National Socialist Motor Corps

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Today: Anti-constitutional propaganda : the NSKK flag

The National Socialist Motor Corps ( NSKK ) was a paramilitary sub-organization of the NSDAP based in Munich .

The organization existed since April 1930 under the name National Socialist Automobile Corps (NSAK) and was renamed NSKK in 1931 . In August 1934, Adolf Hitler ordered the amalgamation of Motor-SA and NSKK and placed it under his direct leadership. The number of members grew from 10,000 to well over half a million between 1934 and 1940. Corps leader was Adolf Hühnlein , who had been in command of the Motor-SA since the end of 1930. Hühnlein was appointed " Reichsleiter NSKK " by Hitler in August 1934 and was solely responsible to him. After Hühnlein’s death in June 1942, Erwin Kraus took over this position.

ideology

The NSKK followed the racial ideological doctrine of the NSDAP and only accepted people with proof of Aryan membership as members. During the Second World War , the NSKK was involved to a large extent in the deportations of Jews and the Holocaust as part of the implementation and legitimation of the General Plan Ost .

organization

Two NSKK men from storm 23 of the 68th NSKK motor standard (see the information on the right collar tabs)

Admission to the NSKK did not require a driver's license or knowledge of motor vehicles . However, many of the members were motor vehicle masters and craftsmen. The NSKK had a rank system derived from the SA and used the uniform of the earlier Motor-SA. This consisted of the brown shirt of the NSDAP with a rank badge and unit designation on the collar tabs , a brown tie , black riding breeches and boots, plus a black belt with shoulder straps. To distinguish it from the SS , whose traditional uniform looked similar, the members of the NSKK wore the so-called “driver's diamond” (white steering wheel in a black field) on their left forearm. This uniform was later supplemented by a brown-green jacket with a black stand-up collar.

The NSKK was often ironicized by the population, while the top of the association tried to address it with publications and training courses. In fact, membership in the NSKK was not an indication of an affirmation of the Nazi regime. Rather, it also offered people who were hostile to the Nazi regime advantages or at least the possibility of avoiding even closer ties to the regime in some situations: For example, the army had been obliged since 1938 to test the "off-duty aptitude" of retired officers, officer candidates and to review reserve officer candidates in case they have left party branches like the NSKK. Since 1939, soldiers who had left active military service with honor and who were fit for duty had to join the SA, unless they were assigned to other branches of the party such as the NSKK for “special training”.

High-ranking members of the NSKK were its honorary chairman Carl Eduard von Sachsen-Coburg and Gotha and Richard Prince of Hesse . The latter was one of the four NSKK Obergruppenführer and became president of the German Traffic Guard after the war . Lower honorary ranks had u. a. the President of the People's Court Roland Freisler and the head of Hitler's private law firm Albert Bormann .

Among the members were the commentator on the Nuremberg Laws Hans Globke and the diplomat Otto Bräutigam . Participation in the Holocaust did not detract from their careers after 1945. Other members were Crown Prince Wilhelm , the candidate for teaching and later CSU politician Franz Josef Strauss 1937-39 and Bernhard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld , until he became Prince of the Netherlands in 1937 .

A large number of the internationally successful German automobile and motorcycle racers of the time also belonged to the NSKK. For example, Manfred von Brauchitsch , Rudolf Caracciola , Ernst von Delius , Karl Gall , Rudolf Hasse , Ewald Kluge , Hermann Lang , Hermann Paul Müller , Hans Stuck , Fritz Huschke von Hanstein and Walfried Winkler were members of the organization and wore NSKK badges on theirs Racing clothes. Alfred Neubauer , the then racing director of Daimler-Benz , refused to join.

tasks

From 1934 the NSKK was responsible for the traffic education of drivers and young people. The NSKK also worked closely with the ADAC . In this sense, after May 19, 1943, he also took on the tasks of a traffic auxiliary service. For this purpose, a separate traffic sign was introduced into the road traffic regulations, which pointed out drivers to call points for this auxiliary service if necessary. The main goal of the NSKK remained to train its members in the operation and maintenance of motorcycles and passenger cars . The NSKK did not replace the driving school and could not take any driving test.

  • Loudspeaker van of the NSKK traffic education service in German-occupied Poznan , October 1939

  • NSKK man directs traffic in Poznan, October 1939

  • The traffic sign introduced in 1943 "Call point of the NSKK-Verkehrshilfsdienst"

  • Members of Sturm 23 of the 68th NSKK Motorstandarte on an excursion in the 1930s

For the Motor-HJ (14-18 year old boys), the NSKK provided motorcycles, repair workshops, training material and, above all, professional trainers. The latter were responsible for technical and practical instruction and preparation for the driving test for driving license IV (up to 250 cm³ displacement). Motorcycling was practiced under their guidance and supervision in non-public places and in open terrain.

In 1936 the NSKK motorsport school was opened on the Osterberg in Bad Gandersheim . The school was considered a "showcase facility" and was often attended by Nazi giants. Other motorsport schools were located in Neusorge Castle , in Nordoe near Itzehoe and in Helsa near Kassel .

In the mid-1930s, the NSKK also worked as a breakdown service.

After 1939 men who were not fully capable of military service did alternative military service in NSKK guards.

From the summer of 1938, the NSKK, or the NSKK Transport Group Todt formed for this purpose, was gradually given responsibility for the entire haulage during the construction of the west wall . In the summer of 1939 was NSKK Transport Brigade spear established to construction material to the Baustab spear acquired Armor buildings (including aircraft factories in Wiener Neustadt and Brno ) and buildings of the Air Force to bring (airfields and bunkers) in the Reich. From 1940 on, all Luftwaffe front-line units had to be replenished. After the attack on the Soviet Union began on June 22, 1941, the NSKK followed the advancing German troops to secure the infrastructure of supplies.

Dissolution and Prohibition

A stamp designed by Theo Matejko was still printed in 1945, but was no longer issued. Postage stamps issued in 1945 by the Deutsche Reichspost

With the Control Council Act No. 2 of October 10, 1945, the NSKK was banned by the Allied Control Council and its property was confiscated.

The NSKK badge is one of the anti-constitutional propaganda tools . Its production, public wear or distribution is prohibited according to § 86a StGB .

literature

Web links

Commons : National Socialist Motor Corps  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dorothee Hochstetter: National Socialist Motor Vehicle Corps (NSKK), 1931-1945 . In: Historical Lexicon of Bavaria
  2. ^ Entry with partial reproduction of the arrangement under the heading "NSKK" in: Meyers Lexikon. Eighth edition. Eighth volume, Leipzig 1940, p. 154.
  3. ^ National Socialist German Workers' Party. In: The New Brockhaus. All book in four volumes and an atlas. Volume 3, 1938, illustration "The Reichsleiter of the NSDAP", p. 344.
  4. ↑ Cf. HD Heilmann: From the war diary of the diplomat Otto Bräutigam . In: Götz Aly et al. (Ed.): Biedermann and desk offenders . Materials on the German perpetrator biography. (Contributions to National Socialist health and social policy 4) Institute for Social Research in Hamburg, Berlin 1987, p. 185.
  5. ↑ Dorothee Hochstetter: Motorization and "Volksgemeinschaft": The National Socialist Motor Corps (NSKK) 1931-1945 . Volume 68 in: Studies on Contemporary History, Oldenbourg Verlag, 2005, ISBN 9783486575705
  6. ^ Rudolf Absolon: The Wehrmacht in the Third Reich . Vol. 4: February 5, 1938 to August 31, 1939, in: Schriften des Bundesarchivs, Oldenbourg Verlag, 1998, ISBN 9783486417395
  7. ↑ See obituary: Roland Freisler. In: German Justice. February 16, 1945, p. 33 , archived from the original on May 28, 2013 ; accessed on December 23, 2015 .
  8. ↑ cf. HD Heilmann: From the war diary of the diplomat Otto Bräutigam . In: Götz Aly et al. (Ed.): Biedermann and desk offenders . Materials on the German perpetrator biography. (Contributions to National Socialist health and social policy 4). Institute for Social Research in Hamburg, Berlin 1987, p. 185.
  9. ↑ See the illustration: Was Franz Josef Strauss a member of the NSDAP or one of its branches? Hanns Seidel Foundation, archived from the original on April 12, 2010 ; Retrieved May 1, 2013 .
  10. ↑ Neubauer, Alfred . Baden-Württemberg State Archive . Retrieved January 2, 2013.
  11. ↑ Ordinance amending the Ordinance on Conduct in Road Traffic. In: Reichsgesetzblatt , year 1943, No. 55, date of issue: Berlin, May 31, 1943, p. 334.
  12. ^ Franz W. Seidler: The National Socialist Motor Corps and the Todt Organization in World War II. (PDF; 9.13 MB) In: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte. Volume 32, 1984, Issue 4, pp. 625–636.