nd edition, Berlin 2007, p. 534.

literature

• Cornelia Epping-Jäger: Voice. The trace of movement . In: Gisela Fehrman, Erika Linz, Cornelia Epping-Jäger (ed.): Traces, Lectures. Practices of the symbolic. (Festschrift for Ludwig Jäger on his 60th birthday) . Fink, Paderborn et al. 2004, ISBN 3-7705-3847-1 , pp. 133-151 .