Nicholas of Ballestrem

Nikolaus Wolfgang Friedrich Franz Graf von Ballestrem-Plawniowitz (born November 29, 1900 in Ober-Gläsersdorf , Lüben district , province of Silesia ; † February 13, 1945 in Dresden ) was a German nobleman, industrialist and politician ( center ).

Live and act

Ballestrem came from the Ballestrem house , an old Silesian noble family. He was born in 1900 as the son of Valentin Graf von Ballestrem (* December 21, 1860; † May 17, 1920) and his wife Agnes Countess zu Stolberg-Stolberg (* May 11, 1874; † March 26, 1940). His grandfather was the center politician and long-time President of the Reichstag, Count Franz von Ballestrem .

In his youth Ballestrem received private tuition until Easter 1913 and then attended the Sankt-Matthias-Gymnasium in Breslau, where he passed the final examination.

Weimar Republic (1918–1933)

Since the death of his father in 1920, Ballestrem has been considered the heir to the Ballestrem family fortune as one of the richest men in Germany. As an Upper Silesian magnate , he owned coal mines, factories and extensive estates. His property included in particular his family's ancestral home, Plawniowitz Castle (renamed Flössingen in 1936) near Gleiwitz , as well as the associated Fideikommisse Plawniowitz, Ruda and Biskupitz. He was also "Herr auf Obergläsersdorf" with Böckei, Oberau and Costa. Ballestrem also owned extensive blocks of shares. The "Ballestrem'schen Güterdirektion" in Gliwice served as a centralized point for the administration of his property.

After attending school, Ballestrem studied law in Breslau, Freiburg, Munich and Göttingen, where he completed his studies in 1925 with the legal traineeship and a doctorate on the subject of the material mining rights of Prussia in its basic features . During his studies he became a member of the Catholic student associations KDStV Winfridia Breslau , KDStV Hercynia Freiburg and AV Palatia Göttingen .

As a devout Catholic , Ballestrem was a member of the German Center Party, between 1871 and 1933 the reservoir of the Catholic Center in the German Reich. Within the party, Ballestrem maintained close relationships with Heinrich Brüning and Franz von Papen, among others . Ballestrem's most important source of influence within the party was the party newspaper Germania , in which he - together with Papen, among others - held large shares and was thus able to partly influence their political stance.

Period of National Socialism (1933–1945)

On the decision of the Reich President Paul von Hindenburg , Adolf Hitler on 30 January 1933 to the Chancellor a right-wing coalition government to appoint, responded Ballestrem of the National Socialism as a convinced Catholic and monarchist refused, with great concern. Since his friend Papen - who had played a decisive role in the decision to entrust Hitler with the formation of the government - also belonged to the new government as Hitler's Vice Chancellor and Prussian Prime Minister , Ballestrem subsequently had the opportunity (albeit limited) to influence the Government. He took advantage of this by developing the plan in February 1933 to fight the National Socialists “from within” “from within”. To this end, in the spring / early summer of 1934, Ballestrem launched several young men who shared his views into the government apparatus, namely in the Papen area, who hired them as his employees at the request of his friend. In particular, Ballestrem was able to smuggle in Wilhelm Freiherr von Ketteler , Fritz Günther von Tschirschky , Friedrich-Carl von Savigny and Herbert von Bose as "subversive elements" in the Hitler government. From the key position of the Vice Chancellery , they should "supervise" the conduct of the National Socialists, prevent (or at least mitigate) misdeeds and, at the appropriate moment, turn state power against the National Socialists (ie the National Socialist part of the coalition government and the party). As a lever for the last-mentioned goal, the supreme command of the Reich President von Hindenburg over the Reichswehr as the strongest power in the state was to serve: Since Papen had an overwhelming influence on the Reich President - who had followed Papen's advice almost without exception since 1932 - the "moles" should be in systematically frame the Vice Chancellery Papen and clamp them firmly in place for their anti-Nazi plans. The men from the Vice Chancellery were supposed to use their control over Papen to force Papen to use the Reich President to deploy the Reichswehr against the National Socialists.

The "Vice Chancellery Group", brought into being through Ballestrem's idea and help, acted in his favor from spring 1933 to summer 1934, so it was able to delay the synchronization of the press by the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda by a few months; After the spring of 1933, Ballestrem himself no longer played a significant role in their resistance and sabotage activities. Ballestrem's original plan could not be realized either: the group was crushed by the SS on June 30, 1934 , Bose was murdered, and Savigny and Tschirschky were sent to concentration camps.

Regardless of his opposition to National Socialism, Ballestrem was able to increase his wealth during the National Socialist years by acquiring additional factories and companies.

At the beginning of 1945 Ballestrem had to leave his Plawniowitz Castle near Gleiwitz to flee from the advancing Red Army . A month later he died during the air raid on Dresden .

Marriage and offspring

Ballestrem's marriage to Anna Countess von Walderdorff (born July 19, 1901 - August 31, 1965 in Landshut) on September 8, 1927 in Munich had eight children, including the businessman Valentin Graf von Ballestrem (born November 1, 1928; † January 20, 2006 Straubing), the Capuchin P. Caspar (* January 6, 1930; † June 9, 2008 Ruhpolding) and Teresa Countess von Ballestrem (* 1936).

Fonts

• The Material Mining Right of Assignment of Prussia in Its Basic Features , Berlin, 1925.

literature

• Reichs Handbuch der Deutschen Gesellschaft - The handbook of personalities in words and pictures . First volume, Deutscher Wirtschaftsverlag, Berlin 1930, ISBN 3-598-30664-4

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Erich Matthias , Rudolf Morsey : The End of the Parties, 1933 , 1960, p. 327.
2. ↑ Franz von Papen: Der Truth ein Gasse , 1952, p. 285.
3. ↑ Werner Imig: Strike near Mansfeld 1930. The strike of the Mansfeld workers in 1930 , 1958, p. 36.
4. ^ Fritz Günther von Tschirschky: Memories of a high treason , 1972, p. 95.
5. ^ Library of Congress Legislative Reference Service: Facism in Action. A Documented Study and Analysis of Fascism in Europe , 1947, p. 88.
6. ^ Klaus Ullmann: Schlesien-Lexikon. For everyone who loves Silesia , 1982, p. 30.

Web links

• Website of the Ballestrem company and family archive
• Literature by and about Nikolaus von Ballestrem in the catalog of the German National Library