Arno Breitmeyer was a German

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...

 sport official. He began his sports career as a successful competition rower

Rowing (sport)

Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...

. In 1933 he became editor of the sports section of the Völkischer Beobachter

Völkischer Beobachter

The Völkischer Beobachter was the newspaper of the National Socialist German Workers' Party from 1920. It first appeared weekly, then daily from February 8, 1923...

.

Arno Breitmeyer joined the NSDAP in May 1933. He then rose to become an important sports official of the Third Reich. Breitmeyer was first adviser and vicepresident of the Reich Sports Office (DRL/NSRL, Nationalsozialistischer Reichsbund für Leibesübungen

Nationalsozialistischer Reichsbund für Leibesübungen

The Nationalsozialistischer Reichsbund für Leibesübungen , more rarely "NSRBL", , known as Deutscher Reichsbund für Leibesübungen until 1938, was the umbrella organization for sports during the Third Reich.The NSRL was led by the Reichssportführer, who after 1934 was...

) during Hans von Tschammer und Osten

Hans von Tschammer und Osten

Hans von Tschammer und Osten was a German sport official, SA leader and a member of the Reichstag...

's tenure as Reichs Sports Leader.

Arno Breitmeyer was commissioned by von Tschammer to write an extensive illustrated report on the organized sports activities in the Third Reich. Breitmeyer was assisted by Adolf Hitler

Adolf 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 personal photographer Heinrich Hoffmann

Heinrich Hoffmann

Heinrich Hoffmann was a German photographer best known for his many published photographs of Adolf Hitler.-Early life and career:...

 in the venture. The first volume was printed in 1934 by the publishing house of the German Sports Aid Funds. Only volume one and two of a planned series of heavily illustrated four volumes were published. The purpose of this book was to advertise the importance of physical exercise among the National Socialists. This propaganda

Nazi propaganda

Propaganda, the coordinated attempt to influence public opinion through the use of media, was skillfully used by the NSDAP in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's leadership of Germany...

 work has many pictures and information about the various Nazi organizations, i.e. 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...

, NSKK

NSKK

NSKK:* National Socialist Motor Corps * Nippon Sei Ko Kai...

, Bund Deutscher Mädel, Hitler Jugend, etc.

At von Tschammer's death in 1943 Arno Breitmeyer became the leader (Reichssportführer).

There is some controversy regarding Arno Breitmeyer's attitude towards the Nazi regime. Some sources claim that he belonged to the SS and that he was known for his anti-Semitic views. Other sources, however, state that he joined the Nazi party relatively early, displaying Nazi zeal, in order to protect his wife who was from Jewish origin.

Breitmeyer was an Oberregierungsrat candidate to be a member of the Reichstag

Reichstag (Weimar Republic)

The Reichstag was the parliament of Weimar Republic .German constitution commentators consider only the Reichstag and now the Bundestag the German parliament. Another organ deals with legislation too: in 1867-1918 the Bundesrat, in 1919–1933 the Reichsrat and from 1949 on the Bundesrat...

 (MdR, Mitglied des Reichstags) in 1938. At the time of his death in 1944 he was an SA (Sturmabteilung

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...

) Brigadeführer, ranked as Generalmajor (the equivalent of major-general in the U.S. Army or a Brigadier-general in the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

).

Breitmeyer was succeeded as Reichssportführer by Karl Ritter von Halt

Karl Ritter von Halt

Dr Karl Ritter von Halt, born Karl Ferdinand Halt was a sport official in Nazi Germany and in the German Federal Republic. He was born and died in Munich.-Biography:...

.

Works

• Arno Breitmeyer & P. G. Hoffmann, Sport und Staat. Im Auftrage des Reichssportführers, Selbstverlag des Hilfsfonds für den Deutschen Sport, 1934. (2 vols).