Karl Höffkes

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Karl Höffkes (born February 1, 1954 in Oberhausen ) is a German non-fiction author, publisher and media dealer. In the 1980s and 1990s he worked as a historical revisionist contemporary historian in right-wing extremist publishing houses. In addition, he put on an extensive collection of private and media traditions, especially from the time of National Socialism , with which he traded and produced documentaries and audio books.

Life

Höffkes studied German, philosophy and history at the Universities of Düsseldorf and Duisburg . He completed his legal traineeship with the second state examination and then worked for some time in school as a teacher. From 1996 he is listed in the commercial register as a businessman.

For years, Höffkes worked in the environment of the Bundes Heimattreuer Jugend (BHJ) and the BHJ-related Arndt-Verlag . From March 1983 to September 1984 he was a member of the board of directors of the right-wing society for free journalism and worked as an author for Arndt-Verlag, Druffel-Verlag and Grabert-Verlag , all three organs of the extremist right. He also published in the right-wing extremist magazine Nation Europa (later: Nation und Europa ).

From 1984 to 1987 he was a member of the editorial board and co-publisher of the “national revolutionary” magazine Wir sich . Together with the new right Siegfried Bublies , Höffkes founded the publishing house "Bublies und Höffkes" in 1985. At the end of 1986 they separated again and Bublies was replaced by Detlev Heitz. The publisher renamed itself to "Heitz & Höffkes". Heinz Mahncke and Werner Georg Haverbeck were also active in the management of the publishing house. Until the 1990s Höffkes' Verlag published books by Armin Mohler , Hans-Dietrich Sander , Herman Wirth , Hermann Giesler and Adolf von Thadden . The assortment of the publisher, classified as right-wing extremist and revisionist, ranged from "Picture Chronicle of the SS School House Wewelsburg" to "Old-Pagan and German-Tümelndes".

In the 1980s, Höffkes began collecting private films and slides from the years 1914 to 1946. They formed the starting point of a later founded "Agency Karl Höffkes" for the trade in historical material, especially on National Socialism.

On the occasion of a tour of David Irving in Germany, organized by Bela Ewald Althans , Höffkes met Irving on April 19, 1990 in Munich and established closer contact with him. Irving visited Höffkes on June 8, 1990 in Essen. Höffkes was supposed to market the interviews with him. There were further interviews with Irving on February 12, 1991 on the occasion of his speech at the German People's Union in Passau.

Together with a business partner, he was the owner of Polar Film + Medien GmbH in Gescher / Westphalia from 1996 . In 2010, Polar Film + Medien GmbH was taken over by SchröderMedia.

In 2012, Höffkes took part in a group trip to Iran organized by the operator of the Islamist online portal Muslim-Markt , Yavuz Özoguz . The Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad received the group for a private audience. The trip was sharply criticized in the media in view of Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust and Israel's right to exist as legitimizing the Iranian injustice regime or “pilgrimage of [united] anti-Semites”. According to Judith Fässler, this trip was unique in that it documented a cooperation between German Shiite Islamists and German right-wing extremists. Höffkes was classified by her as a "history revisionist".

Act

According to his own statements, Höffkes has a large number of private films, black-and-white pictures and color slides, especially from the time of National Socialism. According to the Westfälische Rundschau, his archive is "one of the largest in the republic." He markets his archive holdings to various customers worldwide. He also produces documentary films from his archive material, which he sells on DVDs. Höffkes productions were directed by a. a. Hermann Pölking-Eiken, Uwe Sauermann, Bastian Clevé and Jörg Müllner .

The archive material includes bequests such as that of Götz Hirt-Reger, a former PK film reporter for the Deutsche Wochenschau , and that of the amateur filmmaker Walther Bever-Mohr , as well as chronicles of regional history and private film diaries of various origins. As of 2014, the archive comprised over 1,400 hours of digitized material dating from around the turn of the century to the 1960s.

In addition to his work as a collector, he conducted a large number of interviews with contemporary witnesses , which he also offers to interested parties. In addition to former members of the Wehrmacht and SS as well as Nazi functionaries such as Artur Axmann , he interviewed former concentration camp inmates. This inventory of interviews is also used by contemporary historical research. In Höffkes' interview with Elisabeth Grünbauer, née Popp, with whose parents Adolf Hitler sublet before the First World War , the historian Thomas Weber discovered signs that Hitler became an anti-Semite earlier than previously assumed . Weber described the interview pool as "an unexpectedly found gold box". The collected interviews that Höffkes conducted with contemporary witnesses on the subject of Hitler were published in book form by Wieland Giebel in 2020 .

While some of the Polar film documentaries were broadcast on public and private channels, others were criticized for their political leanings. For example, the revisionist documentation " Hess Secret Files " produced in 2004 by Olaf Rose and Michael Vogt . The Berlin Regional Court saw a clear shared responsibility for Höffke in the Hess cult, to which the murder thesis belongs and which "made Rudolf Hess a martyr and an icon of right-wing extremists, especially in right-wing extremist circles ".

In 2014, Höffkes worked together with Hermann Pölking-Eiken as a material researcher for the documentary Heinrich Himmler - The Decent One (“The Decent One”).

In 2015, Höffkes acquired the estate of Reinhard Wiener, a member of the Navy , who filmed a mass murder by the German task forces in Liepāja in 1941 . Wiener's film is the only known record of such a crime to date. Höffkes presented these and other Holocaust-related films from his collection in September 2016 at a symposium at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem . Yad Vashem also uses archive material from Höffkes' collection for teaching and school videos.

In 2017 he acted as executive producer and researcher for the documentary film Wer war Hitler produced by Thorsten Pollfuß (director: Hermann Pölking-Eiken).

Publications and reception

Some of the books written by Karl Höffkes were published in right-wing extremist publishers, such as his reference work "Hitler's Political Generals: The Gauleiter of the Third Reich", published in 1986 by Grabert Verlag, which found its way into research on National Socialism due to its abundance of raw biographical data, despite the fact The book was attested by historians to have an apologetic objective. The Stuttgart State Archives also rated Höffkes as a “right-wing extremist historian” based on an interview with Artur Axmann. Wieland Giebel , on the other hand, described it as Höffkes' “merit for persistently questioning survivors of National Socialism and documenting their statements”.

Documentaries by Höffkes' film company Polar-Film have been included in the program of right-wing extremist mail-order companies such as the publishing house Bublies , but are also offered by commercial providers.

Books

Movies

  • Heinrich Himmler's Castle - The Wewelsburg: The ideological center of the SS (with Stuart Russell) (Polar film, approx. 1996)
  • Hans-Joachim Marseille: The Star of Africa (Polar-Film 1998)
  • Triumph and Tragedy of Wilhelm Gustloff (Polar-Film 2000)
  • Europe in Flames - The Peace Years 1933-1939 (Polar-Film 2001)
  • Europe in Flames - The War Years 1939-1945 (Polar-Film 2001)
  • The history of the German tank weapon 1914-1945 (Polar-Film 2002)
  • Wheels must roll for victory - The Reichsbahn in action at war (Polar-Film 2002)
  • The history of the German Navy 1914-1945 (Polar-Film 2003)
  • The history of the Hitler Youth (Polar-Film 2003)
  • The great campaigns of World War II (Polar-Film 2003)
  • Operation Barbarossa - The War in the East (Polar-Film 2003)
  • When the empire fell apart (Polar-Film 2004)
  • The Third Reich in Private - Life and Survival (Polar-Film 2004)
  • The secret film archive of Eva Braun (Polar-Film 2004)
  • Hitler Germany in Color (Polar-Film 2004)
  • Hitler's Political Movement - The NSDAP (Polar-Film 2004)
  • The history of the German submarine weapon 1914-1945 (Polar-Film 2005)
  • With the camera on the Eastern Front part 1-3 (Polar-Film 2011)
  • Filming under the swastika. The lost film treasure of Ernst Grelle (Polar-Film 2011)
  • Before Hitler came - Germany's path to dictatorship (Polar-Film 2014)

literature

  • Höffkes, Karl . In: Jens Mecklenburg (Hrsg.): Handbook of German Right-Wing Extremism (= Antifa Edition ). Elefanten-Press, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-88520-585-8 , pp. 471-472.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kress Report
  2. ^ A b c Franz Gress / Hans-Gerd Jaschke / Klaus Schönekäs: New rights and right-wing extremism in Europe , Westdeutscher Verlag, Wiesbaden 1990, p. 325.
  3. ↑ Job title when registering as authorized signatory of Polar Film- und Medien GmbH, Register Court Dortmund, sheet HRB 12182
  4. ^ Margret Feit: The New Right in the Federal Republic , Campus Verlag, Frankfurt (Main) 1987, p. 77.
  5. ^ Thomas Assheuer, Hans Sarkowicz: right-wing radicals in Germany. The old and the new right. CH Beck Verlag Munich 1992, p. 76.
  6. ^ A b Siegfried Jäger, right-hand print: die Presse der Neue Rechten , Volume 24 by Dietz Taschenbuch 1988, p. 78
  7. ↑ Heiko Langanke, The extreme right in the Federal Republic: Ideas, Ideologies, Interpretations , Volume 38 of Edition Philosophy and Social Sciences, Argument Verlag 1996, p. 74
  8. ↑ Wolfgang Benz, Right-Wing Extremism in Germany , Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag 1994, p. 81
  9. ↑ Stefan Ruzas, Der Geschichte-Händler , in: Focus No. 23/2009, p. 99.
  10. ↑ 1986 in his book Hitler's political generals: the Gauleiter of the Third Reich: a biographical reference work mentioned
  11. ↑ Hajo Funke, David Irving, Holocaust Denial, and his Connections to Right Wing Extremists and Neo-National Socialism (Neo-Nazism) in Germany , report 1999, available online
  12. ↑ Polar Film- und Medien GmbH, Register Court Dortmund, sheet HRB 12182
  13. ^ Press release from SchröderMedia Handels GmbH from August 4, 2010
  14. ^ Jonas Nonnenmann: FDP Landtag candidate advertises Ahmadinejad In: Berliner Zeitung . May 4, 2012
  15. ↑ FDP local politician in Ahmadinejad: The incredible journey of Mr. Hübscher In: Spiegel Online, May 3, 2012
  16. ↑ FDP politicians at Ahmadinejad: Hübscher's miraculous travel group In: Spiegel Online , May 4, 2012
  17. ↑ Benno Schirrmeister: Professional ban for Delmenhorster FDP politicians - visits prohibited In: taz.de , May 14, 2012
  18. ↑ Sigrid Deutschmann: NS history pictures from brownish film archive , Hagalil from November 6, 2012
  19. ↑ Judith Faessler, Islamism and Right-Wing Extremism - Mutual Perceptions, Confrontations and Cooperation , In: Zeitschrift Totalitarismus & Demokratie, No. 1 2014, p. 92
  20. ↑ Angelika Wölke, In Search of Private , Westfälische Rundschau of July 23, 2009, available online
  21. ↑ See the credits on the DVDs “Memphis Belle. The Truth of Air War ”,“ Know your enemy! Frank Capra's Here is Germany ”and“ Hitler's Germany 1937 ”(Director: Hermann Pölking-Eiken),“ German Records Part 1-3: Elly Beinhorn, Zeppelins, Glider Pilots ”(Director: Uwe Sauermann),“ Hitler's Propaganda Warriors - On the Trail by PK draftsman Otto Clevé "(director: Bastian Clevé) and" Göring's secret "(director: Jörg Müllner)
  22. ↑ Dirk Alt: Judenboykott - Landserfreizeit - gymnastics with Eva Braun. Amateur films from the Nazi era. In: Filmblatt Nr. 57 (2015), p. 46-59, on the archive p. 48, on Hirt-Reger p. 56-57.
  23. ↑ Stefan Ruzas, Der Geschichte-Händler , in: Focus No. 23/2009, p. 99.
  24. ↑ Armin Fuhrer, Hitler's hatred of Jews is older than assumed , in: Focus-Online, March 13, 2020.
  25. ↑ Interview with Thomas Weber: "We have demagogues with Hitler's talents again in the world" , in: Spiegel-Online, March 13, 2020.
  26. ^ Reasons for the judgment of the Berlin Regional Court of June 29, 2010, Höffkes v VVN; AZ 27 O 1161/09
  27. ↑ Barbara von der Lühe. "The decent one". A short media history of the Himmler estate , In: Zeitschrift Tribüne, March 10, 2014, available online
  28. ↑ Dirk Alt, What is the nation's memory? , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of December 8, 2016, p. 13 - features section
  29. ↑ Tobias Ebbrecht-Hartmann: Trophy, evidence, document: appropriating an archive film from Liepaja, 1941, in: Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Volume 36 (2016), No. 4, pp. 1-20.
  30. ↑ Dirk Alt: What is the nation's memory? In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung No. 287 of December 8, 2016, p. 13.
  31. ↑ Credits to the Holocaust Education Video Toolbox produced by Yad Vashem
  32. ↑ Press booklet for the film "Wer war Hitler", cinema release November 16, 2017, p. 3 available online
  33. ↑ Dietrich Orlow, The Nazi Party 1919-1945: A Complete History , Enigma Books 2010, page xiii in the foreword
  34. ↑ Horst Möller, Udo Wengst, Introduction to Contemporary History , CH Beck 2003, p. 274
  35. ^ Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg: "The right-wing extremist historian Karl Höffkes asks Artur Axmann ", see: [1] .
  36. ↑ Wieland Giebel (ed.), I met Hitler. Karl Höffkes' interviews with contemporary witnesses , Berlin Story Verlag 2020, p. 19.
personal data
SURNAME Höffkes, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German media dealer
DATE OF BIRTH February 1, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Oberhausen