Robert Bergmann (politician)

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Robert Bergmann

Robert Bergmann (born May 5, 1886 in Nuremberg , † February 4, 1966 in Altdorf near Nuremberg ) was a German teacher, politician ( NSDAP ) and SS group leader. Bergmann was a member of the Reichstag from 1932 to 1934.

Live and act

German Empire and Weimar Republic (1886 to 1933)

Bergmann was born in Nuremberg in 1886 to Protestant parents. In his youth he attended elementary schools in Nuremberg and Altdorf. He was then trained at the preparatory school in Neustadt an der Aisch (1899-1902) and at the teachers' college in Altdorf near Nuremberg (1902-1904), where he passed the leaving examination in 1904. He got his first job in 1904 in Fichtbach near Altdorf. In the following years he took over various assistant teachers and carpenters in Middle Franconia. This activity was interrupted when he did his one-year service with the 14th Infantry Regiment "Hartmann" of the Bavarian Army in his hometown from 1905 to 1906 . In 1908 he passed the state examination in Ansbach. He then held various teaching positions in Middle Franconia until 1914.

After the First World War , Bergmann was reactivated as an officer: he participated in the entire war with the Bavarian Army on the Western Front. On September 9, 1915, he was promoted to lieutenant. During the war he met the Bavarian officer at the time, Ernst Röhm , of whose company he was a member, and became close friends with him. During the fighting on June 23, 1916, Bergmann carried Röhm, seriously wounded by enemy fire - and seriously wounded himself - out of the combat area and thus saved his life, which led to a further deepening of their friendship. At the end of the war, Bergmann was a company commander in the 10th Infantry Regiment "King Ludwig" and an orderly officer in the 12th Bavarian Infantry Division . For his achievements in the war he was awarded the Iron Cross of both classes, the Wound Badge and the Bavarian Order of Military Merit IV class.

On December 15, 1918, a few weeks after the end of the war, Bergmann resigned from the army and took up a position as a teacher in Altdorf, which he had already received in 1916 but had not started due to the war. This position - in which he was later promoted to head teacher - he held for more than thirteen years, until he joined the Supreme SA leadership in 1932. At this point he was given an indefinite leave of absence from school. In addition, Bergmann exercised the office of cantor and organist of the local Protestant church in Altdorf.

In 1919 Bergmann joined the Freikorps Epp , whose leading officers included his friend Röhm as chief of staff of the commander Franz von Epp. Bergmann was a member of the Epp Freikorps as an orderly officer from April 25 to August 1, 1919. Then he returned to his profession as a teacher, in which he last achieved the position of director of an elementary school.

Politically, Bergmann belonged to the völkisch movement: On September 21, 1926, he joined the NSDAP (membership number 44.269). In this he took over functionary tasks as local group leader, district group leader in Altdorf and Gauredner . He was also a member of the Sturmabteilung (SA), the party army of the NSDAP, for a year from 1927 to 1928.

On June 10, 1931, Bergmann joined the Schutzstaffel (SS), the smaller, more elitist uniformed task force of the NSDAP (membership number 7,099). From June 19, 1931 to November 27, 1931, Bergmann was entrusted with the administration of the 1st storm man of the 3rd SS standard, whereby he - also on June 19, 1932 - was leader of the second storm of this storm man (storm 2 / I / 3) had been appointed. After he had proven himself in this position, he was appointed regular leader of Sturmbannes I / 3 on November 27, 1931. He held this position until June 25, 1932. In 1932 Bergmann was appointed by his old friend Röhm, who had been Chief of Staff of the SA since the beginning of 1931, to the Supreme SA leadership, the central control instrument for the leadership of the party army of the NSDAP. In this he first took a z. b. V. position.

In the Reichstag elections of July 1932 , Bergmann was nominated by the NSDAP as a candidate in constituency 26 (Franconia) and then moved into the Reichstag as a member of the Reichstag after the party had won enough votes . In the elections of November 1932 and March 1933 Bergmann's mandate was confirmed. Even after parliamentarism was smashed by the National Socialists in 1933, Bergmann remained a member of the pro forma parliament: In the election on November 12, 1933, in which only the NSDAP stood for election, Bergmann retained his mandate in the Reichstag, which had meanwhile been deprived of all influence .

time of the nationalsocialism

On April 20, 1933, a few weeks after the start of National Socialist rule, the SS-Standartenführer Bergmann was appointed chief adjutant to Ernst Röhm in his position as chief of staff of the SA. Since Röhm was formally in personal union at the head of the SA and the SS, Bergmann retained his membership of the SS and his SS rank despite his subsequent activity in the Supreme SA leadership and the immediate vicinity of the chief of staff of the SA. At the end of 1933 he reached the formal climax of his SS career when he was promoted to Gruppenführer.

Bergmann lived in Altdorf near Nuremberg from 1934. In the spring of 1934 he was sent on vacation by the SS leadership on the pretext of recovering. In fact, Bergmann, as the representative of the SA in the SS leadership, wanted to “get out of the.” During the preparation of the strike that was already being considered at that time against the SA, whose power was to be broken according to the will of Hitler and the SS leadership Way ".

When Hitler attacked the SA on June 30, 1934 , Bergmann was escorted by Ernst Röhm in Bad Wiessee , where the two were staying on Röhm's vacation, and was arrested by a police command led by Hitler and taken to the Stadelheim prison . Unlike Röhm and many high SA leaders, Bergmann was not shot, but only expelled from the SS with effect from June 30, 1934 and kept in protective custody for a few weeks. On October 1, 1934, Rudolf Hess also ordered his expulsion from the NSDAP. Bergmann's mandate in the Reichstag was also withdrawn and from November 1934 Karl Minnameyer took over . After his release from prison on November 4, 1934, Bergmann retired to Altdorf as a private citizen.

Bergmann's leave of absence from school service was converted into compulsory leave and then into compulsory retirement at that time. This measure was finally lifted and Bergmann was sent to the village of Michelau near Lichtenfels in Upper Franconia on April 20, 1936 as main teacher . He stayed in this post until April 1, 1937. He was then transferred to the primary school in Nuremberg as main teacher, where he later achieved the rank of senior teacher.

In the years that followed, Bergmann's status as an ostracized was gradually weakened: by order of the Supreme Party Court of the NSDAP on November 12, 1938, he was accepted back into the party - or the decree of October 1, 1934 that issued him was revoked and his membership was revoked restored. From May 1, 1939, he volunteered as a mob clerk at the NSDAP Gauleitung in Franconia. This voluntary activity was finally converted into a full-time position with the rank of Gauamtsleiter for the duration of the war with effect from January 1, 1940. In the same year, Bergmann was also appointed as a substitute for the previous mob officer of the Franconian Gauleitung who had been called up for military service as the new mob officer of this district. In this position he was u. a. entrusted with the accommodation of children from air-endangered areas and the care of ethnic Germans who were brought into the Reich in alternative camps and other accommodations. In addition, during the war he was appointed by the Deputy Gauleiter of Franconia to work in the Gau Franconia. For his services in the field of administration during the war years he received a. a. the War Merit Cross 2nd Class.

However, Bergmann was not accepted back into the SS. Efforts by Benno Martin , the leader of the SS Upper Section Main, to bring Bergmann back to the SS were unsuccessful: Heinrich Himmler stated in his response to a petition aimed at this during the Second World War that he did appreciate Bergmann personally, but explained wanting to postpone the question of the reinstatement of Bergmann in the SS for many reasons until the end of the war. In return , Himmler and his adjutant Karl Wolff personally ensured that Bergmann's personal needs were averted: From 1935 onwards, the SS financed his daughter's university studies.

Promotions

  • April 27, 1931: SS troop leader
  • June 10, 1931: SS Untersturmführer
  • November 2, 1931: SS-Sturmbannführer
  • July 1, 1932: SS Standartenführer
  • March 1, 1933: SS-Oberführer
  • November 9, 1933: SS group leader
  • June 30, 1934: Excluded from the SS after releasing his rank

Archival material

  • SS leader personnel file. Bundesarchiv Berlin: holdings SS0. Film 60 Berghammer – Berquist. Pictures 458–919.

literature

Contemporary publications

  • Heinz Wulff: "The tenth of the Bavarian royal regiment and their field captain Röhm. The reunion of the Thiaumont strikers in Munich on June 24/25, 1933", in: Der SA-Mann Nr. 26/1933.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wolfgang Mück: Nazi stronghold in Middle Franconia: The völkisch awakening in Neustadt an der Aisch 1922–1933. Verlag Philipp Schmidt, 2016 (= Streiflichter from home history. Special volume 4); ISBN 978-3-87707-990-4 , p. 122.
  2. ^ Andreas Dornheim: Röhm's husband for abroad. P. 289.
  3. ↑ Bergmann's promotion from Sturmbannführer to Standartenführer took place according to: Der Oberste SA-Führer. II a No. 1549/32. Munich, July 1, 1932. Reorganization of the SA and SS. Führer's order No. 1. with simultaneous appointment as "SA-Führer zbV" in the staff of the Supreme SA-Führer.
personal data
SURNAME Bergmann, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician (NSDAP), MdR and SS leader
DATE OF BIRTH May 5, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Nuremberg
DATE OF DEATH 4th February 1966
Place of death Altdorf near Nuremberg