Martin Matthiessen

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Martin Matthiessen

Martin Matthiessen (born February 26, 1901 in Wesselburenerkoog ; † May 14, 1990 in Meldorf ) was economic manager in the Reichskommissariat Ostland , NSDAP - Reichstag deputy , military administration chief with the rank of major general in Army Group North and SS-Oberführer .

biography

Matthiessen was born in Wesselburenerkoog near Wesselburen in 1901 . He attended the elementary school in Wesselburenerkoog until 1912 and the middle school in Wesselburen from 1912 to 1917, followed by an exam in Heide (Holstein) . From 1917 to 1919 he learned the trade of a farmer on his father's farm and then attended the agricultural winter school in Heide (Holstein). From 1920 to 1921 he worked as an economist for a year. From 1921 to 1928 he leased a farm in Schülp . In 1929 he acquired the Auhof in Meldorf , which he lived in until his death.

In 1928 Matthiessen joined the NSDAP. Before that he was in the Freikorps . On June 1, 1929, he became NSDAP district leader of the Süderdithmarschen district , and in November 1929 also a city councilor in Meldorf and a district councilor for the Süderdithmarschen district. In October 1931 he moved to the Reichstag, to which he was a member until 1945. In 1933, Matthiessen became State Commissioner for Agriculture in Schleswig-Holstein .

In the summer of 1933 he threatened the lawyer Postel, Gaufführer of the Stahlhelm in Dithmarschen, with " protective custody ". In 1935 he had the Meldorfer police officer Gustav Knopp removed from the police force and locked up in a mental hospital. In 1937 Matthiessen denounced the unpopular watchmaker Alfred Jäger from Meldorf to the Gauleitung and suggested that Jäger "get to know the wonderful facilities of Dachau or Oranienburg ", whereby the "Kurgeld" should be called up from Jäger's bank account. Jäger had been ill-treated by SA men in 1936 . He was arrested twice in 1939 and 1945. In the eyes of the National Socialists, he was guilty of refusing to give the “ German greeting ” and tearing down NSDAP posters in the period after the “ seizure of power ”.

In 1938, Matthiessen became the provisional state farmer's leader in Westphalia and in 1939 head of the Provincial Food Office in Münster . From 1941, Matthiessen was head of the agriculture department and, in 1942, also head of the main office III (economy) at Reichskommissar Ostland , Hinrich Lohse , in Riga . At last he belonged to the SS with the rank of SS Oberführer.

The Allies interned Matthiessen until 1948. An attempt to prosecute in the Federal Republic failed: In 1968 the Schleswig-Holstein public prosecutor's office investigated the mass murders in the Ostland Reich Commissariat against Matthiessen, among others. However, the proceedings were discontinued in 1971.

In his 1980 autobiography, Matthiessen stated that he knew about concentration camps , but not "how they were run". According to Detlef Korte from the Institute for Schleswig-Holstein Contemporary and Regional History (IZRG), Martin Matthiessen's autobiography is, “due to its apologetic character and lack of self-criticism, an example of the suppression of any guilt in post-war society in our country, and thus an impressive one Testimony to the thought processes of an "incorrigible", but useless as a well-founded historical source. "

Matthiessen kept the blood shirts from Wöhrden until 1978 , when he handed them over to the Dithmarscher Landesmuseum .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Matthiessen, Martin. In: Reichstag manual: 6th electoral period. 1932, p. 151 , accessed March 7, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b Ernst Klee : Personal Lexicon for the Third Reich . Frankfurt am Main 2005, page 394.
  3. ^ Martin Gietzelt: History of Dithmarschens. Heide 2005, page 339.
  4. ↑ a b Both processes in: Bundesarchiv Koblenz, inventory Z 42, Section VII, No. 169 (according to Korte: Die Schleswig-Holstein district leaders ... , p. 23)
  5. ^ Martin Gietzelt: History of Dithmarschens. Heide 2005, page 341
  6. ^ Martin Gietzelt: History of Dithmarschens. Heide 2005, page 349.
  7. ↑ Uwe Danker: The murder of Jews in the Reich Commissariat Ostland. In: Gegenwind 128th Institute for Contemporary and Regional History, May 1999, accessed on March 7, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Martin Matthiessen: Memories. Evers, Meldorf 1980, p. 206.
  9. ↑ Detlef Korte: The Schleswig-Holstein NSDAP district leaders. In: Work program (= IZRG booklet no. 1.) , Schleswig 1994, pp. 17–27, here p. 23.
  10. ↑ Heinz-Jürgen Templin: Odyssey of the blood shirts. In: Wöhrden-Online. December 23, 2016, accessed March 7, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Matthiessen, Martin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician (NSDAP), MdR, perpetrator of the Holocaust, economic director in the Reichskommissariat Ostland and SS-Oberführer
DATE OF BIRTH February 26, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Wesselburenerkoog
DATE OF DEATH May 14, 1990
Place of death Meldorf