Joseph Berchtold

This article deals with the Reichsführer SS Joseph Berchtold. For other people see Josef Berchtold .

Joseph Berchtold

Joseph Berchtold , more rarely Josef Berchtold , (born March 6, 1897 in Ingolstadt ; † August 23, 1962 in Herrsching am Ammersee ) was the first " Reichsführer SS " and a member of the Reichstag .

Life

Berchtold was a son of the curator Joseph Berchtold (born February 14, 1863 in Dorfen , † April 29, 1935 in Munich ). He attended primary and secondary school in Munich from 1903 to 1915. From the spring of 1915 to the end of 1918 he took part in the First World War; he was deployed on the Western Front and returned with the rank of lieutenant in the reserve. After studying economics at the University of Munich, he worked as a journalist. From 1923 Berchtold was the owner of a shop for cigars and stationery at Münchner Straße Im Tal 54.

In February 1920 Berchtold joined the NSDAP ( membership number 750). In June 1920 he became a member of the "Working Committee of the NSDAP", at the same time he initially took over the office of "Second Treasurer of the NSDAP"; from January 21, 1921 he was "First Cashier of the NSDAP". Simultaneously with the disempowerment of the previous party leadership by Adolf Hitler , Berchtold resigned from the NSDAP on July 29, 1921 and joined the “Free National Socialist Association in Munich”. On March 7, 1922, Berchtold rejoined the NSDAP and again took over the post of "Second Treasurer". At the same time Berchtold also became a member of the SA and until 1923 took over the leadership of various SA hundreds in Munich.

Berchtold is described as of small stature, but is said to have been able to get his way with his fists. This may have been a reason for Hitler in August 1923 to appoint him leader of the Adolf Hitler raid. The guiding principle of this troop was “power is right”, its members are said to have sworn to Hitler “absolute allegiance to death”. The "Shock Troop Adolf Hitler" is the successor to the "Staff Guard". The SS later emerged from this . Berchtold was a participant in the Hitler putsch on November 9, 1923 and after the failure of the putsch fled to Tyrol in Austria. On April 23, 1924, he was convicted in absentia in Munich for participating in the putsch.

Berchtold's SA ranks	appointment
SA standard leader	December 18, 1931
SA Oberführer	January 1, 1933
SA brigade leader	November 9, 1934
SA group leader	May 1, 1935
SA-Obergruppenführer	January 30, 1942

In Austria Berchtold became Gau managing director of the NSDAP in Carinthia in 1924 and was the leader of the SA there. After the re-admission of the NSDAP, which was banned as a result of the coup, in Germany (February 1925), he became a party member again in 1925 (membership number 964). In April 1926 Berchtold returned to Germany. On April 15, 1926, he took over the management of the Munich SA. At the same time, he succeeded Julius Schreck as "Oberleiter" of the SS, an office that was called " Reichsführer SS " from November 1, 1926 . Berchtold was replaced in both the leadership of the SA and the SS in March 1927; Erhard Heiden followed him as Reichsführer SS . In the SA he was from 1928 to 1945 as SA leader in the staff of the Supreme SA leadership (OSAF).

In the following years, Berchtold worked primarily as a journalist and propagandist: from January 1, 1927 to January 1933 he was editor, from January 1933 to February 1943 chief of the service , from January 1938 also deputy chief editor of the Völkischer Beobachter . In 1928 he founded the magazine Der SA-Mann ; until January 1938 he was the chief editor of the sheet published by the SA leadership. In addition, he was the author of various National Socialist publications and worked for other magazines.

Other offices during the National Socialist era were of secondary importance: From March 1934 onwards, Berchtold was a city councilor in Munich, then from October 1 until the end of the war. He was a member of the insignificant Reichstag from March 29, 1936. On November 15, 1935, he was appointed Reichskultursenator , and from March 6, 1936 he was a member of the “SA culture”. From April 29, 1940, he served temporarily in the Wehrmacht as a reserve captain .

After the end of the war in 1945, Berchtold was temporarily in Allied internment.

Archival tradition

• Institute for Contemporary History: F 129, Vol. 20: Personnel documents on Joseph Berchtold (contains: various documents relating to Josef Berchtold; index cards, questionnaires and personnel sheets, photos, excerpts from reference works and the like; documents of the NSDAP investigation and arbitration committee; documents from SA disciplinary proceedings of the SA special court of the highest SA leadership, documents from party court proceedings; correspondence, xerographic, 121 sheets)

literature

• 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 .
• Bernd Diroll: Personal Lexicon of the NSDAP. (Volume 1: SS-Führer A – B ) Patzwall, Norderstedt 1998, ISBN 3-931533-38-7 .
• Kurt Pätzold , Manfred Weißbecker : History of the NSDAP: 1920-1945. PapyRossa-Verlag, Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-89438-260-0 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Joseph Berchtold in the catalog of the German National Library
• Joseph Berchtold in the database of members of the Reichstag