Reichszeugmeisterei
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The Reichszeugmeisterei (RZM) in Munich was the first and later the supreme of all “witnesses” of the National Socialists .
Tasks and organization
As early as 1925, Adolf Hitler made the uniform wearing of the brown shirt mandatory in his "Guidelines for the Reorganization of the NSDAP and SA " in order to prevent identification problems during the usual street fights in the Weimar Republic . In 1927, brown hats and colored uniform badges were added to the uniforms, which from 1926/1927 onwards could only be procured through the Munich "SA Economic Office".
Due to the growing number of followers, Hitler commissioned the SA leadership in 1928 to set up a "witness shop" in Munich, which, as a central supply point, was supposed to ensure the need for uniforms, uniform parts and other items of equipment. Witness workshops were also set up in other large cities. The task of coordinating all witnesses was assigned to the Munich institution, which earned it the name "Reichszeugmeisterei".
In 1930 the witness shops were subordinated to the Reich treasurer of the NSDAP, Franz Xaver Schwarz . The licensing monopoly of the Reichszeugmeisterei for manufacturers and dealers, which was planned as early as 1933, was secured in 1934 by the passing of the treachery law , and the institution also became Main Office VIII of the NSDAP's procurement office . It was only here that all procurement projects for uniforms and equipment of the various party branches and associated organizations could be coordinated. The institution set the standards for design, production and quality and in this context also issued a binding color table for the textiles. The acquisition of licenses for entrepreneurs was subject to a fee. As early as mid-1934 there were around 15,000 authorized factories and handicrafts, 1,500 street traders, 75,000 master tailors and 15,000 sales outlets, so-called “brown shops”, across the country. All pieces of equipment had to be visibly marked with the "Protective symbol of the Reichszeugmeisterei of the NSDAP" and the individually assigned RZM number. This basically contained coded information about the textile industry, the product group as well as the manufacturer number and the year of production. The objects were first tested by German war veterans and disabled persons from the First World War , and later during the Second World War also by prisoners of war. Some of the items were also stored and shipped in Munich.
Service building
In 1934 the NSDAP acquired the premises of the former "Wagen- und Maschinenfabrik Gebr. Beissbarth OHG" from the Bayerische Hypotheken- und Wechselbank . In the “New District”, the Munich architects Paul Hofer and Karl Johann Fischer were commissioned to plan the main building for the Reichszeugmeisterei. They designed the monumental building as one of the first in Germany to be a steel frame construction . The building owner was the Reich leadership of the NSDAP and the senior site management was Josef Heldmann. Construction began in 1935 and most of it was completed in 1937. At the same time, numerous accommodation buildings for the staff of the Reichszeugmeisterei were built in the area. Until moving into the main building, the Reichszeugmeisterei operated in Schwanthalerstraße and in the buildings of the former "SA economic office" in Tegernseer Landstraße .
After the end of the war, the US armed forces took over the building, later number 7, of the McGraw barracks . The imperial eagle with the swastika mounted in the middle above the main entrance was dismantled in 1945. Since the US troops withdrew from the site in the 1990s , the building has been used as a branch of the Munich Police Headquarters .
Individual evidence
- ^ Elisabeth Timm: Hugo Boss company history - production for the Reichszeugmeisterei of the NSDAP ; 1999.
- ^ Staatliches Bauamt München I: History of the service building ( Memento from August 2, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Status: June 2007).
- ^ Nicoline Bauers: The Reichszeugmeisterei in Munich (PDF; 670 kB), program of the 44th conference f. Excavation Science and Building Research on May 25, 2006, page 19. ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
literature
- , Norbert Götz; Peter Weidlich: Reichszeugmeisterei . In: Munich - "Capital of Movement" . Catalog for the exhibition in the Münchner Stadtmuseum from October 22, 1993 to March 27, 1994. Munich 1993, pp. 283–286.
Web links
Coordinates: 48 ° 6 ′ 6.5 ″ N , 11 ° 35 ′ 0.8 ″ E