Willi Clahes

Paul Otto Hermann Willi Clahes (* July 19, 1895 in Braunschweig ; † October 21, 1948 in Hahn , today a district of Rastede ) was a German lawyer and from April 1939 to summer 1942 deputy head of the agency for the redesign of the Reich capital , in short " Implementation Agency "called the General Building Inspectorate (GBI) in Berlin . There he was one of the main people responsible for the “ dementing ” and expulsion of the Jews from the capital .

Life

In Braunschweig

Clahes was the second of three children of the businessman Friedrich Otto Adolph Clahes and his wife Irmgard Helene Lina, nee. Fricke was born. In early August 1914, he received the Notabitur the "Ducal Grammar School" (today new high school ) in Braunschweig. Immediately afterwards, he first joined the Braunschweig Infantry Regiment No. 92 in order to volunteer in the First World War, but then soon switched to Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 208 . Also in this regiment were the Brunswick Carl Heimbs , Heinrich Rönneburg and Ernst Zörner . Clahes and Zörner had known each other from childhood, they were both born in the same year and attended the same schools. Clahes took part in several campaigns, was wounded, received the Iron Cross II as a lieutenant in the reserve and was dismissed from service as a first lieutenant in 1917 .

Weimar Republic and the time of National Socialism

From 1917 to 1920 Clahes studied law at the Universities of Göttingen and Leipzig . During his studies he joined the German People's Party (DVP) in 1919 , of which he remained a member until 1928. After successfully completing his degree, he entered the civil service of the Free State of Braunschweig and was appointed to the government council in 1927 after having worked in various positions . In 1929 he joined the German National People's Party (DNVP) from the DVP . On May 5, 1932, Clahes joined the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). In October 1932 he became a city councilor and on April 1, 1936 mayor and permanent representative of Braunschweig's Lord Mayor Wilhelm Hesse (NSDAP).

Like Ernst Zörner, Clahes rose quickly in the Nazi hierarchy. And like Zörner, he was in clear opposition to Dietrich Klagges , the Prime Minister of the Free State of Braunschweig appointed in 1933 . When the disputes between Zörner and Klagges escalated, Zörner left Braunschweig with Adolf Hitler's backing and in August 1933 first took up the post of Lord Mayor of Dresden , which he held until July 1939. Meanwhile, Clahes stayed in Braunschweig. After Zörner had problems with Gauleiter Martin Mutschmann in Dresden too, Albert Speer brought him to Berlin and made him president of the implementation agency.

In the office of the general building inspector

Zörner immediately brought his old regimental comrade and friend from childhood and youth, Willi Clahes, to the Berlin office. He also brought another comrade to the office: Heinrich Rönneburg , politician of the German Democratic Party (DDP) and between 1922 and 1924 Braunschweig Minister of the Interior and Economics in the Jasper II cabinet . On June 10, 1938, Clahes was delegated to the GBI executive office. From Albert Speer, the head of the GBI, Clahes received the order to “de-rent” the apartments of the Berlin Jews - to make them “ Jew-free ” in the language of National Socialism . The chronicle of the city of Braunschweig notes for April 1, 1939: “Mayor Willi Clahes becomes vice-president of the implementation office for the redesign of the imperial capital in Berlin.” Clahes was thus Karl Maria Hettlage's deputy . He carried out the task given to him by Speer in full by 1942. In that year his work was finished because the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942 organized the “ Final Solution to the Jewish Question ” differently. In his handover protocol, Clahes stated that between 1939 and 1942 the implementing agency had "de-rented" the apartments of 23,767 Jews and had "recorded and relocated" 75,000 people.

After the implementation agency was closed, Clahes was transferred directly to the Reich Ministry of Armaments and Ammunition , where he worked until the end of the war.

post war period

Since the existence and scope of the implementation office and thus Clahe's activities, in particular the "unletting" of the apartments in Berlin Jews, remained largely hidden from the public - even after the end of the war - Clahes, like all his colleagues, escaped denazification and prosecution.

On October 21, 1948, Clahes was killed in a traffic accident in the small town of Hahn, now part of Rastede .

family

In 1929 Willi Clahes married Irmgard Graalfs, with whom he had a daughter (* 1931) and a son (* 1935).

literature

• Jörg-Michael Schiefer: Speer's executor - Willy Clahes. MatrixMedia, Göttingen 2015, ISBN 978-3-932313-66-0 .
• Susanne Willems: The evacuated Jew. Albert Speer's housing market policy for the Berlin capital construction. Ed. Hentrich, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-89468-259-0 ( Publications of the Memorial and Educational Center Haus der Wannsee Conference 10), (At the same time: Bochum, Univ., Diss., 1999: Urban modernization, housing market and persecution of Jews in Berlin 1938 to 1943 ) .

Individual evidence

1. ^ General building inspector for the Reich capital (GBI).
2. ↑ Annual report of the Herzogliche Realgymnasium for 1916. (PDF file)
3. ^ Chronicle of the city of Braunschweig for 1939
4. ^ Susanne Willems: Urban peace planning: Berlin without Jews.