Ludwig Krieger

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Ludwig Krieger (born February 16, 1887 in Dresden , † April 24, 1974 probably in Bonn ) was a German parliamentary stenographer.

Life and activity

In 1908 Krieger entered the service of the German Reichstag in Berlin as a student as a stenographer. He held the position of parliamentary stenographer for the Reichstag and later for the Bundestag for almost 50 years until 1957 across all changes in the political system: He worked in the same way during the Empire, during the Weimar Republic , during the Nazi era and during the first seven years of the Federal Republic of Germany, stenographic transcripts of the meetings of the German parliament (or the representative body that took its place during the Nazi era) began. In addition, Krieger was called in as a recorder of sessions of the Reich Court.

During the Second World War, Krieger was head of the Reichstag's stenographers office from 1941 to May 1945, from March 1945 in the rank of senior government councilor, and from February 1943 also worked as a stenographer at the Führer headquarters. Here, like seven other stenographers, he had the task of recording all of Adolf Hitler's important military discussions with the commanders of the various parts of the army, the commanders of the various theaters of war, chiefs of the general staff, parts of the army, etc. (usually the morning and evening situation) and then regular full text -To take minutes of the meetings on the basis of the shorthand notes.

After the encirclement of Berlin by the Red Army in April 1945, Krieger was flown out of Berlin on Hitler's orders, along with five other Hitler stenographers and the typists from the stenographic service at the Führer Headquarters.

At the end of the war, Krieger was arrested by the Allies and questioned as a witness during the Nuremberg Trials , including his information about events in the Führer Headquarters as evidence of the prosecution, especially against Wilhelm Keitel , the closest military assistant in the proceedings against the Chief of the Wehrmacht High Command Hitler's in the years 1938-1945.

Even after the end of the war criminal trials, Krieger was questioned as a witness by numerous historians and in the context of trials in the early Federal Republic of Germany, because in his capacity as a stenographer he held numerous historically / politically significant meetings of the highest management level of the Nazi dictatorship or (as court recorder ) had attended important court sessions at that time: Krieger was the recorder in the trial against Martin Niemöller in 1937, in the court of honor proceedings against the head of the Army Command Werner von Fritsch in 1938 and in the Göring Conference after the Reichskristallnacht .

After the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany, Krieger returned to his position as parliamentary stenographer: he became the first head of the stenographic service of the Bundestag and after his retirement from 1953 he also worked as an auditor in the stenographic service of the Bundestag and the Council of Europe.

literature

  • Michael S. Cullen: The Reichstag: Parliament, Monument, Symbol , 1999, p. 356.
  • Horst Ferdinand: Fifty Years in the Service of Parliament , in: Neue Stenographische Praxis (NStPr) 5/1 (1957) 23–28.
  • Martin Günther: Ludwig Krieger 80 years , in: Neue Stenographische Praxis (NStPr) 15/1 (1967) 32–34.
  • Erich Stockhorst: Five thousand heads: Who was what in the Third Reich , Velbert 1967. (Personal entry)
  • Karl Thöt: In memoriam Ludwig Krieger , in: Neue Stenographische Praxis (NStPr) 22/3 (1974) 62–70.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Werner Landhoff: The Victims of July 20, 1944: Collateral Damage to a Higher Morality? , 2008, p. 165.
  2. ^ Detlef Peitz, parliamentary stenographers and Nazi dictatorship. Part 3: Logging Right and Wrong. In: Neue Stenografische Praxis, 63rd year (2015), 1st issue, p. 10
  3. ↑ Memorandum from Helmut Heiber from the Institute for Contemporary History from May 7, 1958 (IfZ ZS Krieger, p. 2).
personal data
SURNAME Warrior, Ludwig
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German stenographer
DATE OF BIRTH February 16, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH Dresden
DATE OF DEATH April 24, 1974
Place of death uncertain: Bonn