Karl Cerff

Karl Cerff , also Carl Cerff , (born March 12, 1907 in Heidelberg ; † May 4, 1978 in Karlsruhe ) was a German civil servant, SS brigade leader and functionary of the NSDAP and the Hitler Youth (HJ). After the end of the war, Cerff was a leading member of the mutual aid community of the members of the former Waffen SS (HIAG).

Life

Cerff joined the SA in 1922 and the NSDAP in 1926 ( membership number 30.314). In 1928 he became leader of the Hitler Youth (HJ) in Heidelberg; between 1931 and 1932 he was propaganda leader of the Hitler Youth for the Gau Baden . He was also active as a Reich speaker for the NSDAP and the Hitler Youth.

After the transfer of power to the National Socialists, Cerff was active in the Reich Youth Leadership from May 1933 , where he headed Department R (youth and school radio). Two years later, Cerff took over the cultural office of the Reich Youth Leadership in the rank of HJ-Obergebietsführer and was also their representative at the Reichsendeleitung. Since 1938 Karl Cerff was head of various main offices, first of the main office of culture of the NSDAP Reichsleitung and from 1942 of the main office of the Reich propaganda office of the NSDAP . In this function he was also Reich Culture Administrator in the Reich Chamber of Culture . After being appointed ministerial director, Cerff worked in the Reich Propaganda Ministry in 1944 .

Cerff was also a member of the SS (membership number 323.782). On January 30, 1943, he was promoted to SS brigade leader.

Attempts by Cerff to influence the programming of radio programs led to conflicts with Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels and the Nazi propagandist Hans Fritzsche . In May 1943 Cerff objected to the "flat light music" on the radio and suggested that the choice of music should not only be based on the needs of "city dwellers", but also on the wishes of the residents of rural regions. Goebbels noted in his diary a “sharp argument about the current radio program. Cerff takes a somewhat supranational socialist point of view here. If it were up to him, then the music on the radio would be made exclusively with Luren . ”Cerff's original intention to become a radio advisor on“ folk-cultural issues ”failed. Instead he was appointed adviser to Fritzsche in July 1944. The relationship between Cerff and Fritzsche remained tense. In October 1944, Cerff complained to Fritzsche about the “wildest jazz music” that he had heard “once again” in the Reich program. For unknown reasons, the radio staff were forbidden to have any further contact with Cerff in November. In the same month Cerff was summoned to Italy, where he was to discipline civil and military departments.

After the war, Cerff worked for the European Book Club in Stuttgart. According to the British secret service, he was in contact with the so-called " Gauleiter Circle " around ex-Propaganda State Secretary Werner Naumann . In addition, he founded the “Freundeskreis Bergherberg”, intended as support for Rudolf Hess .

From the 1950s until at least 1975, Cerff was a leading member of the HIAG, a traditional association of former members of the Waffen SS . Cerff was initially on the advisory board of the HIAG federal executive board; In 1962 he was the third national spokesman and from 1963 second national spokesman. Cerff was HIAG's most influential negotiator and had numerous contacts with politicians, business circles and adult education institutions. The contacts were intended to demonstrate the ability of the former members of the Waffen SS to compromise and to ensure that they could be politically assessed. In addition, influence should be exerted on supply regulations under Article 131 of the Basic Law .

Cerff's interlocutors included Erich Mende (FDP), Siegfried Zoglmann (FDP), Will Rasner (CDU) and Fritz Erler (SPD). In addition, Cerff organized informal discussion groups, for example in May 1959 a meeting between the Federal Prosecutor Max Güde (CDU) and the Lord Mayor of Karlsruhe Günther Klotz (SPD) with a group of 23 people who described themselves as “a group of former National Socialists and soldiers”. The group included the former Colonel General of the Waffen-SS, Sepp Dietrich , convicted of war crimes , the right-wing extremist and former fighter pilot Hans-Ulrich Rudel and the right-wing extremist publisher Herbert Grabert . A similar meeting with Bundestag President Eugen Gerstenmaier in January 1957 in Stuttgart became known through the publication of Cerff's speech by Grabert. Further informal meetings took place until the 1970s.

According to the historian Karsten Wilke, Cerff's contacts served HIAG “in particular to transform National Socialist positions”. "Cerff's commitment to democracy [...] could be interpreted ambiguously." For example, Cerff's "plea for a 'defensive state' [...] as a desire for an authoritarian state and social form" and as an attempt to "re-establish National Socialist interpretation patterns" can be understood.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The publications edited by him can be found under Carl Cerff , for example the tent camp of young art , Heidelberg 1936, or the field postcards published by him until 1944, Art in War .
2. ^ Hans-Jörg Koch: The request concert on Nazi radio. Böhlau, Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-412-10903-7 , pp. 132f.
3. ↑ Diary entry of May 22, 1943, quoted in Koch, Wunschkonzert , p. 133.
4. ↑ Cerff's letter of October 23, 1944, quoted in Koch, Wunschkonzert , p. 136.
5. ↑ Max Bonacker: Goebbels' husband on the radio. The Nazi propagandist Hans Fritzsche (1900–1953). (= Series of the quarterly books for contemporary history , volume 94) Oldenbourg, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-486-58193-5 , p. 166
6. ↑ Ernst Klee : Personal Lexicon Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt 2005, ISBN 3-596-16048-0 , p. 91.
7. ↑ Karsten Wilke: The mutual aid community (HIAG) 1950–1990. Veterans of the Waffen SS in the Federal Republic . Schöningh, Paderborn / Vienna 2011, ISBN 978-3-506-77235-0 , p. 104, 110 f., 421 (also dissertation, Bielefeld University, 2010).
8. ↑ Karsten Wilke: The mutual aid community (HIAG) 1950–1990. Veterans of the Waffen SS in the Federal Republic . Schöningh, Paderborn / Vienna 2011, ISBN 978-3-506-77235-0 , p. 111 f . (also dissertation, Bielefeld University, 2010).
9. ↑ Karsten Wilke: The mutual aid community (HIAG) 1950–1990. Veterans of the Waffen SS in the Federal Republic . Schöningh, Paderborn / Vienna 2011, ISBN 978-3-506-77235-0 , p. 112 f . (also dissertation, Bielefeld University, 2010). Thoughts exchanged . In: Der Spiegel . No.  6 , 1957, pp. 21-22 ( online ).
10. ↑ Karsten Wilke: The mutual aid community (HIAG) 1950–1990. Veterans of the Waffen SS in the Federal Republic . Schöningh, Paderborn / Vienna 2011, ISBN 978-3-506-77235-0 , p. 115 (also dissertation, Bielefeld University, 2010).