Albert Hoffmann (Gauleiter)
Encyclopedia
Albert Hoffmann was a German
entrepreneur and during the Third Reich the Nazi
Gauleiter
of Westphalia
-South.
, he first took up a job as a raw tobacco
sales
man. In 1925 Hoffmann joined the National Socialist Worker Youth (Nationalsozialistische Arbeiterjugend) and was among the founding members of the SA
and NSDAP in Bremen.
's seizure of power
, Hoffmann gave his profession up and first held functions in the NSDAP's Bremen District Leadership, until he was appointed Political Leader on Rudolf Hess
's staff in 1934 and went to work at the Brown House in Munich
. In 1936, Hoffmann joined the SS
. He was appointed Stillhaltekommissar for Austria
and later also in the Sudetenland
and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
, which mainly involved taking care of property law matters. At the same time, he was responsible for building up the Party in the aforesaid areas.
Hoffmann participated actively in the Invasion of Poland
. In 1941, while retaining his other functions, he was also made acting Gauleiter of Upper Silesia
, and also gained a seat in the Reichstag
as the next candidate on the list. From 1942 he undertook, as Martin Bormann
's representative on the OKW's Unruh staff, personnel examinations in the service posts in the occupied eastern territories and Ukraine
. In 1943 came Hoffmann's appointment to Gauleiter of Westphalia-South. In the same year, Hoffmann was appointed by Joseph Goebbels
to manage his Reich Inspection for Civil Aerial Warfare Measures. Hoffmann, who did not enjoy widespread popularity even within the Nazi Party's top ranks owing to his arrogance and bossy manner, was said to have been a staunch Nazi right through to the war's end. Shortly before the war ended, in April 1945, Hoffmann dissolved the NSDAP and the Volkssturm
in Westphalia-South and went into hiding.
troops he was first questioned as a witness in the Nuremberg Trials
and was later himself charged. However, nothing could be proved about his alleged responsibility for the murder
s of Allied
soldiers or forced labourers, so that he had to be acquitted for lack of evidence. Nevertheless, he received a prison sentence of 4 years and 9 months, only part of which he served, receiving a pardon.
in Germany
whose main policy is to campaign for the reintroduction of the Deutsche Mark.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
entrepreneur and during the Third Reich the Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
Gauleiter
Gauleiter
A Gauleiter was the party leader of a regional branch of the NSDAP or the head of a Gau or of a Reichsgau.-Creation and Early Usage:...
of Westphalia
Westphalia
Westphalia is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Arnsberg, Bielefeld, Dortmund, Minden and Münster.Westphalia is roughly the region between the rivers Rhine and Weser, located north and south of the Ruhr River. No exact definition of borders can be given, because the name "Westphalia"...
-South.
Early life
After his apprenticeshipApprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...
, he first took up a job as a raw tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
sales
Sales
A sale is the act of selling a product or service in return for money or other compensation. It is an act of completion of a commercial activity....
man. In 1925 Hoffmann joined the National Socialist Worker Youth (Nationalsozialistische Arbeiterjugend) and was among the founding members of the SA
Sturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...
and NSDAP in Bremen.
Nazi career 1933-1945
Shortly after Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
's seizure of power
Machtergreifung
Machtergreifung is a German word meaning "seizure of power". It is normally used specifically to refer to the Nazi takeover of power in the democratic Weimar Republic on 30 January 1933, the day Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany, turning it into the Nazi German dictatorship.-Term:The...
, Hoffmann gave his profession up and first held functions in the NSDAP's Bremen District Leadership, until he was appointed Political Leader on Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was a prominent Nazi politician who was Adolf Hitler's deputy in the Nazi Party during the 1930s and early 1940s...
's staff in 1934 and went to work at the Brown House in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
. In 1936, Hoffmann joined the SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
. He was appointed Stillhaltekommissar for Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and later also in the Sudetenland
Sudetenland
Sudetenland is the German name used in English in the first half of the 20th century for the northern, southwest and western regions of Czechoslovakia inhabited mostly by ethnic Germans, specifically the border areas of Bohemia, Moravia, and those parts of Silesia being within Czechoslovakia.The...
and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was the majority ethnic-Czech protectorate which Nazi Germany established in the central parts of Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia in what is today the Czech Republic...
, which mainly involved taking care of property law matters. At the same time, he was responsible for building up the Party in the aforesaid areas.
Hoffmann participated actively in the Invasion of Poland
Invasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
. In 1941, while retaining his other functions, he was also made acting Gauleiter of Upper Silesia
Upper Silesia
Upper Silesia is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia. Since the 9th century, Upper Silesia has been part of Greater Moravia, the Duchy of Bohemia, the Piast Kingdom of Poland, again of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown and the Holy Roman Empire, as well as of...
, and also gained a seat in the Reichstag
Reichstag (German Empire)
The Reichstag was the parliament of the North German Confederation , and of the German Reich ....
as the next candidate on the list. From 1942 he undertook, as Martin Bormann
Martin Bormann
Martin Ludwig Bormann was a prominent Nazi official. He became head of the Party Chancellery and private secretary to Adolf Hitler...
's representative on the OKW's Unruh staff, personnel examinations in the service posts in the occupied eastern territories and Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. In 1943 came Hoffmann's appointment to Gauleiter of Westphalia-South. In the same year, Hoffmann was appointed by Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
to manage his Reich Inspection for Civil Aerial Warfare Measures. Hoffmann, who did not enjoy widespread popularity even within the Nazi Party's top ranks owing to his arrogance and bossy manner, was said to have been a staunch Nazi right through to the war's end. Shortly before the war ended, in April 1945, Hoffmann dissolved the NSDAP and the Volkssturm
Volkssturm
The Volkssturm was a German national militia of the last months of World War II. It was founded on Adolf Hitler's orders on October 18, 1944 and conscripted males between the ages of 16 to 60 years who were not already serving in some military unit as part of a German Home Guard.-Origins and...
in Westphalia-South and went into hiding.
Post-war trial, conviction, and sentence
After his arrest by BritishUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
troops he was first questioned as a witness in the Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
and was later himself charged. However, nothing could be proved about his alleged responsibility for the murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
s of Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
soldiers or forced labourers, so that he had to be acquitted for lack of evidence. Nevertheless, he received a prison sentence of 4 years and 9 months, only part of which he served, receiving a pardon.
Later life and family
After his release in 1950, Hoffmann earned considerable assets as an entrepreneur in Bremen. Hoffmann was married. His son Bolko Hoffmann is likewise a successful entrepreneur and the founder of the Pro DM Party, a rightwing, conservative fringe partyFringe party
A political party with a negligible electoral support relative to the total national electorate is often described as a fringe party. While some fringe parties are frivolous, this is by no means universally the case and precedents exist for fringe parties and movements becoming "mainstream"....
in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
whose main policy is to campaign for the reintroduction of the Deutsche Mark.
Literature
- Ralf Blank: Albert Hoffmann, in: Westfälische Lebensbilder 17, Münster 2005 [= Veröffentlichungen der Historischen Kommission für Westfalen XXVII A, 17].
- Ralf Blank: Albert Hoffmann als Reichsverteidigungskommissar im Gau Westfalen-Süd, 1943-1945. Eine biografische Skizze, in: Beiträge zur Geschichte des Nationalsozialismus 17 (2001), S. 189-210.
- Ralf Blank: "... der Volksempörung nicht zu entziehen". Gauleiter Albert Hoffmann und der "Fliegerbefehl", in: Märkisches Jahrbuch 98 (1998), S. 255-296.