Michael Steinbinder

Michael Steinbinder (born October 18, 1894 in Munich , † after 1948) was a German paramilitary activist, SS leader , most recently with the rank of SS-Obersturmführer . He became known as the chauffeur of Adolf Hitler and the Reich Treasurer Franz Xaver Schwarz .

Life and activity

Early years and World War I

Steinbinder was the son of a railroad worker. In his childhood Steinbinder attended elementary school. He then completed an apprenticeship as a plumber: he completed an apprenticeship in a plumbing shop and attended a plumbing school.

A few weeks after the beginning of the First World War, Steinbinder was drafted into the 4th Chevauleger Regiment in October 1914. On February 12, 1915, he came to the Western Front. He then took an active part in the war for almost three and a half years, until October 1918. In January 1917 he was transferred to Macedonia . There he reported to Palestine, where he fought until the collapse of the Palestine front in 1918. On October 18, 1918, Steinbinder was captured by British prisoners of war. From November 1918 to March 1919 he was interned on Principe Island in the Sea of ​​Marmara.

After his release from captivity, Steinbinder returned to Germany in March 1919. On April 21, 1919 he was released from military service.

During the war he was awarded the Iron Cross II. Class, the Bavarian Cross of Merit, the Saxon War Merit Cross and the Turkish Crescent.

Engagement in the early Nazi movement

Politically oriented Steinbinder quickly turned to the extreme political right: In 1920 he joined the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), which he joined in October 1920. On October 17, 1920 he also became a member of the Sturmabteilung (SA), the party's hall protection force.

In the summer of 1923 Steinbinder became a member of the Adolf Hitler raid , a special formation of the SA, which is considered to be the forerunner of the Schutzstaffel (SS).

On November 8th and 9th, 1923, Steinbinder took part with Adolf Hitler's raiding party in the failed Hitler putsch , an attempt by the National Socialists to take power in the state by force. After the police cracked down on the coup, Steinbinder was arrested.

In April 1924 Steinbinder and more than thirty other people (mostly members of the Adolf Hitler raid) were charged with aiding and abetting high treason because of his participation in the 1923 coup attempt in the course of the so-called "minor" Hitler putsch trial . He was found guilty and, like all those convicted of this trial, was sentenced to fifteen months' imprisonment. Like the other defendants, he only served about five months of his sentence, with the remainder of the sentence being suspended. Steinbinder was taken to Landsberg Fortress to serve his sentence. There he belonged to a prisoner community of about 30 coup participants, including Adolf Hitler , who had to serve their sentences here during 1924.

Activity in the newly founded NSDAP

After the re-establishment of the NSDAP in the spring of 1925, Steinbinder rejoined the party. His official entry date was set on September 21, 1925 (membership number 18,851). At this time Steinbinder was employed as a driver for the Reich leadership of the NSDAP, which he remained for almost ten years until 1935. Since May 1930 he was employed as an employee of the Reich leadership of the NSDAP as the personal driver of the Reich Treasurer of the NSDAP Franz Xaver Schwarz .

In 1931 Steinbinder became a member of the SS (SS no. 1,331). In this organization he was successively promoted to Scharführer (October 26, 1931), Truppführer (April 11, 1932), Sturmführer (May 4, 1933) and Obersturmführer (November 9, 1933). In the SS he was formally assigned to the 1st SS standard in Munich with a "zV" position.

On February 23, 1935, the Reich leadership of the NSDAP received an anonymous letter accusing Steinbinder, together with his wife, of having scolded the Reich Treasurer of the NSDAP Schwarz and his wife through his superior. The letter was presented to the Reich Treasurer, who assured Steinbinder that he was not taking the matter seriously. Nevertheless, on the next day, February 24, 1935, Steinbinder and his wife were personally arrested by a group of Gestapo officers led by Heinrich Himmler at the party headquarters of the NSDAP. Steinbinder was then held for four weeks as a prisoner in protective custody in the Stadelheim prison. When he reported back to Schwarz after his release, he was turned back by him and arrested again the same evening and brought back to Stadelheim, where he was held until August 13, 1935. During his detention, Steinbinder was personally demoted within the SS by Himmler. He was expelled from the NSDAP on December 31, 1935, because he had been temporarily in protective custody.

When he was released from the Stadelheim prison, Steinbinder received instructions to report to the Secret State Police Office in Berlin as a driver. Since there was no vacancy there when Steinbinder arrived, he drove back to Munich. After Schwarz saw him there again, he arranged for Steinbinder's renewed appointment to Berlin. As a result, on November 1, 1935, he was finally employed as a driver at the Secret State Police Office. He was transferred from the Reich leadership of the NSDAP in Munich to the Secret State Police in Berlin. Because of Black's attitude towards him, he was also banned from entering Bavaria.

In the years that followed, Steinbinder was employed as a driver in Department IV of the Secret State Police Office, where he was employed in the dispatcher management. Within the SS, Steinbinder was appointed leader in the SD main office with effect from June 20, 1936. Steinbinder later worked as a detective for the Stapo in Innsbruck.

As an early party member of the NSDAP, Steinbinder was the holder of the Golden Decoration. For his participation in the Hitler putsch he was also awarded the blood medal.

post war period

After the Second World War, Steinbinder took part as a witness in several arbitration chamber proceedings against prominent Nazi leaders: in 1947 he made himself available as a witness for the arbitration chamber proceedings against Franz Xaver Schwarz, in which it was carried out posthumously in 1948 - Schwarz died in December 1947 , actually participated as a witness. On April 5, 1949, Steinbinder was then heard as a witness in the course of the arbitration chamber proceedings against the former leader of the Munich SS standard Heinrich Höflich .

marriage and family

Steinbinder married Wally Rasch on March 31, 1928 (born October 8, 1904 in Munich). He had a son (born July 18, 1920) and a daughter (born June 28, 1928). He later gave his son to a Napola.

Archival tradition

In the Berlin Federal Archives, some personal documents on Steinbinder have been preserved in the holdings of the former Berlin Document Center : Such a file with party correspondence (PK L 444, pictures 41–60).

literature

• Jens Banach: Heydrich's elite. The Leadership Corps of the Security Police and the SD 1936–1945 . Schöningh, Paderborn / Munich / Vienna / Zurich 1998, ISBN 3-506-77506-5 , p. 280.
• Adolf Diamant: Gestapo Chemnitz and the Gestapo branches in Plauen iV and Zwickau . Heimatland Sachsen, Chemnitz 1999, ISBN 3-910186-22-X , p. 377.
• William E. Leuchtenburg: A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of Research Collections in Amercan Politics. University Publications of America President Franklin D. Roosvelt's Office Files, 1933–1945 Part 5: The John Franklin Carter Files on German Nazi Party Members ( LexisNexis , Bethesda, MD, USA ISBN 1-55655-496-6 (pt. 5))
• DWS-XIP.PL http://www.dws-xip.pl/reich/biografie/numery/numer1.html