Richard Markert

Ernst Otto Richard Markert (* 7. November 1891 in Elsterwerda ; † 13. April 1957 in Cologne ) was a Nazi - and NDPD - politicians and at the beginning of the era of National Socialism Ruling Mayor of the Hanseatic City of Bremen .

Early years

Markert was born the son of a baker. He went through secondary and upper secondary schools before he began to study law , economics and chemical technology in Berlin after graduating from high school . His studies were interrupted by the First World War, in which he served as a soldier. After the end of the war he resumed his studies - albeit in Leipzig. During his studies in 1912 he became a member of the Leipzig fraternity Germania . In 1920 Markert received his doctorate . He then worked at IG Farben . Two years later he joined the Freemasons . In 1929 he stopped working for the chemical company and became head of the labor office in Sagan .

Promotion to Bremen mayor under National Socialism

In 1931 he left the Freemasons and shortly afterwards joined the NSDAP. A few weeks later, on October 12 of the same year, he was appointed deputy head of the employment office in Bremen . After the Reichstag election on March 5, 1933 , the National Socialists came to power in Bremen . On the evening of that day, Markert was appointed Police Senator by Reich Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick . In this function, on March 11th, he appointed individual "special commissioners" to monitor the official business of the previous senators who were still in office.

Up until that moment, Markert had played almost no role in public life in the Hanseatic city. In contrast to Hamburg ( Krogmann ) or Lübeck ( Völtzer ), the National Socialists in Bremen did not succeed in taking over power "from within" by recruiting a well-known representative from trade or shipping.

After the old Senate resigned under Mayor Donandt , he was appointed as Reich Commissioner, Chairman of the Senate and thus acting Mayor on March 18, 1933 . On June 18, Markert was appointed trustee of the work for the Lower Saxony economic area. From October 1st he was Governing Mayor of Bremen .

In the days before March 18, both Markert and Kreisleiter Bernhard had struck moderate tones towards the Bremen economy, whose representatives had been increasingly open to an authoritarian reorganization of Germany since the end of the 1920s, but feared restrictions on trade and shipping by a National Socialist government .

In the days after the appointment of the new provisional Senate on March 18, all relevant business organizations and numerous individual personalities expressed their willingness to cooperate with the new rulers and, as the new Senate President, congratulated Markert, some personally, on taking over the government. Markert's Senate included the merchants Konsul Flohr ( DNVP ) as finance senator and Hermann Ritter (DNVP), the latter as a semi-official senator together with district leader Bernhard taking over the important area of trade, ports and transport. The lubricating oil merchant Laue (NSDAP) became senator for police and home affairs.

In his new political function, Markert was very agile in the representation of Bremen's shipbuilding and shipping interests, but found practically no support from the rulers in Berlin.

Cooperation with industry and foreign trade in Bremen

In the context of an evening lecture by the Club in Bremen on April 3, 1933 in the Glocke , Markert tried again in front of the assembled top of the Bremen upper class to dispel concerns of commercial capital about the economic policy of the National Socialists, which may be associated with restrictions on foreign trade, and emphasized that Bremen's viability The development of trade and shipping stand or fall: "Our main concern is consequently the rebuilding of the Bremen and thus the German shipping". The chairman of the club, the entrepreneur Friedrich Roselius , then assured Markert of his support: “Those who are sitting here and have come to you, we will remain loyal to you, Mayor, if you are the guide, the Bremen of a better future leading towards. "

However, on June 9, 1933 , Rudolph Firle Markert had to inform him that the Bremen influence in Berlin had "suffered a fatal blow" as a result of the Lahusen , Schröder and Bömers affairs .

Question of Reich governorship

In the important for the Bremen economic issue of Empire governorship to Markert had pronounced on 12 April 1933 a closer analogy Bremen to Oldenburg, a joint governorship with Hamburg by Karl Kaufmann avert, for the mayor of Hamburg Krogmann set in and so for Bremen to obtain greater independence.

Then brought Deschimag -Director Stapelfeldt with Hitler and Friedrich Roselius the Chief of the Reich Chancellery Lammers in writing their objections to a joint governorship with Hamburg expressed. Since Bremen was not in prospect of its own governorship, they instead advocated joint governorship between Bremen and Oldenburg and proposed the appointment of Oldenburg Gauleiter Carl Röver as Reich Governor . On May 5, 1933, he was actually appointed Reich Governor for Bremen and Oldenburg, so that subordination of Bremen's economic interests to the predominance of Hamburg seemed to be prevented.

Recognizing his role in achieving this solution, the Bremen Chamber of Commerce thanked Markert on May 6, 1933 on behalf of the merchants.

As the ruling circles in Bremen soon realized, however, it turned out that Bremen's independence was also endangered by Röver's “particularistic Oldenburg sentiment” and his reserved behavior towards the Bremen bourgeoisie.

Attempt to reprivatize Deschimag and merger pressure on the Bremer Vulkan

Markert made several unsuccessful attempts to reprivatize the crisis-ridden Deschimag shipyard group , in which the German Reich and the Bremen state were majority shareholders. A proposal by Markert from September 1933 to merge Deschimag with the Kruppschen Germania shipyard in Kiel caught the interest of Gustav Krupp von Bohlen and Halbach . The Germania shipyard was to be shut down in this network and the production facilities were to be transferred to Bremen with the naval orders, but this failed because the naval management insisted on maintaining the entire German shipbuilding capacity. At the turn was 1933/34 Markert with two industrialists Paul Reusch ( Gutehoffnungshütte ) and Otto Wolff ( United Steelworks ) due to the acquisition of a majority stake in the negotiations, which remained but equally unsuccessful, so the Deschimag until 1936 by Bremer consortium led by Deschimag director Stapelfeldt could be reprivatised.

In the spring of 1934, Markert put massive pressure on the Bremer Vulkan in order to implement his concept of merging the Vulkan with AG Weser , which was also provided for in the so-called shipyard plan of the Reich Ministry of Economics . In particular, Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza , who owned 80 percent of Vulkan shares, should be forced to participate in the ailing Deschimag company. The merger should be achieved through pressure on Norddeutscher Lloyd , which should no longer give Vulkan orders, and furthermore through the enticement of Vulkan director Esser to AG Weser.

Scipio plan and failure to avert drastic foreign trade regulations

In order to avert direct import restrictions for the Bremen trading houses through laws of the Reich government, Markert turned to Reich Finance Minister Schwerin von Krosigk on July 19, 1934 and pointed out concerns of the Hanseatic cities “about the way of too strong regulation”. In addition, he promoted a plan originally developed by Chamber of Commerce Vice President Scipio for an export certificate system to overcome the foreign trade deficit , which should give the trading houses certain leeway for decision-making. Ultimately, however, the new Reich Economics Minister Schacht prevailed with his New Plan , so that the scope of Bremen's trading capital was further drastically restricted from 1934 onwards through direct import restrictions and controls.

Loss of the "Africa trip" for the Bremen trade to Hamburg

In 1934 negotiations took place to reorganize German shipping. Due to the high operating losses in the last few years of the HAPAG- Lloyd Union, which was only formed in 1930 , a separation of the companies was seen as inevitable. A proposal by the Bremen Senate provided for the total tonnage to be returned in equal parts to Bremen and Hamburg. Due to the slow progress of the negotiations, the Reich Minister of Transport appointed the Chairman of the Association of German Shipowners , the Hamburg State Councilor John T. Essberger , as " Trustee of the Reich Government for the reorganization of shipping" on February 19, 1934 . Based on the interests of Hamburg shipping circles, Essberger suggested that both the Africa trip, which is important for the commencement of colonial work for Bremen, and the South America trip should be outsourced from the NDL and relocated to Hamburg, which was finally implemented by the Reich Ministry of Transport. The Africa trip finally fell to the Woermann Line and the East Africa Line , the South America trip to the Hamburg Süd -Reederei.

With regard to Essberger's proposals, after Chamber of Commerce President Bollmeyer and Vice President Scipio there was agreement in the Bremen merchants that they would have to be "strictly rejected as being unacceptable for Bremen". The Reich Governor for Oldenburg and Bremen, Carl Röver, had given Mayor Markert no support in the negotiations. On October 4, 1934, Markert von Röver had to put up with the accusation that he had initially made too high demands and could now expect no backing for them. After the spin-off decision, there was a “deep depression” in the Bremen economy.

Conflict with Reichsstatthalter Röver and end of political career

During the so-called Röhm Putsch , Markert opposed the SA and tried to weaken the influence of the NSDAP Gauleiter Carl Röver on Bremen, who was also Reich Governor for Bremen and Oldenburg . This project marked the end of his political career, on October 23, 1934 he was deposed. Not least because of Röver's lack of support for the Bremen merchants and the associated decline of their economic base at the beginning of the National Socialist rule, Markert had campaigned for Bremen to be separated from the joint governorship with Oldenburg, which earned him the anger of Röver. His successor was Karl Hermann Otto Heider .

In 1935 Markert was also given leave of absence as a trustee. He then worked in industry and from 1938 to 1945 as a freelance export merchant in Berlin.

Further life

After the end of the Second World War , Markert was imprisoned by the Allies for some time , but was ultimately released so that he could continue to work as an export merchant. Markert became a member of the NDPD and the East Berlin magistrate. There he achieved the rank of "Magistrate Director for Popular Education" in 1950.

The following year, he was convicted of illicit trade in securities and to three years in prison convicted. However, he managed to flee to West Berlin , where he was exonerated and acquitted in a court proceedings. From 1954 he worked as a syndic of an employers' association in Cologne and was committed to the idea of Europe. Richard Markert died on April 13, 1957 at the age of 65 in Cologne.

Volunteering in Bremen

From 1933 to 1934 he was briefly chairman of the Bürgerpark Verein.

literature

Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume I: Politicians. Sub-Volume 4: M-Q. Winter, Heidelberg 2000, ISBN 3-8253-1118-X , pp. 29-30.
Herbert Black Forest: The Great Bremen Lexicon . Edition Temmen , 2003, ISBN 3-86108-693-X

Individual evidence

↑ Dieter Pfliegensdörfer: From a trading center for armorers. Economy, the state and the working class in Bremen from 1929 to 1945 . University of Bremen Research focus on work and education, Bremen 1986, p. 100.
↑ Dieter Pfliegensdörfer: From a trading center for armorers. Economy, the state and the working class in Bremen from 1929 to 1945 . University of Bremen Research focus on work and education, Bremen 1986, p. 101 f.
↑ Dieter Pfliegensdörfer: From a trading center for armorers. Economy, the state and the working class in Bremen from 1929 to 1945 . University of Bremen Research focus on work and education, Bremen 1986, p. 103.
↑ Peter Kuckuk (ed.): Bremen large shipyards in the Third Reich . (Contributions to the social history of Bremen 15), Edition Temmen, 1993, ISBN 3-86108-203-9 , p. 107.
↑ ^a ^b Dieter Pfliegensdörfer: From a trading center for armorers. Economy, the state and the working class in Bremen from 1929 to 1945 . University of Bremen Research focus on work and education, Bremen 1986, p. 116.
↑ ^a ^b Dieter Pfliegensdörfer: From a trading center for armorers. Economy, the state and the working class in Bremen from 1929 to 1945 . University of Bremen Research focus on work and education, Bremen 1986, p. 103f.
↑ Dieter Pfliegensdörfer: From a trading center for armorers. Economy, the state and the working class in Bremen from 1929 to 1945 . University of Bremen Research focus on work and education, Bremen 1986, p. 109f.
↑ Dieter Pfliegensdörfer: From a trading center for armorers. Economy, the state and the working class in Bremen from 1929 to 1945 . University of Bremen Research focus on work and education, Bremen 1986, p. 432.
↑ Dieter Pfliegensdörfer: From a trading center for armorers. Economy, the state and the working class in Bremen from 1929 to 1945 . University of Bremen Research focus on work and education, Bremen 1986, p. 111.
↑ Peter Kuckuk (ed.): Bremen large shipyards in the Third Reich . (Contributions to the social history of Bremen 15), Edition Temmen, 1993, ISBN 3-86108-203-9 , p. 14f, p. 41f.
↑ Peter Kuckuk (ed.): Bremen large shipyards in the Third Reich . (Contributions to the social history of Bremen 15), Edition Temmen, 1993, ISBN 3-86108-203-9 , p. 130.
↑ Peter Kuckuk (ed.): Bremen large shipyards in the Third Reich . (Contributions to the social history of Bremen 15), Edition Temmen, 1993, ISBN 3-86108-203-9 , p. 133.
↑ Dieter Pfliegensdörfer: From commercial center to armorers. Economy, state and working class in Bremen from 1929 to 1945. University of Bremen Research focus on work and education, Bremen 1986, p. 112ff / 432, p. 276.
↑ Dieter Pfliegensdörfer: From a trading center for armorers. Economy, the state and the working class in Bremen from 1929 to 1945 . University of Bremen Research focus on work and education, Bremen 1986, p. 111f.
↑ Dieter Pfliegensdörfer: From commercial center to armorers. Economy, state and working class in Bremen from 1929 to 1945. University of Bremen Research focus on work and education, Bremen 1986, p. 112ff / 432, p. 115f.

personal data
SURNAME	Markert, Richard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Markert, Ernst Otto Richard (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German politician (NDPD), Mayor of Bremen
DATE OF BIRTH	November 7, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH	Elsterwerda
DATE OF DEATH	April 13, 1957
Place of death	Cologne

[1] Dieter Pfliegensdörfer: From a trading center for armorers. Economy, the state and the working class in Bremen from 1929 to 1945 . University of Bremen Research focus on work and education, Bremen 1986, p. 100.

[2] Dieter Pfliegensdörfer: From a trading center for armorers. Economy, the state and the working class in Bremen from 1929 to 1945 . University of Bremen Research focus on work and education, Bremen 1986, p. 101 f.

[3] Dieter Pfliegensdörfer: From a trading center for armorers. Economy, the state and the working class in Bremen from 1929 to 1945 . University of Bremen Research focus on work and education, Bremen 1986, p. 103.

[4] Peter Kuckuk (ed.): Bremen large shipyards in the Third Reich . (Contributions to the social history of Bremen 15), Edition Temmen, 1993, ISBN 3-86108-203-9 , p. 107.

[Berlin-5] Dieter Pfliegensdörfer: From a trading center for armorers. Economy, the state and the working class in Bremen from 1929 to 1945 . University of Bremen Research focus on work and education, Bremen 1986, p. 116.

[Club-6] Dieter Pfliegensdörfer: From a trading center for armorers. Economy, the state and the working class in Bremen from 1929 to 1945 . University of Bremen Research focus on work and education, Bremen 1986, p. 103f.

[7] Dieter Pfliegensdörfer: From a trading center for armorers. Economy, the state and the working class in Bremen from 1929 to 1945 . University of Bremen Research focus on work and education, Bremen 1986, p. 109f.

[8] Dieter Pfliegensdörfer: From a trading center for armorers. Economy, the state and the working class in Bremen from 1929 to 1945 . University of Bremen Research focus on work and education, Bremen 1986, p. 432.

[9] Dieter Pfliegensdörfer: From a trading center for armorers. Economy, the state and the working class in Bremen from 1929 to 1945 . University of Bremen Research focus on work and education, Bremen 1986, p. 111.

[10] Peter Kuckuk (ed.): Bremen large shipyards in the Third Reich . (Contributions to the social history of Bremen 15), Edition Temmen, 1993, ISBN 3-86108-203-9 , p. 14f, p. 41f.

[11] Peter Kuckuk (ed.): Bremen large shipyards in the Third Reich . (Contributions to the social history of Bremen 15), Edition Temmen, 1993, ISBN 3-86108-203-9 , p. 130.

[12] Peter Kuckuk (ed.): Bremen large shipyards in the Third Reich . (Contributions to the social history of Bremen 15), Edition Temmen, 1993, ISBN 3-86108-203-9 , p. 133.

[13] Dieter Pfliegensdörfer: From commercial center to armorers. Economy, state and working class in Bremen from 1929 to 1945. University of Bremen Research focus on work and education, Bremen 1986, p. 112ff / 432, p. 276.

[14] Dieter Pfliegensdörfer: From a trading center for armorers. Economy, the state and the working class in Bremen from 1929 to 1945 . University of Bremen Research focus on work and education, Bremen 1986, p. 111f.

[15] Dieter Pfliegensdörfer: From commercial center to armorers. Economy, state and working class in Bremen from 1929 to 1945. University of Bremen Research focus on work and education, Bremen 1986, p. 112ff / 432, p. 115f.