Philipp Bouhler

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Philipp Bouhler (1938)

Philipp Bouhler (born September 11, 1899 in Munich , † May 19, 1945 near Dachau ) was a German National Socialist politician . He was a Reichsleiter of the NSDAP , head of the Fuehrer's Chancellery , a publicist, SS-Obergruppenführer , Hitler’s representative for Operation T4 and co-initiator of Operation 14f13 . This involved the systematic and massive murder of so-called "hereditary diseases" .

Life

Origin, training and military career

Philipp Bouhler was the son of Emil Bouhler, a colonel in the Bavarian Army who was head of the Bavarian War Office from 1917 . After primary school, he attended the Maximiliansgymnasium in Munich from 1909 to 1912 . Between 1912 and 1916 he was in the cadet corps and on July 6, 1916, he was transferred to the 1st foot artillery regiment "vacant Bothmer" of the Bavarian Army as a flag squire. Shortly after his promotion to lieutenant in July 1917, he was seriously wounded on August 8, 1917 near Arras in France. The wound resulted in a permanent handicap and medical treatment dragged on until 1920.

In 1919 Bouhler passed his secondary school diploma , in the same year he was briefly a member of the German National Protection and Defense Association . In 1919 and 1920 he studied philosophy and German at the University of Munich , but dropped out after four semesters. Temporarily he worked until October 1921 at the folk -oriented publishing house JF Lehmann and another publishing house that published the magazine of the German Touring Club.

Joined the NSDAP

In November 1921, Max won Amann Bouhler as a publisher and editor for the advertising section of the Völkischer Beobachter . In July 1922 Bouhler joined the NSDAP and became the party's second manager. During the Hitler putsch on November 9, 1923, Bouhler played a supporting role; a preliminary investigation into high treason was closed in 1924. During the subsequent ban of the NSDAP he was the managing director of the substitute organization Großdeutsche Volksgemeinschaft and at the same time the editor of the newspaper Der Nationalozialist . After the re-establishment of the NSDAP, he rejoined the party on February 27, 1925 (in the new party he received membership number 12). From March 27, 1925 to November 17, 1934, Bouhler was Reich Managing Director of the NSDAP in Munich. In this role he was responsible for the central coordination of the party. Although he remained in the closest circle around Hitler , Bouhler did not manage to maintain his position of power. At Bouhler's expense, Rudolf Hess, as Hitler's private secretary, and Gregor Strasser , head of Reich organization since 1926 , were able to expand their positions in the party apparatus. Between 1926 and 1930 Bouhler also worked for the Illustrierte Beobachter .

In May 1928 Bouhler signed the founding protocol for the “National Socialist Society for German Culture” (NGDK). In the same year the association was renamed the Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur (KfdK) and was headed by the party ideologist Alfred Rosenberg .

time of the nationalsocialism

Celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Gaues Berlin in the Sportpalast on October 30, 1936. In the foreground, v. l. to the right: Artur Görlitzer (standing), Joseph Goebbels , Adolf Hitler and Philipp Bouhler

After the " seizure of power ", Philipp Bouhler was elected to the Reichstag on March 5, 1933 (constituency of Westphalia-South), to which he belonged until the end of the Second World War . On April 20, 1933, Bouhler joined the general SS (SS no. 54,932) with the rank of SS group leader . The promotion to SS-Obergruppenführer took place on January 30, 1936. On June 2, 1933 Bouhler was also Reichsleiter of the NSDAP.

Other additional offices were of secondary importance: for example, membership in the Supreme National Sports Authority for Deutsche Kraftfahrt as a representative of motorsport matters of the SS from 1933, in the Reich Chamber of Culture and the Reich Press Chamber from November 15, 1933, and in the Academy for German Law from September 19, 1934.

Probably in July 1934 Bouhler married an "attractive, charming and ambitious woman [...], which made Hitler aware of him again.": Helene "Helli" Majer, born on April 20, 1912 in Lauingen , known as "the most beautiful woman in the Reich Chancellery." ". On August 29, 1934 Bouhler was appointed Munich police chief, but did not take up the post. In September 1934 he was called to Berlin and on November 17, 1934 he was appointed head of the new Fuhrer's office (KdF). As a private chancellery, this department was intended to emphasize Hitler's leadership role. Appeals for clemency and complaints addressed to Hitler were processed here, as well as Hitler's private affairs.

v. l. To the right: Philipp Bouhler, his adjutant Karl Freiherr Michel von Tüßling , Robert Ley with his wife Inga; Munich, July 1939

Another field of activity developed from Bouhler's literary and journalistic interests. As early as January 1934, Bouhler was appointed representative for cultural tasks on the staff of the Fuehrer's deputy , Rudolf Hess. From April 16, 1934, Bouhler was also chairman of the party official examination committee for the protection of National Socialist literature (PPK). This examined new publications if they dealt with the nature or goals of the "National Socialist movement" or "leading personalities of the movement". Appointed Reichskultursenator on April 4, 1936 , Bouhler also officiated as the Führer’s commissioner for dealing with the history of the Nazi movement from December 3, 1937 .

Bouhler himself wrote several books, some of which were published in large editions and also translated into several languages. Adolf Hitler appeared in 1932 : The Becoming of a People's Movement. 1938 was the battle for Germany. A reading book for German youth has been published. The title Napoleon: Comet Orbit of a Genius , published in 1941, is said to have been Hitler's preferred reading.

Bouhler as a representative of Nazi euthanasia

Hitler's decree: Nuremberg Document PS-630, dated September 1, 1939

From around July 1939, the Chancellery of the Führer (KdF), headed by Bouhler , played a central role in the planning and preparation of the euphemistically named “Aktion Gnadentod” , after the war called “Aktion T4”, the mass killing of the mentally ill and disabled . The KdF was probably chosen as the organizational center, as requests for marriage bans according to the Nuremberg Laws and compulsory sterilizations according to the Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Offspring were processed here. In addition, Hans Hefelmann had already been commissioned by the KdF to organize the so-called child “euthanasia” . A letter from Hitler, dated September 1, 1939, but probably not written until October, names Philipp Bouhler and Hitler's attending doctor Karl Brandt as "euthanasia" officers (killing the sick as "mercy death").

Bouhler was involved in meetings in the preparatory phase of Action T4. He was also a witness in January 1940 when representatives of the health bureaucracy and high officials of Aktion T4 were shown the murder of people in a gas chamber and killing with injections in a "test killing" in the old Brandenburg prison . Despite the secrecy of Operation T4, the murders of the prison inmates became known and led to petitions to the judicial authorities. Lothar Kreyssig , at that time guardianship judge in the city of Brandenburg, filed a complaint against Bouhler for murder in the summer of 1940, but this was not followed up. Bouhler met several times with Reich Justice Minister Franz Gürtner , handed him Hitler's letter of authorization on August 27, 1940 and declared to the minister in writing on September 5, 1940:

“On the basis of the power of attorney from the Führer, as the person solely responsible for the implementation of the measures to be taken, I gave the instructions to my employees that I considered necessary.

In addition, it seems to me that the issuing of special implementing provisions to be fixed in writing is no longer necessary. "

Viewing of the exhibition “Planning and Construction in the East” in Berlin - first half of 1941 - by Rudolf Heß and Heinrich Himmler ; behind Himmler: Philipp Bouhler, hidden behind Hess: Kurt Daluege ; 1st v. r .: Konrad Meyer

Reich Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels noted in his diary on January 31, 1941: “Discussed with Bouhler the question of the silent liquidation of the mentally ill. 40,000 are gone, 60,000 still have to go. It's hard work, but also necessary. And it has to be done now. ”In the actual organization of Aktion T4, for which several front organizations were founded, Bouhler hardly appeared. The decisive factor here was Viktor Brack , Bouhler's deputy in the Führer’s office. However, on January 30, 1941 and March 10, 1941, Bouhler signed guidelines according to which doctors of the Action T4 decided in so-called "assessments" about the selection of patients to be killed.

On the orders of Hitler, the T4 campaign in its previous form was discontinued on August 24, 1941 - five days before the premiere of the "euthanasia" propaganda film I complain . In fact, the child “euthanasia” and the murders in the nursing homes and sanatoriums were continued through systematic malnutrition and overdosing of medication in the so-called Aktion Brandt .

In the spring of 1941 the Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler reached an agreement with Bouhler regarding the “relief” of the concentration camps under the rule of the SS for “sick” and “no longer able to work” prisoners ( Action 14f13 ). For this purpose, on the one hand, a form that was as inconspicuous as possible should be found and on the other hand the NS killing centers set up as part of the euthanasia campaign, but which were no longer “busy” after its external stop in August 1941, and their “experienced” staff should be used. Bouhler commissioned Viktor Brack, who was responsible for the various front organizations of the T4, with the execution of this new assignment.

Probably over 100 members of the T4 staff were transferred to the Aktion Reinhard extermination camps in Poland by the summer of 1942 . This group of people was subordinate to Odilo Globocnik militarily, the Fiihrer's office remained responsible for personnel. According to Viktor Brack's later testimony at the Nuremberg Doctors' Trial , he and Bouhler were with Odilo Globocnik in September 1941, and another meeting took place in April 1942.

Decline in power from 1942

From around 1942 onwards, Philipp Bouhler increasingly lost its influence. The party chancellery under Martin Bormann was granted competencies by Hitler that were previously held by Bouhler's office of the Führer. The Party Official Examination Commission for the Protection of National Socialist Literature (PPK) headed by him was incorporated into Alfred Rosenberg's surveillance office in January 1943 and was therefore no longer directly subordinate to Hitler.

As early as June 1940, Bouhler had sought a task from Hitler in colonial policy , but in vain . According to considerations in Himmler's circle, Bouhler was intended for the post of Governor General in a future German colonial empire in East Africa, apparently a connection with the so-called Madagascar Plan of the Foreign Office and the Reich Security Main Office , which included the island in the Indian Ocean in a German mandate area and in a "Judenreservat" should transform under German police sovereignty. From June 1942 Bouhler was the head of the Task Force East Africa , the so-called Organization Sisal. Bouhler is said to have sought the office of governor of East Africa and then the takeover of an imperial colonial ministry that has yet to be created. However, he came into conflict with the foreign organization of the NSDAP under Ernst Wilhelm Bohle , which claimed the “privilege” of “leading people in the colonies”. In view of the further course of World War II, the Nazi colonial plans remained a fiction.

In 1943 he received a grant of 100,000 Reichsmarks from Hitler .

According to Werner Best , Bouhler and Brack were in Denmark in January 1945 to look for soldiers who could be used at the front in the German occupation forces. At the end of the war , Bouhler joined the circle around Hermann Göring . He left Berlin in April 1945 in the wake of Goering. On April 23, 1945, he was arrested by the SS at Berchtesgaden on Hitler's orders and expelled from all offices, but released after Hitler's suicide on May 1, 1945.

American troops arrested Bouhler and the entire Goering entourage on May 9, 1945 at Fischhorn Castle near Zell am See . On May 19, 1945, Philipp Bouhler was arrested. On the way to the Dachau internment camp, Bouhler and his wife committed suicide with the help of a hydrocyanic acid capsule shortly before their arrival . The couple had no children.

Awards

literature

  • Hans-Walter Schmuhl : Philipp Bouhler. A forerunner of mass murder. In: Ronald Smelser , Enrico Syring , Rainer Zitelmann (eds.): The brown elite. Volume 2: 21 further biographical sketches. 2nd updated edition. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1999, ISBN 3-534-14460-0 , pp. 39-50.
  • Joachim Lilla , Martin Döring, Andreas Schulz: extras in uniform. The members of the Reichstag 1933–1945. A biographical manual. Including the ethnic and National Socialist members of the Reichstag from May 1924. Droste, Düsseldorf 2004, ISBN 3-7700-5254-4 .
  • Jan-Pieter Barbian (staff), Ernst Fischer u. Reinhard Wittmann (ed.): History of the German book trade in the 19th and 20th centuries. Third Reich. Part 1. De Gruyter, Göttingen 2015, ISBN 978-3-598-24806-1 , pp. 98-104 (“The Party Official Examination Commission for the Protection of National Socialist Literature”).

Web links

Commons : Philipp Bouhler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv IV , war ranking list No. 1.
  2. ↑ Jan-Pieter Barbian: Literary Policy in the "Third Reich" . Institutions, competencies, fields of activity, Nördlingen 1995, p. 56, ISBN 3-423-04668-6 .
  3. ^ SS Personnel Office: List of seniority of the NSDAP Schutzstaffel, as of December 1, 1937, serial no. 13.
  4. ^ Hans-Walter Schmuhl: Philipp Bouhler - A forerunner of mass murder . In: Ronald Smelser , Enrico Syring and Rainer Zitelmann : The brown elite. Volume 2. Darmstadt 1993, p. 44.
  5. ↑ a b Helene "Helli" Majer Bouhler. In: Find A Grave. Retrieved March 11, 2020 .
  6. ↑ a b Hitler's letter in facsimile (Nuremberg Document PS-630) with a handwritten note from Reich Minister of Justice Franz Gürtner: “I was given by Bouhler on August 27, 1940 Dr. Gürtner ”; see. also Peter Longerich : The unwritten order. Hitler and the way to the "final solution". Munich 2001, pp. 73 f., ISBN 3-492-04295-3 and Götz Aly (ed.): Aktion T4 1939–1945. The “euthanasia” headquarters in Tiergartenstrasse 4. 2., ext. Ed., Berlin 1989, p. 56, ISBN 3-926175-66-4 .
  7. ↑ Quoted from: Thomas Vormbaum (Ed.): “Euthanasia” in front of the court. The indictment of the public prosecutor at the Higher Regional Court Frankfurt / M. against Dr. Werner Heyde et al. Of May 22, 1962. Berlin 2005, (Heyde-Anklage) p. 305.
  8. ↑ Elke Fröhlich (ed.): The diaries of Joseph Goebbels. Part 1, Volume 9. K. G. Saur, Munich 1998, p. 119, ISBN 3-598-23739-1 .
  9. ↑ Guidelines cited in: Ernst Klee: "Euthanasia" in the Nazi state . 11th edition. Frankfurt / M. 2004, pp. 323 and 328, ISBN 3-596-24326-2 .
  10. ↑ Götz Aly (ed.): Aktion T4 1939–1945. The “euthanasia” headquarters in Tiergartenstrasse 4. 2., ext. Ed., Berlin 1989, pp. 90 and 114.
  11. ↑ Henry Friedlander : To the development of the murder technique. From “euthanasia” to the extermination camps of the “final solution.” Ulrich Herbert et al. (Ed.): The National Socialist Concentration Camps - Development and Structure. (Volume I) Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 1998, pp. 499 and 506, ISBN 3-89244-289-4 .
  12. ↑ Gottlob Berger to Heinrich Himmler on January 29, 1943. In: Helmut Heiber (Ed.): Reichsführer! ... letters from and to Himmler. Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, Stuttgart, 1968, Document 198.
  13. ^ Otto Ohlendorf to Heinrich Himmler on June 17, 1942, in: Helmut Heiber, Document 116.
  14. ↑ Gerd R. Ueberschär , Winfried Vogel : Serving and earning. Hitler's gifts to his elites. Frankfurt 1999, ISBN 3-10-086002-0 .
  15. ↑ Affidavit ( 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. (English) by Werner Best. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / nuremberg.law.harvard.edu
personal data
SURNAME Bouhler, Philipp
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician (NSDAP), MdR, representative for Action T4
DATE OF BIRTH September 11, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH May 19, 1945
Place of death near Dachau