Staff of the Deputy Leader

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The staff of the Deputy Leader (Staff of the StdF), renamed the Party Chancellery in 1941 , was the central governing body of the NSDAP involved in all major decisions in the party and state apparatus. The office, based in Munich, was subordinate to Rudolf Hess until after his flight to Great Britain on May 12, 1941, it was personally subordinate to Adolf Hitler and was continued with a new name as the party chancellery by the Reich Minister and long-time staff leader Martin Bormann .

The chancellery of the leader of the NSDAP , created in 1934 as the "private chancellery of Adolf Hitler" , which was headed by Philipp Bouhler and in which Martin Bormann's brother, Albert Bormann , was also active, limited itself to requests for clemency and petitions in party matters. As the interface between Hitler and the Reich administrative authorities, the Reich Chancellery , headed by Hans Heinrich Lammers , was responsible for organizing government affairs. Opposite her, the office of Hess and Martin Bormann represented the interests of the NSDAP.

Start time

In his capacity as leader of the NSDAP, Adolf Hitler appointed Rudolf Hess as deputy on April 21, 1933 and gave him the power to make decisions on his behalf "on all questions of the party leadership". The increase in rank to "Deputy Leader" (StdF) in party matters was followed in June by the right to participate in cabinet meetings and in December 1933 by formal admission to the Reich government as Reich Minister without portfolio .

Nevertheless, there were repeated disputes both about exerting influence on the state apparatus and about the claim to leadership within the party against Gau and Reich leaders . In July 1933, Hess appointed Reichsleiter Martin Bormann as his "staff leader" , who proved to be particularly assertive in the dispute with other authorities.

The Reich Organization Leader Robert Ley initially insisted on his previously roughly outlined area of ​​responsibility, which was, however, limited in November 1934 at Hitler's behest to "building, expanding and monitoring the internal organization, training and personnel statistics of the party organization". The Gauleiter were involved with a commitment to regular, comprehensive reporting. In the state sector, the “Staff of the Deputy Leader” sought early participation in the legislative process. In July 1934 it was conceded that bills and ordinances were made known to him at the same time as the Reich ministries; in April 1935 all implementing provisions and implementing regulations were included in this regulation. The "Staff of the StdF" initially exerted an influence on the appointment process of civil servants through reports on "political reliability"; participation in the appointment of all higher officials was finally established in 1935.

The involvement of the “Staff of the Deputy Leader” was enshrined in law, for example in certain “ deceitful proceedings ” or in the case of marriage permits for mixed Jewish people . Together with the Ministry of the Interior , the office decided on applications with which - in deviation from the provisions of the “ First Ordinance on the Reich Citizenship Law ” - a more favorable classification as a valid Jew or a “Jewish mixed race” was requested. “Deserved companions” with a Jewish background also approached the party chancellery and Hitler directly in order to improve their status without formal proceedings.

Expansion of the staff

In the early years, efforts were primarily about defining the area of ​​responsibility and possibly expanding it. The hitherto unstructured staff was grouped into sections in the course of 1935 and was organized into departments. Department II “Party Affairs” was headed by Helmuth Friedrichs , Department III “State Affairs” by Walther Sommer and, from 1941, by Gerhard Klopfer . The Führer deputy Rudolf Hess largely stayed away from bureaucratic day-to-day business and left the field to his staff leader Martin Bormann.

The vacated building of the Apostolic Nunciature in Munich became the official seat in 1934. By 1938, the “Staff des Stdf” in Munich had grown to 468 employees, who occupied additional rooms in Arcisstrasse, at Karolinenplatz 1 and in the Braunes Haus . At the beginning of 1944, 871 employees were recorded, of which 252 were drafted into the armed forces or seconded to other offices. In addition, since 1933 there had been a branch office with five people in the building of the former Prussian State Ministry in Berlin, which, as the so-called "Liaison Staff of the NSDAP", was supposed to maintain close contact with the authorities of the Reich Ministries.

1941: Party Chancellery

The spectacular disappearance of Rudolf Hess did not result in a drastic change in the office. From now on, the office was subordinate to Hitler himself. The "Party Chancellery" - the new name - continued to be headed by Martin Bormann, who received the powers of a Reich Minister and belonged to the Reich Government and the Council of Ministers for Reich Defense . An executive order in January 1942 confirmed its ability to participate in legislation and its monopoly to be the sole contact person for fundamental and political questions.

Bormann knew early on how to make himself useful to Hitler through personal services. Since 1933 he had administered funds from the Adolf Hitler donation to the German economy and other financial sources of the dictator, supervised the construction projects on Obersalzberg and sought Hitler's proximity. In numerous cases he received orders from Hitler or took expressed requests as an opportunity to pass them on to the state bureaucracy as “Führer orders” and have them implemented. As a result, the Reich Chancellery , which was actually responsible, lost its paramount importance. Through his position of trust, Bormann was largely able to determine the group of people who had direct access to Hitler. With the appointment as "Secretary of the Fiihrer" on April 12, 1943, Bormann reached the peak of his career.

Relationship to the Fiihrer's office

The "Chancellery of the Führer of the NSDAP" under Philipp Bouhler was originally tailored to deal with those matters that Hitler had "reserved for himself to decide". In party matters, this was limited to pardons and petitions. In addition, there were special tasks that came under the disguised term " euthanasia ". Now the "party chancellery" was also directly subordinate to Hitler, who entrusted the director with numerous special assignments. Bouhler wrote a letter to Hitler in May 1943, in which he offered to close his office, as its tasks had largely been carried out by the Reich Chancellery and the Party Chancellery. It was finally agreed to keep the "Chancellery of the Führer of the NSDAP" as Hitler's private chancellery, but the party chancellery should always be involved in the event of fundamental and controversial issues.

Effective range

The office installed an extensive reporting system within the party. The Gauleiter had to provide monthly "political situation reports", for which the district leaders were supposed to collect information about party activities, training, propaganda, the economy and problems with state administration in addition to a "detailed, unvarnished description of the general mood in the population". Regulations for the printing of the “Führer speeches”, the “protection of National Socialist symbols” and the organization of events were issued by the “Staff of the StdF” or the “Party Chancellery”. The agency was always involved when new top positions were to be filled and looked ahead to find suitable applicants. For example, deputy Gauleiter were posted to Munich for a month and examined at their work. After the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland, the party chancellery was responsible for building up the NSDAP in these areas that were newly part of the Reich. As a “ standstill commissioner ”, the chief Albert Hoffmann was appointed “representative of the Führer’s deputy”. Hoffmann was also involved in the confiscation of assets, the dissolution of associations and the harmonization of associations and organizations.

In addition to the competencies claimed and enforced within the party, numerous interventions in the administrative work of the state apparatus can be proven. The office consistently intervened in two policy areas, which can be summarized under the keywords "racism" and "church struggle".

The National Socialist racist population policy was reflected in measures such as marriage loans , awards with the mother's cross , the ban on abortion , the Nuremberg race laws , the ordinance to exclude Jews from German economic life or their admission to " Jewish houses ". The party chancellery was always involved, sometimes taking the initiative, as was the case with the name change ordinance . At the Wannsee Conference , Gerhard Klopfer, as a representative of the party chancellery, supported Reinhard Heydrich's proposal for the forced separation of " mixed marriages " and the forced sterilization of " mixed bloods ".

The party chancellery also exerted influence in “Poland policy” and advocated a sharp separation between Poles and Germans and a special racist law. Bormann undertook an "unprecedented attempt by the party to intervene in the judicial sector" to prevent the introduction of German civil law in the incorporated eastern regions. In the drafts of the Polish Criminal Law Ordinance , the party law firm succeeded in enforcing numerous more stringent demands.

After initial reluctance, attempts to suppress ecclesiastical influence increased from 1935 onwards, for example by combating denominational schools. Otherwise it remained initially with a "policy of petty pinpricks and harassment" towards the churches. In 1937, Bormann took up the statements of Hitler, who advocated trials against clergy and dissolution of religious orders and named the confiscation of church assets and the end of church influence in education as goals. In 1939 the community school was enforced everywhere. After the beginning of the war, there were extensive confiscations of church property, especially in the " Ostmark ", which, however, could not be continued from the summer of 1941 in order to avoid alarming the population.

During the Second World War , the party chancellery took on typical war tasks: evacuation of the border population, aid after bombing, introduction of the deportation for children’s land , collections of old material, participation in the “combing out” action for total war effort and the formation of the Volkssturm .

liquidation

The party chancellery was formally dissolved by the Control Council Act No. 2 on the "Dissolution and Liquidation of Nazi Organizations" of October 10, 1945.

Prisoner deployment

During the war, some prisoners were assigned to the office for kitchen and delivery services. Between August 1944 and April 1945 the building of the party chancellery housed a satellite camp of the Dachau concentration camp . Prisoners were housed in the basement of the building on the corner of Max-Josef-Strasse and Karolinenplatz and were used for clearing and security work.

Overview: organization and staffing

The Institute for Contemporary History, under the leadership of Peter Longerich, has compiled the following business distribution plan for the Deputy Leader / Party Chancellery of the NSDAP. It was based on various partial plans and on the career data of the most important employees.

The designations made up of Roman numerals and capital letters have been used since around 1938. The office was divided into departments, offices (also called groups), main offices and offices, from around 1940 the offices were referred to as main offices, the main offices became offices, etc.

The distribution of business and the composition of the department can only be reconstructed for the level of the departments and offices or main offices. There are individual details about the further breakdown, but there is no even remotely complete picture

  • executive Director
  • Personal speaker
  • Adjutancy
  • Department I: Internal Affairs of the Service
    • Karl Winker (1933–43)
    • Alfons Zeller (1943-44)
    • Fritz Jensen (1945)
  • Department II: Party Affairs
  • Department III State Affairs
    • Walther Sommer (1934–41)
    • Gerhard Klopfer (1941–45)
    • III A
      • Work area of ​​the Reich Ministry of the Interior
        • - Administration
        • - folklore
        • - public health
        • - Racial issues
        • - Community affairs
        • - Police matters
        • Gerhard Klopfer (1935–41)
        • Edinger Ancker (1941-)
    • III B
      • Work area of ​​the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Transport, Labor and Food
        • - Organization of the commercial economy
        • - social policy
        • - Nutrition
        • - Hospitality Advisor
        • - Economics and journalism
        • Hans Bärmann (1936–43)
        • Werner Fröhling (1943–45)
    • III C
      • Work area of ​​the Reich Ministry of Justice, formed from originally independent units for civil and criminal law (Johannes Müller and Heim legislation)
      • Heinrich Heim (-1939)
      • Herbert Klemm (1941–44)
      • Alfred Hopf (1944-45)
    • III D
    • III E
      • Public finance (from 1941)
      • Herbert Gündel
    • III P
    • III p
      • Special orders (after 1942)
      • Erwin Knöpfel
    • III V

Directory of senior staff

literature

  • Peter Longerich : Hitler's deputy. Leadership of the party and control of the state apparatus by the Hess staff and the Bormann party office. Saur, Munich [u. a.] 1992, ISBN 3-598-11081-2 .
  • Dieter Rebentisch: Führer State and Administration in the Second World War. Constitutional development and administrative policy 1939–1945. Steiner-Verlag Wiesbaden, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-515-05141-4 , pp. 68-91 ( Frankfurter historical Abhandlungen 29) (At the same time: Frankfurt (Main), Univ., Habil.-Schr., 1987).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Longerich: Hitler's deputy… Munich et al. 1992, ISBN 3-598-11081-2 , p. 3.
  2. ↑ Peter Longerich: Hitler's Deputy ... , p. 8.
  3. ↑ Law on Securing the Unity of Party and State of December 1, 1933 (RGBl. I, p. 1016)
  4. ↑ Peter Longerich: Hitler's Deputy ... , p. 16.
  5. ↑ Decree on the participation of the Fuehrer's deputy in the appointment of civil servants of September 24, 1935 (RGBl. IS 1203)
  6. ↑ § 2 para. 3 Heimtückegesetz of December 29, 1934 (RGBl. I 1934, pp. 1269-1271)
  7. ↑ § 3 para. 1 1st regulation of the law for the protection of German blood and German honor of November 14, 1935 (RGBl. I, p. 1334 f.)
  8. ↑ Beate Meyer: “Jüdische Mischlinge” - Racial Policy and Persecution 1933–1945. 2nd edition, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933374-22-7 , p. 152.
  9. ↑ Peter Longerich: Hitler's deputy ... , p. 109 and appendix p. 265 f.
  10. ↑ Michael F. Feldkamp : Apostolic Nunciature Munich, in: Historisches Lexikon Bayerns “ThemenGeschichtsPfad” p. 79 ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ns-dokumentationszentrum-muenchen.de
  11. ^ Peter Longerich: Hitler's deputy ... , pp. 131, 182 f.
  12. ^ Dieter Rebentisch: Führer State and Administration in World War II: Constitutional Development and Administrative Policy 1939–1945. Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-515-05141-4 , p. 79.
  13. ^ Decree of the Führer on the position of the head of the party chancellery. May 29, 1941
  14. ↑ Implementation Ordinance of January 16, 1942 (RGBl. IS 35)
  15. ↑ Peter Longerich: Hitler's Deputy ... , p. 157.
  16. ↑ Peter Longerich: Hitler's Deputy ... , p. 174.
  17. ↑ Peter Longerich: Hitler's deputy ... , p. 94 f.
  18. ↑ on this in detail Peter Longerich: Hitler's deputy… , pp. 210–225.
  19. ↑ Uwe Dietrich Adam: Jewish policy in the Third Reich. Inv. Reprinted Düsseldorf 2003, ISBN 3-7700-4063-5 , pp. 111 and 119 f.
  20. ↑ Peter Longerich: Hitler's deputy ... , p. 228 f.
  21. ↑ s. Memorandum of the “Council of Ministers Ordinance on the Administration of Criminal Justice against Poles and Jews” of April 22, 1941. In: Federal Minister of Justice (Ed.): In the name of the people. Justice and National Socialism. - Exhibition catalog. Cologne 1989, ISBN 3-8046-8731-8 , p. 227.
  22. ↑ Peter Longerich: Hitler's Deputy ... , p. 238.
  23. ^ Peter Longerich: Hitler's Deputy ... , p. 237.
  24. ↑ Wolfgang Benz , Barbara Distel (ed.): The place of terror . History of the National Socialist Concentration Camps. Volume 3: Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald. CH Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-52963-1 , p. 100 ( Google Books )
  25. ^ Entry into Germany a memorial .
  26. ↑ In 1938 Macksensen was appointed Gauinspector of the Gaues Schlesien.
  27. ^ Hans Bärmann (born May 9, 1903 in Liesing) was a ministerial official. Since 1930 he was in the Reich service. He joined the NSDAP in May 1933. In January 1936 he changed to the rank of court assistant in the staff of the deputy of the Führer, in which he reached the rank of Ministerialrat in 1939. Dissertation The legal position of the subsidiary as a problem from group law , Berlin 1934.
  28. ↑ Hans Brack (born April 2, 1907 in Gießen) was accepted into the service of the Reich Finance Administration in February 1935 after studying law and completing his legal clerkship. Promoted to government councilor in November 1938. From May 1939 he served in the Reich Ministry of Finance. His party membership dated from May 1937. Since July 1933 he was also a member of the SA.