Mecklenburg gentleman's society

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Wilhelm v. Oertzen

The Herrengesellschaft Mecklenburg was an anti-parliamentary German political club that existed from 1926 to 1945. He is attributed to the Conservative Revolution .

history

The Herrengesellschaft Mecklenburg was founded on June 15, 1926 by the Mecklenburg landowner Wilhelm von Oertzen . Politically, the society was aristocratic-conservative and - according to its self-image - strictly elitist. On a supraregional level, it was involved in the so-called "ring movement" grouped around the magazine Der Ring . Accordingly, the men's society was in constant contact with similar clubs in other parts of the country, such as the Hamburg National Club , the Magdeburg Men's Society and the Silesian Men's Society and, in particular, the German Men's Club in Berlin , which functions as an umbrella organization .

For the external impact of the gentlemen's society, the lecture evenings in the Roggow mansion, usually held monthly, were decisive. A maximum of around 600 people took part in these meetings. In this way, from 1926 to 1942, more than 11,600 participants were trained in line with the political objectives of this elitist association, which is hostile to parliamentarism . The prominent personalities that the Herrengesellschaft was able to win as speakers for its lecture evenings included Klaus Mehnert and the former Chancellor Hans Luther .

When the German Men's Club renamed itself the German Club in August 1933, taking into account the political development , the General Assembly of the Men's Society decided to use the name Deutscher Klub Mecklenburg in future . The association disbanded when the Red Army marched in.

Political direction and goals

The nobility naturally saw a diminution of their (ancient) social and political importance in the Weimar Republic . What connected him with many Germans was the conviction that parliamentarism is reminiscent of shadow boxing and prevents national unity. The egalitarianism of National Socialism endangered the property of the nobility. Walter Darré and Walter Granzow wanted to abolish the centuries-old culture of goods in favor of free farmers. Therefore v. Oertzen the gentlemen's society Mecklenburg.

“The goal of the gentlemen's society is the third Reich after the book which the unfortunately deceased co-founder of the Moeller van den Bruck movement wrote and which should really be known to every German. The idea of ​​bipartisanism is almost inextricably linked to the aversion to parliamentarism ... We are a thoroughly aristocratic movement in that we draw on leaders from all circles and train and inform them through our events and, above all, expect them from you apply what they have learned to themselves and the circle over which they have an influence. That is leadership! So we are not a popular movement, which would be the opposite of that. "

- Wilhelm von Oertzen

The “great leader” is not brought up, but born; the training of thinking and feeling of the “little leaders” about a new kind of upper class is indispensable, “so that there is an atmosphere in which the leader can live at all, in which he can assert himself.” Karl Eschenburg - Prime Minister in the Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin , from 1936 member of the NSDAP  - and his ministers showed solidarity with the goals of the Herrengesellschaft Mecklenburg. As a result, the Mecklenburg aristocratic families still owned up to 50,000 hectares of land until 1945 . Friedrich Hildebrandt , Gauleiter and former farm worker, took the position that after Marxism had been overcome, the Nazi movement would face a new, great opponent, namely the “reactionary forces in the men's club”. The Nazi leadership ( staff of the Führer’s deputy ) considered using the German Club for their own purposes. Both Ernst Röhm and Heinrich Himmler had joined the board of trustees.

Members

Adolf Friedrich zu Mecklenburg , 1926–1945 member of the men's society
date Members
June 15, 1926 23
January 1, 1927 48
January 1, 1928 107
January 1, 1929 175
January 1, 1930 263
January 1, 1931 288
January 1, 1932 280
January 1, 1933 277
January 1, 1934 279
January 1, 1935 318
January 1, 1936 302

From: Deutscher Klub Mecklenburg 1926–1936 , Rostock 1936

85 members were (aristocratic) landowners, about 30 civil servants, about 20 representatives from banks and industry, as well as officers, doctors, professors, lawyers, editors and others. The families, some of them primeval and rich in tradition, included the Bassewitz (5 members), Bernstorff (2), Blücher (noble family) (1), Brandenstein (noble family) (3), Oertzen (noble family) (10), Plessen and Schulenburg ( Noble family) (1). Adolf Friedrich Herzog zu Mecklenburg had already joined the Herrengesellschaft Mecklenburg when it was founded in 1926 and was at the top of the list of members. Since 1929 there were also junior circles, for example at the Friderico-Francisceum under the direction of Dr. Gerhard Ringeling .

In 1934 60% of the members were in the NSDAP, 113 in the SA reserve, 28 in the Sturmabteilung (SA), 6 in the National Socialist Motor Corps (NSKK) and 4 in the Schutzstaffel (SS).

Relationship to the NSDAP

Wilhelm von Oertzen repeatedly tried to win Adolf Hitler as a speaker for the Herrengesellschaft Mecklenburg; despite these efforts, Hitler showed no interest in this union. Reimar von Plessen, lord of the family fideikommiss Kurzen Trechow and Langen Trechow and father of the district economic advisor Hennecke von Plessen , was accepted into the NSDAP in 1930 as 2nd chairman of the society. In the 1932 Reichstag election campaign, Hitler attacked Hans Bodo von Alvensleben-Neugattersleben , the chairman of the gentlemen's club (to which Wilhelm von Oertzen was also a member of the board): "You speak against Marxism as a class phenomenon and are the worst class phenomenon yourself!"

Archival material

  • State Main Archive Schwerin : Holdings 10.61-2 Herrengesellschaft Mecklenburg / Deutscher Klub Mecklenburg (membership directories, minutes of annual meetings, correspondence with representatives from politics, business, science and culture as well as associations and clubs)

literature

  • Lothar Elsner: The gentlemen's society. Life and changes of Wilhelm von Oertzen . Weymann Bauer: Rostock 1998, ISBN 3-929395-39-8 .
  • Jens Flemming: “Führer Collection”, “Political Training” and “New Aristocracy”. The men's society Mecklenburg in the Weimar Republic . In: Karl Christian Führer, Karen Hagemann, Birthe Kundrus (Ed.): Eliten im Wandel. Social leaders in the 19th and 20th centuries; For Klaus Saul on his 65th birthday . Westphalian steam boat: Münster 2004, pp. 123–154.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Roggow near Bad Doberan ( Memento of the original from October 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on Gutshaeuser.de  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gutshaeuser.de
  2. ^ Heinz Reif: Nobility and Bourgeoisie in Germany II . Page 206
  3. ↑ Hermann Langer: Life under the swastika. Everyday life in Mecklenburg 1932–1945 . Edition Temmen. ISBN 3-86108-291-8 , p. 71
  4. ↑ a b c Marco Theelke: Wilhelm von Oertzen . In: Mecklenburgers in German history in the 19th and 20th centuries . Edited by Ilona Buchsteiner . Ingo Koch Publishing House. Rostock 2001. Pages 217-233.
  5. ↑ a b cf. Culture portal Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania - book tip "Die Herren Gesellschaft" ( Memento of the original from April 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kulturportal-mv.de
  6. ↑ Quoted from Lothar Elsner: Die Herrengesellschaft , page 35
  7. ↑ Stephan Malinowski: From the king to the leader . Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2003, p. 442
  8. ↑ Tell both stories . In: Der Spiegel . No. 29 , 2004 ( online ).
  9. ↑ cf. Johannes Erichsen: 1000 years of Mecklenburg . P. 84
  10. ↑ cf. Mecklenburg Poloclub Pinnow: The Maltzahn , history
  11. ↑ Hermann Langer: Life under the swastika. Everyday life in Mecklenburg 1932–1945 . Edition Temmen, p. 71
  12. ↑ Stephan Malinowski: From the king to the leader . Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2003, page 441
  13. ↑ Hermann Langer: Life under the swastika. Everyday life in Mecklenburg 1932–1945 . Edition Temmen, p. 69
  14. ↑ Hermann Langer: Life under the swastika. Everyday life in Mecklenburg 1932–1945 . Edition Temmen. P. 73
  15. ↑ see M. Naumann: Die Plessen. Line from the XIII. to XX. Century , Starke Verlag , Limburg ad Lahn, 1971, p. 25
  16. ^ Lothar Elsner, Eva-Maria Elsner, Heinz Koch, Die Herrengesellschaft: Leben und Wandlungen des Wilhelm von Oertzen , Weymann Bauer Verlag 1998, p. 83
  17. ↑ cf. Manfred Schoeps: The German men's club. A contribution to the history of young conservatism in the Weimar Republic . Diss. Univ. Erlangen 1974