Joseph Klant

Joseph (also Josef) Klant (born December 8, 1869 in Herzogenwalde ; † 1927 ) was Gauleiter of the NSDAP in Hamburg and from 1924 until his death a member of the Hamburg citizenship .

After attending elementary school, he worked in the mining industry from 1883 to 1896. Then he moved to Hamburg and became a clerk at Blohm & Voss . In 1899, now a travel agent for his employer, he was also granted citizenship in Hamburg. In 1903 he bought a cigar business which he ran until his death.

In Hamburg he became a member of the Deutschvölkischer Schutz- und Trutzbund and headed the local group of the Confederation of the Upright .

From July 1922, as a supporter of National Socialism, he was extremely active and founded one association after another, which, however, were quickly banned again and again. However, this did not stand in the way of his career with the NSDAP, as early as 1923 his name appeared as a speaker at several mass meetings in Munich.

The Hamburg local group of the NSDAP was reorganized in the same year under the name Blücher Group . because the NSDAP was banned at that time. A short time later, however, Klant was arrested and imprisoned until 1924. After being sentenced in 1924 to 4 months in prison and a 500 Reichsmark fine, in the same year he was able to be elected to the Hamburg parliament through the Völkisch social block , to which he belonged until his death.

In 1925 he rejoined the NSDAP and in the same year also became Gauleiter in the Gau Hamburg of the NSDAP. However, he did not succeed in asserting himself against the SA in Hamburg. Constant quarrels between the SA and the NSDAP were the result. In October 1926 he formally made his office available - he hoped that the rejection of his resignation would strengthen his position. The party headquarters accepted the request, at the same time the Gau Hamburg was dissolved and demoted to the local group. Reich propaganda leader Gregor Strasser was sent to Hamburg for reorganization. On November 4, 1926, Albert Krebs was elected local group leader.

On September 7, 1927, Klant was buried in the Ohlsdorf cemetery in Hamburg.

literature

• Thomas Krause Hamburg turns brown - The rise of the NSDAP from 1921-1933. resultsVERLAG, Hamburg 1987, ISBN 3-925622-24-1 .
• Ursula Büttner : The rise of the NSDAP , in: Hamburg in the »Third Reich« , published by the Research Center for Contemporary History in Hamburg , Wallstein Verlag Hamburg, Göttingen 2005. Article by Büttner pp. 27–65, including on Joseph Klant p. 31 -34.
• Nazi apologetic: Karl Höffkes : Hitler's political generals. The Gauleiter of the 3rd Reich; a biographical reference work. Grabert-Verlag , Tübingen 1997, ISBN 3-87847-163-7 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Uwe Lohalm: Völkischer Radikalismus: The history of the Deutschvölkischer Schutz- und Trutz-Bund. 1919-1923 . Leibniz-Verlag, Hamburg 1970, p. 213. ISBN 3-87473-000-X .